Chapter 1-Questions
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Astronomy
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Apr 3, 2024
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Astronomy-110 Chapter-1 1) What is nuclear fusion
? A) an explosion caused by putting together two volatile chemicals B) the process of splitting nuclei to produce energy C) the process of turning matter into pure energy D) the process of combining lightweight nuclei to make heavier nuclei E) a process that only occurs in bombs Answer: D 2) Which of the following statements does not
use the term light
-
year
in an appropriate way? A) It's about 4 light-years from here to Alpha Centauri. B) It will take me light-years to complete this homework assignment. C) A light-year is about 10 trillion kilometers. D) It will take the Voyager spacecraft about 20,000 years to travel just 1 light-year. E) The Milky Way Galaxy is about 100,000 light-years in diameter. Answer: B 3) One light
-
hour
is the distance that light travels in an hour. How far is this, in kilometers? (Recall that the speed of light is 300,000 km/s.) A) 300,000 km B) 18 million km C) 100 million km D) 1.08 billion km E) 9.46 trillion km Answer: D 4) Suppose we look at a photograph of many galaxies. Assuming that all galaxies formed at the same time after the Big Bang, which galaxy appears to us as the youngest? A) the galaxy that is furthest from us B) the galaxy that is closest to us C) the galaxy that appears largest to us D) the galaxy that appears bluest to us E) All galaxies would appear to have the same age. Answer: A 5) Which of the following correctly describes the concept of galactic recycling
? A) Stars near the center of the Milky Way are continually recycled to the outskirts of the disk by their orbital motion. B) Life is continuously being spread from star to star in the Milky Way. C) New stars are continuously being formed in the Milky Way out of gas that has been ejected from a previous generation of stars. D) New galaxies are continuously being formed out of gas ejected from a previous generation of galaxies. E) In the formation of a star, no matter is wasted as all excess material ends up recycled into planets. Answer: C
6) Which of the following is smallest? A) size of a typical planet B) 1 light-second C) 1 AU D) size of a typical star Answer: A 7) Which of the following is largest? A) size of a typical galaxy B) size of Pluto's orbit C) distance to the nearest star (other than our Sun) D) 1 light-year Answer: A 8) On the scale of the cosmic calendar, in which the history of the universe is compressed to 1 year, how long has human civilization (
i.e
., since ancient Egypt) existed? A) about half the year B) about a month C) a few hours D) a few seconds E) less than a millionth of a second Answer: D 9) From the fact that virtually every galaxy is moving away from us and more distant galaxies are moving away from us at a faster rate than closer ones, we conclude that A) the Milky Way Galaxy is expanding. B) we are located at the center of the universe. C) the farthest galaxies will eventually be moving faster than the speed of light. D) the universe is expanding. E) the universe is shrinking. Answer: D 10) By studying distant galaxies in the 1920s, Hubble made the following important discovery that led us to conclude that the universe is expanding. A) All galaxies contain billions of stars, and all galaxies have spiral shapes. B) All galaxies were born at the same time, and all will die at the same time. C) All galaxies outside the Local Group are moving away from us, and the farther away they are, the faster they're going. D) All galaxies outside the Local Group are orbiting the Local Group. E) All galaxies outside the Local Group are moving away from us, and all are moving away at nearly the same speed. Answer: C
11) Imagine that we put a raisin cake into the oven, with each raisin separated from the others by 1 cm. An hour later, we take it out and the distances between raisins are 3 cm. If you lived in one of the raisins and watched the other raisins as the cake expanded, which of the following would you conclude? A) All raisins would be moving away from you at the same speed. B) More distant raisins would be moving away from you faster. C) More distant raisins would be moving away from you more slowly. D) It depends: If you lived in a raisin near the left side of the cake, you'd see other raisins moving away from you, but they'd be coming toward you if you lived in a raisin near the right side of the cake. Answer: B 12) How many seconds are in one year? (Calculate this, do not look it up.) A) about 380 million (380,000,000, or 3.8 × 10
8
) B) about 30 million (30,000,000, or 3 × 10
7
) C) about 86 thousand (86,000, or 8.6 × 10
5
) D) about 3,600 (3.6 × 10
3
) Answer: B 13) The speed of light is about 300,000 km/s (3 × 10
5
km/s). How far does light travel in 30 seconds? A) 9 million km (9,000,000, or 9 × 10
6
km) B) 10 thousand km (10,000, or 10
6
km) C) 300 thousand km (300,000, or 3 × 10
5 km) D) 900 thousand km (900,000, or 9 × 10
5
km) Answer: A 14) One light-minute is the distance light travels in one minute. The speed of light is about 300,000 km/s (3×10
5
km/s). How far is one light-minute? A) 300 thousand km (300,000, or 3 × 10
5
km) B) 18 million km (18,000,000, or 1.8 × 10
7 km) C) 1.08 billion km (1,080,000,000, or 1.08 × 10
9
km) D) 9.46 trillion km (9,460,000,000,000, or 9.46 × 10
12
km) Answer: B 15) One light-hour is the distance light travels in one hour. The speed of light is about 300,000 km/s (3 × 10
5
km/s). How far is 1 light-hour? A) 300 thousand km (300,000, or 3 × 10
5
km) B) 18 million km (18,000,000, or 1.8 × 10
7
km) C) 1.08 billion km (1,080,000,000, or 1.08 ×10
9
km) D) 9.46 trillion km (9,460,000,000,000, or 9.46 × 10
12
