Midterm prac q's Flashcards
(54 cards)
Which of the following statements is false?
a) The planets all orbit in the same direction.
b) The planets all orbit in nearly the same plane.
c) The planets’ orbits are all elliptical.
d) The planets all travel at the same average speed as each other in their orbits.
e) The planets all move at a faster speed when they are closer to the Sun than when they
are further from the Sun
d) The planets all travel at the same average speed as each other in their orbits.
When is the moon closest to the Sun?
a) During a new moon.
b) During a waxing crescent.
c) During a waning crescent.
d) During a full moon.
e) During a quarter moon
a) During a new moon.
Which of the following pairs of objects are closest in size to each other?
a) The Sun and Jupiter.
b) Saturn and Neptune.
c) Jupiter and Mercury.
d) The Solar System and the Milky Way galaxy.
e) The Earth and the Oort Cloud
b) Saturn and Neptune.
When does a solar eclipse happen?
a) When the moon crosses the ecliptic plane and it is a new moon.
b) When the moon crosses the ecliptic plane and it is a full moon.
c) Whenever the moon crosses the ecliptic plane.
d) When the moon passes through the shadow of the earth.
e) Whenever it is the fall or autumn equinox and the moon is at the furthest point in its
orbit from Earth
a) When the moon crosses the ecliptic plane and it is a new moon.
If the moon were twice as far away from us, tides on Earth would be _____, and occur ______
a) More extreme and Much more often.
b) Less extreme and About the same frequency
c) The same level and Much less often
d) Less extreme and Much more often
b) Less extreme and About the same frequency
Suppose Earth had a second moon with a 14-day orbital period. How many high tides would we
experience per day?
a) There would always be two high tides.
b) Four, except when the two moons align.
c) Two, except when the two moons align.
d) There would always be four high tides
b) Four, except when the two moons align.
When is the angular momentum of a planet the largest?
a) When it is further from the Sun
b) When it is closer to the Sun
c) During the equinoxes
d) It is always the same
d) It is always the same
always conserved
If a wave suddenly slowed down to half its original speed but kept its same frequency, what
would happen to its wavelength?
a) The wavelength would decrease by a factor of 2
b) The wavelength would decrease by a factor of 4
c) The wavelength would stay the same
d) The wavelength would increase by a factor of 2
e) The wavelength would increase by a factor of 4
a) The wavelength would decrease by a factor of 2
In what range of wavelengths does the Sun’s spectrum peak?
a) Microwave light
b) Optical light
c) Ultraviolet light
d) X-ray light
b) Optical light
You observe the spectrum of a star today. In a few days, you observe it again and notice that the
absorption lines in the stellar spectrum have moved towards shorter wavelengths. What
happened?
a) The star is now moving away from us
b) The star is now moving towards us
c) The star is decreasing its size
d) The star is increasing its size
b) The star is now moving towards us
Given that the Sun maintains hydrostatic equilibrium, what would happen if the core were to
shrink, increasing its density?
a) The rate of nuclear fusion would be unaffected, and the increased gravity would make it
keep shrinking until it turns into a black hole.
b) The rate of nuclear fusion would be unaffected, but the core would naturally bounce
back to the equilibrium size.
c) The rate of nuclear fusion would increase, increasing the temperature and pressure. This
would make the core expand back to the equilibrium size.
d) The rate of nuclear fusion would increase, increasing the temperature and decreasing the
pressure. With less pressure, the core would expand back to the equilibrium size.
e) The rate of nuclear fusion would decrease, decreasing temperature and increasing
pressure. This would make the core expand back to the equilibrium size
c) The rate of nuclear fusion would increase, increasing the temperature and pressure. This
hen nuclei fuse together in the core of the Sun, they release energy. Where does the energy
come from?
a) Before they collided, they had high speed. The lost speed gets converted into energy.
b) A powerful chemical reaction occurs that produces excess energy.
c) The fusion produces radioactive uranium, which releases energy when it decays into
lighter elements.
d) The total mass of the nuclei that fused together was greater than the mass of the
resulting nucleus. The missing mass has been converted into energy.
e) After fusion, there are fewer nuclei, thereby decreasing the density of the core. This
causes the core to shrink and heat up, releasing energy.
The total mass of the nuclei that fused together was greater than the mass of the
resulting nucleus. The missing mass has been converted into energy.
The axis of Earth’s rotation is tilted about 23.5° degrees with respect to the ecliptic plane. What is the ecliptic plane?
The plane containing the orbit of the Earth about the Sun
State what is special about the length of the day on each of the following days of the year: the spring equinox, the summer solstice, the fall equinox, the winter solstice.
Spring and fall equinox, the length of day and night are EQUAL. Summer solstice, the day is shortest and winter solstice, the NIGHTS are shortest.
Explain what is special about the length of the day above the arctic circle on summer solstice?
Sun doesn’t set in the arctic circle on the summer solstice.
Explain why each configuration represents a Spring tide.
It’s when the Earth, Moon and Sun are in ALIGNMENT.
There is a full moon where earth is CLOSER to the sun
There is a full moon where earth is FURTHER from the Sun
If you doubled the distance from the Earth to the Sun (i.e., if the semi-major axis of the Earth’s orbit changed from 1 AU to 2 AU), what would happen to the length of the year on Earth? Include any equation you used to determine the length of the year
Semi-major axis is the longest diameter of the elliptical orbit. If you double the length, the distance increases by factor of 4 and becomes 8 AU.
a^2=p^3; p=distance so becomes 2^3=8 AU
Which phrase is correct?
a) The sun is 8.3 light years away from the earth.
b) One astronomical unit is 8.3 light minutes.
c) It takes light 8.3 minutes to travel from the sun to the earth.
d) b + c
d) b + c
Why would the constellations look the same no matter what planet in the Solar System we lived
on?
a) Stars are very far away.
b) The angle between each planet’s celestial equator and the ecliptic are the same.
c) Each planet precesses like a spinning top
d) The celestial pole points in the direction of Polaris.
e) Because my horoscope for today said the Sun passing through X is lucky for me
a) Stars are very far away.
The ecliptic is:
a) the orbit of the Earth around the Sun,
b) the path of the Sun on the Celestial Sphere,
c) the projection of the Earth’s equator into space,
d) the days of the year when the Sun shines equally on both hemispheres
b) the path of the Sun on the Celestial Sphere,
I look up at the moon and notice that the moon is full. I jump in my rocket and head to the moon.
When I land on the moon I look back at the Earth. What phase of the Earth do I see?
a) full
b) waxing quarter
c) waning gibbous
d) new
e) “phases” is a term only applied to the moon
d) new
Because when the Moon is full, the side of Earth facing it is unlit from the Moon’s perspective—so Earth appears in its new phase.
Total lunar eclipses are more rare
a) than penumbral lunar eclipses
b) than full moons
c) than super moons
d) than all of the above
d) than all of the above
The moon looks red during a lunar eclipse because
a) sunlight is more red than blue
b) the sun’s light is bent as it passes through the Earth’s atmosphere
c) the sun’s light reflects off the moon’s atmosphere
d) it happens at night once the sun has set
b) the sun’s light is bent as it passes through the Earth’s atmosphere
The escape velocity from the surface of the Earth
a) depends on the distance that the object is from the centre of the Earth
b) depends on the mass of the object
c) depends on the temperature of the object
d) depends on the mass of the Earth
d) depends on the mass of the Earth
