Physics 5

Midterm #1

Oct 13

 

 

 

1.                Why isn’t there a lunar eclipse every month?

 

a.       The moon is too large

b.      Retrograde motion

c.      The Moon’s orbit has a very high eccentricity

d.      The Moon’s orbit is slightly inclined with respect to Earth’s orbit

 

2.                Ptolemy’s geocentric model of the universe was based on the idea that:

 

a.       Everything revolves around Earth

b.      Earth is the largest object in the universe

c.      All planets move in ellipses

d.      Earth is flat

 

3.                Retrograde motion is:

 

a.       The motion of stars across the night sky

b.      The cause of the phases of Venus

c.      The motion of some planets in epicycles

d.      The appearance that some planets occasionally change their direction of motion

 

4.                The shape of a planet’s orbit around the Sun is a(n):

 

a.       Circle

b.      Ellipse

c.      Perihelion

d.      Trapezoid

 

5.                The distance from the Sun to Earth is:

 

a.       1 astronomical unit

b.      1 Light Year

c.      1 Parsec

d.      1 arcsecond

 

6.                Kepler’s 3rd Law predicts:

 

a.       Uranus will have a more eccentric orbit than Mercury

b.      Uranus will weigh more than Mercury

c.      Uranus will have a longer year than Mercury

d.      Uranus will have a longer day than Mercury

 

7.                If you throw a baseball, the force of gravity on the ball from Earth is __________ the force of gravity on Earth from the ball.

 

a.       Greater than

b.      Less than

c.      Equal to

d.      Not related to

 

8.                Who discovered that the laws of physics were the same in the sky as on Earth?

 

a.       Isaac Newton

b.      Galileo Galilei

c.      Nicholas Copernicus

d.      Tycho Brahe

 

9.                What gives astronomers virtually all of their information?

 

a.       Light

b.      Sound

c.      Motion

d.      Gravity

 

10.             Which of the following is NOT true about light?

 

a.       Light travels faster than other types of waves

b.      Light can only travel with one particular frequency

c.      Light needs no medium to propagate

d.      Light travels in energy packets called photons

 

11.             What determines the color of light?

 

a.       Wavelength

b.      Amplitude

c.      Velocity

d.      Direction

 

12.             What band of electromagnetic radiation has the highest frequency?

 

a.       Ultraviolet

b.      Infrared

c.      Radio

d.      Gamma ray

 

13.             Star A has a temperature of 6000K, and Star B is at 9000K.  Both stars have the same radius.  Which star radiates more energy?

 

a.       A

b.      B

c.      They radiate the same amount of energy

d.      Not enough information

 

14.             A light bulb sends light through a cool gas, then a prism.  A person looking at the resulting spectrum would see:

 

a.       A continuous spectrum

b.      Emission lines

c.      Absorption lines

d.      Nothing

 

15.             The Sun gives off most of its radiation in the _______ range.

 

a.       Radio

b.      X-ray

c.      Visible

d.      Infrared

 

16.             You can determine the line-of-sight velocity of objects by measuring their:

 

a.       Temperature

b.      Magnetic field

c.      Brightness

d.      Doppler shift

 

17.             Which of the following is NOT a reason reflecting telescopes are preferred over refracting telescopes?

 

a.       Mirrors have a much larger focal length

b.      Mirrors can be supported from behind, so they can be much bigger

c.      A lens will focus light to different points, depending on color

d.      A lens will absorb more light than a mirror

 

18.             If light passes through a hole in the primary mirror to get to the eyepiece of your telescope, what kind of telescope are you using?

 

a.       Prime focus

b.      Newtonian focus

c.      Cassegrain focus

d.      Coude focus

 

19.             Telescope A has a larger mirror than telescope B.  Telescope A will have:

 

a.       More light gathering power

b.      Better resolving power

c.      a & b

d.      None of the above

 

20.             Ways to improve the seeing of a telescope do NOT include:

 

a.       Putting the telescope in space

b.      Putting the telescope on top of a mountain

c.      Using adaptive optics

d.      Putting the telescope somewhere hot

 

21.             CCD stands for:

 

a.       Computer controlled device

b.      Charge coupled device

c.      Charge controlled device

d.      Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries

 

22.             The largest telescopes are used for what branch of astronomy?

 

a.       X-ray

b.      Infrared

c.      Optical

d.      Radio

 

23.             The main objective of interferometers is to improve:

 

a.       Angular resolution

b.      Field of view

c.      Bandwidth

d.      Chromatic aberration

 

24.             Why is x-ray astronomy fundamentally different than optical astronomy?

 

a.       Stars do not emit x-rays

b.      X-rays do not reflect easily

c.      X-rays are not detectable

d.      We don’t know of any x-ray sources in our galaxy

 

25.             Approximately how long does it take light to travel from the closest star (not the Sun) to Earth?

 

a.       4 minutes

b.      4 hours

c.      4 days

d.      4 years

 

26.             How many arcminutes are in a full circle?

 

a.       216

b.      2160

c.      21,600

d.      216,000

 

27.             A lunar eclipse can only occur during:

 

a.       Full moon

b.      New moon

c.      1st quarter

d.      3rd quarter

 

28.             Astronomers measure the distance of two stars using parallax, using the same baseline for both stars.  Star A has a smaller parallax angle than Star B.  Which of the following is true?

 

a.       Star A is closer

b.      Star B is closer

c.      Star A is moving toward us faster

d.      Star B is moving toward us faster

 

29.             Atoms absorb and emit photons because a(n) _________ changes energy levels.

 

a.       photon

b.      proton

c.      neutron

d.      electron

 

30.             We can measure the mass of planets by:

 

a.       Their size

b.      Their gravitational pull on other objects

c.      Their distance from the Sun

d.      There is no way to determine their masses

 

31.             If the wavelength of a photon is doubled, then the frequency is:

 

a.       ¼ the original

b.      ½ the original

c.      2 times the original

d.      4 times the original

 

32.             Two objects (blackbodies) are radiating light.  Object A is glowing red, and Object B is glowing white.  What is true about these objects?

 

a.       Object B is hotter

b.      Object A emits an emission spectrum

c.      Both objects emit mostly ultraviolet light

d.      Neither object will emit a continuous spectrum

 

33.             Which of the following is the largest distance?

 

a.       The distance to the Moon

b.      The distance to another galaxy

c.      1 AU

d.      1 Parsec

 

34.             A light year is a unit of:

 

a.       Energy

b.      Area

c.      Distance

d.      Mass

 

35.             If you see a total solar eclipse, you are in the:

 

a.       Umbra

b.      Penumbra

c.      Palabra

d.      Tequila

 

36.             How do we measure position in the sky?

 

a.       Longitude and Latitude

b.      Right Ascension and Rotation

c.      Right Ascension and Declination

d.      Rotation and Declination

 

37.             The motion of stars in the night sky is due to:

 

a.       Stars moving in space

b.      Earth’s orbit around the sun

c.      The Milky Way’s rotation

d.      Earth’s rotation

 

38.             Today is the longest day of the year, and the Sun will be the highest in the sky it will get.  Today is:

 

a.       Autumnal Equinox

b.      Winter Solstice

c.      Vernal Equinox

d.      Summer Solstice

 

39.             Tonight the Moon is full.  The moon will be new in approximately:

 

a.       6 days

b.      14 days

c.      20 days

d.      29 days

 

40.             Solar eclipse occurs when:

 

a.       The Moon is between the Sun and Earth

b.      The Sun is between Earth and the Moon

c.      Earth is between the Sun and the Moon

d.      None of the above