For multiple choice, select the best answer. For True/False, if true only under certain conditions, then it is false.On your scantron sheet, A is True and B is false.Do not mark test.
You have 55 minutes to do 74 questions (11 pages). Good luck. Put your ID on scantron
1. The gram is a measure of
A. Distance
B. Weight
C. Mass
D. Temperature
E. Time
2. A kilogram is equal to ______grams.
A. 0.1
B. 1
C. 10
D. 100
E. 1,000
3. Meter and second are defined in specific ways so the speed of ______is an exact value.
A. Sound
B. Light
C. Heat
D. Water
E. Dark
4. True or false: With only 1 unit, all others can be derived in the metric system.
5. True or false: Weightlessness in an orbiting ship comes from being really far from earth.
6. Like orbits of all local planets and moons, the earth’s orbit is this,the 2-D shape of the orbit of every planet or moon in our solar system, revolving around the Sun, or its parent planet (in the case of moons):
A. Elliptical
B. Oval
C. Circular
D. Random
E. Rectangular
7. The unit of distance known as the parsec is based upon earth-bound measurements of
A. Stellar parallax
B. Stellar aberration
C. Spherical aberration
D. Doppler redshift
E. Radar ranging
8. True or false: The light-minute is a unit of time not distance.
9. Order from smallest to largest (there are exceptions, so go by typical):
A. planet, star, moon, galaxy, atom, electron, person
B. atom, electron, person, planet, moon, galaxy, star
C. electron, atom, person, moon, planet, star, galaxy
D. galaxy, star, planet, moon, person, atom, electron
E. atom, electron, person, planet, moon, star, galaxy
10. Deductive reasoning proceeds from ______to ______; inductive, ______to ______.
A. General to specific; specific to general
B. Specific to general; general to specific
C. Guessing to general, general to guessing
D. General to guessing, guessing to general
E. Guessing to specific, specific to guessing
11. True or false: Deduction works onlyif given correct and relevant assumptions.
12. Place the steps of the scientific method in order from start to end:
A. Analysis, Conclusion, Observation, Hypothesis, Experiment
B. Observation, Experiment, Hypothesis, Conclusion, Analysis
C. Observation, Hypothesis, Experiment, Analysis, Conclusion
D. Hypothesis, Observation, Experiment, Analysis, Conclusion
E. Hypothesis, Observation, Experiment, Conclusion, Analysis
13. True or false: An unbalanced coin makingmore heads is a systematic (not statistical) error.
14. “Connecting the dots” in between data points is an example of:
A. Extrapolating
B. Accuracy
C. Statistics
D. Interpolating
E. Methodology
15. In physics and astronomy, how many “sigma” do you need for significance?
A. 1
B. 2
C. 3
D. 4
E. 5
16. Astronomical observations made from earth’s surface are most complicated by:
A. Extreme darkness
B. Cold
C. Aberration
D. Trees
E. Air/Atmosphere
17. Metamaterials could one day allow you to:
A. Travel back in time
B. Go faster than the speed of light
C. Launch yourself into space using free energy
D. Be invisible
E. Fly through the air
18. Discovered by Galileo, the moons of ______let Romer calculate the speed of light.
A. Mercury
B. Venus
C. Jupiter
D. Mars
E. Saturn
19. True or false: We can see the future of distant galaxies by seeing great distances.
20. Einstein explained the photoelectric effect, used in PMTs, where photons:
A. Knock electrons out (ionization)
B. Excite electrons to higher energy levels
C. Excite protons to higher energy levels
D. Warp space and time
E. Violate causality by going back in time
21. In refraction, light typically
A. Changes angle/direction
B. Changes speed/velocity
C. Both A and B.
D. Has entered a new medium
E. A, B, and D (all of the above)
22. Astronauts left a ______on the moon to use with earth-bound lasers.
A. Lens
B. Telescope
C. Mirror
D. Microscope
E. Lander
23. True or false: an electron can experimentally give the appearance of being in 2 placesat once passing through slots.
24. The Hubble space telescope is ______.
A. Galilean in design
B. A refractor
C. A reflector
D. Adaptive optics
E. Cheaper than ground-based
25. True or false: A diffuse (glossy) reflector is great for use within a reflecting telescope.
26. Galileo’s observation of sunspots demonstrated which aspect of the sun?
A. Revolution around center of galaxy
B. Absolute brightness is different than we thought
C. It is the center of the universe
D. Mercury and Venus block out the sun sometimes
E. A slow rotation around its own axis
27. The Giant Magellan Telescope (GMT) uses an “anti-twinkling” system based on
A. Red light
B. Masers
C. Lasers
D. Microwaves
E. Infrared
28. True or false: You need an immovable (at least approximately so) background in order to utilize the parallax effect to measure distances of things much closer than a more distant background.
29. The brightness of Cepheid variable stars depends on:
A. Frequency of change in brightness
B. Distance from earth
C. Your cosmological model
D. Both A and B.
E. A, B, and C (which means all of the above)
30. The slower that galaxies rotate, the less mass they have and thus they are dimmer than galaxies that rotate faster, implying that a slow galaxy contains ______stars. (This is known as the Tully-Fisher relation.)
A. Green-colored
B. Older
C. Younger
D. Fewer and/or smaller
E. More and/or larger
31. We are aware of distances out to ______of light-years or parsecs, in a model-independent fashion.
A. Hundreds
B. Thousands
C. Millions
D. Billions
E. Trillions
32. An object approaching you becomes ______-shifted if approaching you very fast while emitting light. (turn to the next page for your five choices for question 32)
A. Red
B. Orange
C. Yellow
D. Green
E. Blue
33. True or False: Of all the cosmic ladder methods, Doppler redshift works furthest out.
34. Related to astronomy / astrophysics but unique, the term cosmology refers to studying
A. Stars and solar systems
B. Planets
C. Galaxies
D. The universe itself, not objects within it
E. Rogue exoplanets
35. The equation governing the delicate balance between stellar pressure and gravity is called ______, for a typical, main-sequence star (or a spherical planet).
A. Maximum scrunch of iron
B. Ant-gravitational repulsorlift
C. Hydrostatic equilibrium
D. Neutron degeneracy pressure
E. Electron degeneracy pressure
36. Which of the following is the most certain to exist as far as we can tell?
A. Cold fusion
B. Quark stars
C. Black holes
D. White holes
E. Time travel
37. Protons need to be moving very quickly in order to fuse because the ______force makes them repel each other when they get too close to each other under “regular” circumstances.
A. 5-dimensional
B. Weak nuclear
C. Strong nuclear
D. Electromagnetic
E. Gravitational
38. Counterintuitively, protons can decay into ______to make an otherwise unstable nucleus stable, even though when free these particles are actually a bit more massive than protons. (Happens because like protons they are composite particles, made of quarks.)
A. Baryons
B. Neutrinos
C. Anti-neutrinos
D. Anti-electrons
E. Neutrons
39. The absorption and emission of photons (particles of light) by ______lead to the rich, unique spectra we observe from different kinds of stars, telling us what each are made of.
A. Nucleons
B. Neutrinos
C. Gas atoms
D. Positrons
E. Quarks
40. Stars are born inside of ______, which are just great clouds of gas and dust in space.
A. Globular clusters
B. Nebulae
C. Supernovae
D. Hypernovae
E. Event horizons
41. Near the end of its life, a massive star (roughly >1.5x larger than our Sun at least) will become a ______, followed by a supernova and then a neutron star, or a black hole.