km) Answer: C 16) The planet Neptune is, on average, about 4.5 billion km from the sun. How long does it take light from the sun to reach Neptune? (Recall that the speed of light is about 300,000 km/s) A) about 4 seconds B) about 4 minutes C) about 4 hours D) about 4 days Answer: C
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17) One light-year is the distance light travels in one year. The speed of light is about 300,000 km/s (3 × 10
5
km/s). How far is 1 light-year? A) 300 thousand km (300,000, or 3 × 10
5
km) B) 18 million km (18,000,000, or 1.8 × 10
7
km) C) 1.08 billion km (1,080,000,000, or 1.08 × 10
9
km) D) 9.46 trillion km (9,460,000,000,000, or 9.46 × 10
12
km) Answer: D Solution: 1 light-year = (speed of light) × (1 yr) = × = 9,460,000,000,000 km 18) The Earth has a radius of about 6,000 km. How long would it take for an object traveling at the speed of light to circle the earth? (Recall that the speed of light is 300,000 km/s) A) 1/300,000 of a second (0.0000033 s) B) 1/50 of a second (0.02s) C) 1/ 6000 of a second (0.00015 s) D) 1/2 of a second (0.5 s) Answer: B 19) Our solar system is located about 27,000 light-years from the galactic center. How far does our solar system travel in one orbit? A) 54,000 light-years B) 85,000 light-years C) 100,000 light-years D) 170,000 light-years Answer: D 20) You have taken a picture of a galaxy 1 billion light years away. That picture shows A) a galaxy that is 1 billion years old. B) a galaxy that is 13 billion years old. C) a galaxy as it was 1 billion years ago. D) a galaxy that is 1 billion light years old. Answer: C 21) According to current scientific estimates, when did the Big Bang occur? A) about 10 billion years ago B) about 4.5 billion years ago C) about 14 billion years ago D) about 20 billion years ago E) about 65 million years ago Answer: C
22) How do scientists estimate how old the universe is? A) They look up the answer in a book. B) They measure the abundances of radioactive elements in meteorites, and use their half-lives to calculate the age. C) They measure how fast the Sun is losing energy, and how much energy it has to lose. D) They make a guess; no one really knows how old the universe is. E) They measure the speeds and distances of galaxies, and calculate the time it took for them to travel that distance. Answer: E 23) Which object has aged the most since it emitted the light we see today? A) a star near the center of the Milky Way B) a star in the Andromeda Galaxy C) the Sun D) Pluto Answer: B 24) What do we mean when we say that the universe is expanding
? A) Everything in the universe is gradually growing in size. B) Within galaxies, average distances between star systems are increasing with time. C) The statement is not meant to be literal; rather, it means that our knowledge of the universe is growing. D) Average distances between galaxies are increasing with time. Answer: D 25) Based on observations of the universal expansion, the age of the universe is about ________. A) 14,000 years B) 14 million years C) 14 billion years D) 14 trillion years Answer: C 26) A television advertisement claiming that a product is light-years ahead of its time does not make sense because ________. A) it doesn't specify the number of light-years B) it uses "light-years" to talk about time, but a light-year is a unit of distance C) a light-year is an astronomically large unit, so a product could not possibly be so advanced D) light-years can only be used to talk about light Answer: B 27) An astronomical unit (AU) is ________. A) any very large unit, such as a light-year B) the average
distance between Earth and the Sun C) the current
distance between Earth and the Sun D) the average distance between any planet and the Sun Answer: B
28) What is the ecliptic plane? A) the plane of Earth's orbit around the Sun B) the plane of Earth's equator C) the plane of the Sun's equator D) the plane of the Milky Way Galaxy Answer: A 29) How long does it take the Earth to complete one orbit around the Sun? A) one year B) one day C) one month D) one week E) The time it takes Earth to orbit the Sun changes significantly from one orbit to the next. Answer: A 30) When we look at an object that is 1,000 light-years away, we see it ________. A) as it was 1,000 years ago B) as it was 1,000 light-years ago C) as it is right now, but it appears 1,000 times dimmer D) looking just the same as our ancestors would have seen it 1,000 years ago Answer: A 31) Suppose we look at two distant galaxies: Galaxy 1 is twice as far away as Galaxy 2. In that case, ________. A) Galaxy 1 must be twice as big as Galaxy 2 B) we are seeing Galaxy 1 as it looked at an earlier
time in the history of the universe than Galaxy 2 C) we are seeing Galaxy 1 as it looked at a later
time in the history of the universe than Galaxy 2 D) Galaxy 2 must be twice as old as Galaxy 1 Answer: B 32) Where is our solar system located within the Milky Way Galaxy? A) very near the center of the galaxy B) at the far edge of the galaxy's visible disk C) roughly halfway between the center and the edge of the visible disk of the galaxy D) in the halo of the galaxy Answer: C 33) Relative to the age of the universe, how old is our solar system? A) It is about 1% as old as the universe. B) It is between about 5% and 10% as old as the universe. C) It is about one-third the age of the universe. D) It is nearly the same age as the universe. Answer: C 34) Astronomers infer that the universe is expanding because distant galaxies all appear to ________. A) be growing in size B) be moving away from us, with more distant ones moving faster C) be made mostly of dark matter D) rotate rapidly Answer: B
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True/False Questions 1) Our solar system is located in the center of the Milky Way Galaxy. Answer: FALSE 2) The observable universe is the same size today as it was a few billion years ago. Answer: FALSE 3) The Milky Way is moving further away from most other galaxies in the universe. Answer: TRUE