A. Blue supergiant
B. Blue giant
C. Red supergiant
D. Red giant
E. Yellow hypergiant
42. Why do the size and mass of a star not necessarily correspond with each other?
A. Stars can vary in density
B. Stars are not all sphere-like
C. Measurement error
D. Our theories are just wrong
E. Mass conversation violated
43. Which fundamental element is responsible for variable stars, via varying degrees of ionization? It is also what stars “burn” hydrogen into while on the main sequence for most of their lives via nuclear fusion, mainly by means of the pp-process.
A. Oxygen
B. Carbon
C. Helium
D. Hydrogen
E. Nitrogen
44. A pulsar is just a rotating ______that happens to also have a strong magnetic field, which helps produce a lighthouse-like effect with radiation that is like precise clockwork.
A. Yellow star
B. White dwarf
C. Neutron star
D. Black hole
E. Quark star
45. Unlike pulsars, variable stars pulsate because they are actually changing density at a fixed mass, leading to physical ______changing, on top of temperature, pressure, color.
A. Life-span
B. Shape
C. Volume/Size
D. Aura
E. Periodicity
46. The ______particle does not wish to be in the same quantum state as another one of its kind, and is responsible for the pressure that resists gravity within white dwarfs, which are products of the collapse of ______stars.
A. Neutron, neutron
B. Proton, red supergiant
C. Electron, red giant
D. Boson, neutron
E. Positron, white giant
47. Can light successfully orbit a black hole?
A. No, but it can just escape because of its speed
B. Yes, but any orbit will decay over time
C. No, never
D. Yes, always
E. Yes, but only for certain angles of approach
48. When a white dwarf collects only hydrogen and detonates its surface, the resultant brightening is called a ______.
A. Type II Supernova
B. Nova
C. Type Ia Supernova
D. Luminous red nova
E. Hypernova
49. When the same star type as 48 collects mass as different elements, it leads to a ______.
A. Type III Supernova
B. Type II-p Supernova
C. Ultranova
D. Big Bang
E. Type Ia Supernova
50. Supernovae can be so bright that they not only outshine our own sun in terms of absolute brightness, and other kinds of stars as well, but also entire ______, full of stars.
A. Universes
B. Solar systems
C. Planets
D. Nebulas
E. Galaxies
51. Through ______, black holes will slowly vanish, “evaporating” to disappear over time.
A. X-ray synchrotron jets
B. Surrounding galaxy
C. White hole on other side
D. Hawking radiation
E. Accretion disk matter
52. The escape velocity for anything at the ______of a black hole is ______, thereby making it difficult to imagine how anything at all could possibly leave.
A. Ergosphere, the speed of sound
B. Photosphere, the speed of light
C. Event horizon, the speed of light
D. Event horizon, the speed of sound
E. Static motion limit, warp speed
53. Which state of matter is NOT typically associated with any planets (because not hot enough)? Because most of the gas inside of stars is made up of ions, and not atoms, stars are most precisely described as being made up of hot this.
A. Plasma
B. Liquid
C. Gas
D. Solid
E. Strange
54. Which one of these moons (parent planet in parentheses) has *no* visible volcanoes of any sort and also has no oceans, neither of water nor another liquid, though we did name parts of it “seas.”
A. Europa (Jupiter)
B. Our Moon (Earth)
C. Triton (Neptune)
D. Enceladus (Saturn)
E. Io (Jupiter)
55. Rings (often invisible except byclose spacecraft) can be seenaroundwhich planet(s)?
A. Jupiter
B. Saturn
C. Uranus
D. Neptune
E. All of the above
56. When does the first day of winter season occur?
A. December 21 always (within the Gregorian calendar)
B. It depends on which hemisphere you are living in
C. It is not a day it is a time, and it changes every year
D. B and C are both true
E. It is a cultural definition without a scientific basis
57. ______is now recognized as the farthest non-dwarf planet from our sun.
A. Nix
B. Uranus
C. Neptune
D. Pluto
E. Eris
58. The habitable or Goldilocks zone in a planetary system is roughly defined as the region not too far away from nor too close to a star, where ______can be a liquid due to moderate temperatures (though many other factors like atmospheric pressure or composition enter.)
A. H2O
B. Methane
C. Natural gas
D. Oil
E. C12H22O11
59. ______is the very general class of star around which we often find protoplanets orbiting.
A. Sol-like
B. G-class yellow
C. Main sequence
D. Protostar
E. T Tauri star
60. How can the gravitational pull of a planet hundreds of times more tons than the Earth not necessarily be hundreds of times higher?
A. Because we do not yet understand at all how gravity works
B. Gravity is a function of both mass as well as distance from the center of an object
C. Other, nearby planets will exert a force in other directions
D. Because gravity is just all in your head
E. Gravity is a function of density not mass
61. The season and time of day being experienced by Europe in this picture. (It sounds similar to a title of one of Shakespeare’s comedies.)
A. Winter morning
B. Summer night
C. Summer day
D. Winter night
E. Autumn evening
62. Interiors of event horizons, planetary rings, ocean motion, the moon’s face, and earth’s precession all relate to
A. Quantum theory
B. Rotational equatorial bulging
C. Gravitational wave production
D. Tidal forces
E. Special relativity
63. ______is our once and future North Star, the bright standard used to define stellar magnitude (and the home of the aliens in Carl Sagan’s Contact.)
A. Rigel
B. Thuban
C. Vega
D. Polaris
E. Sirius
64. We observe ______on rare occasions for the planets closer to the sun than earth, but they are also useful for exoplanet hunters.
A. Transits
B. Occultations
C. Eclipses
D. Lunar eclipses
E. Collapses
65. This class of extrasolar planet is easy to detect, high in temperature due to their proximity to a star, gigantic, and gaseous.
A. Warm Terran
B. Hot Jupiter
C. Sub-Neptunian
D. Hot Super-earth
E. Cold Jupiter
66. One good reason why Pluto can be “disqualified” as a planet using the IAU definition is that it
A. Is not even close to being spherical
B. Has not cleared the neighborhood near its orbit
C. Was discovered too late
D. Does not meet the new minimum size requirement
E. Orbits the Sun much too slowly
67. Although all planets revolve around the Sun the same direction because of how they formed, not all of them are ______.
A. Rotating in the same direction
B. Solid or gaseous
C. Gravitational bound to the Sun
D. Approximately spherical
E. Traveling in closed elliptical orbits
68. Which one of these is NOT one of the currently recognized dwarf planets but “regular”?
A. Pluto
B. Eris
C. Haumea
D. Mercury
E. Ceres
69. Comets on ______orbits swing around, leave forever, but end up with 0 kinetic energy.
A. Circular
B. Ovoid
C. Parabolic
D. Hyperbolic
E. Elliptical
70. Meteor showers are caused by break-up of ______, which may have been responsible for earth’s ______.
A. Ellipses, tidal waves
B. Nebulae, atmosphere
C. Protomatter, oceans
D. Comets, oceans
E. Red matter, Moon
71. The progression from space rock to shooting star in our atmosphere to rock on the ground is
A. Meteoroid, meteorite, meteor
B. Meteoroid, meteor, meteorite
C. Meteor, meteoroid, meteorite
D. Meteorite, meteoroid, meteor
E. Meteorite, meteor, meteoroid
72. When sunlight passes through the atmosphere of a planet, ______changes its angle, but the light maintains the nearly-same direction. (This was the same principle behind our first telescopes.)
A. Refraction
B. Reflection
C. Raman scattering
D. Rayleigh scattering
E. Absorption
73. During a stellar wobble used to find extrasolar planets, when the star is moving towards the Earth, its light is ______relative to us, which is opposite in effect compared to cosmic expansion.
A. Polarized
B. Orangey-shifted
C. Reddened
D. Blue-shifted
E. Red-shifted
74. In the iconic scene from Star Wars, Luke Skywalker quietly watches the binary sunset on Tatooine. Based on what we now know, multiple star systems are quite common.
A. True
B. False
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