Chapter 1&2

Question 1

What is the Universe?

Answer 1

The totality of everything in existence

Question 2

What do scientists do to test the validity of a hypothesis?

Answer 2

Conduct experiments and observations

Question 3

How is the number 500,000 written in scientific notation?

Answer 3

5x10 to the 5th

Question 4

What is a nanometer?

Answer 4

One billionth of a meter
Or
10 to the -9

Question 5

How many arc seconds are there in an angle of one degree?

Answer 5

3600
1* = 60’ (arc minutes)
1’ = 60” (arc seconds)

Question 6

Which represents the biggest distance:

1 pc, 1 AU, or 1 ly?

Answer 6

1 pc= 3.262 ly
1 ly = 6x10 to the 12th miles
1AU= 93x10 to the 6th miles

Question 7

Today, what is a pattern of bright stars called?

Answer 7

Asterism

Question 8

Why do we have seasonal stars?

Answer 8

Because of the Earths orbit around the Sun

Question 9

What causes the seasons we experience on the Earth?

Answer 9

The 23.5* tilt of the Earth’s rotation axis

Question 10

What type of day is the true rotation period of the Earth?

Answer 10

Sidereal Day

Question 11

If a star rises tonight at 11:00 pm, when will it rise tomorrow night?

Answer 11

10:56pm

Stars rise about 4 minutes earlier each night

Question 12

Where must you be on the Earth to have the north celestial pole at your zenith?

Answer 12

On the North Pole

Question 13

What is the ecliptic?

Answer 13

Earths orbital plain and the apparent path of the Sun

Question 14

What two celestial coordinates are used to specify the positions of objects in the sky

Answer 14

Declination and Right Ascension

Question 15

Why is Polaris not always the North Star for the Earth

Answer 15

The Earth’s rotation axis precesses

Question 16

What is retrograde motion for the planets

Answer 16

Motion backwards from normal motion

Question 17

As far as we know, who first accurately measured the size of the Earth

Answer 17

Eratosthenes

Question 18

What type of model was the one promoted by Copernicus

Answer 18

Heliocentric

Question 19

What was Tycho’s major contribution to astronomy

Answer 19

Accurate planetary positional data

Question 20

According to Kepler’s laws, where is the Sun located in a planet’s orbit

Answer 20

At one focus of the ellipse

Question 21

What is meant by inertia

Answer 21

Tendency for constant velocity motion

Question 22

What did Galileo prove by observing Venus and Jupiter through his telescope

Answer 22

The Earth is not the center of all motion (the geocentric model is wrong)

Question 23

What is Newton’s second law of motion

Answer 23

Force equals mass times acceleration, F=ma

Question 24

Why do objects weigh more on Earth than they do on the Moon

Answer 24

The Earth is much more massive than the moon

Question 25

What is Earth doing at this very moment

Answer 25

Freefalling into the Sun

Question 26

According to Newton, light behaves as if it is made of what

Answer 26

Particles (colored)

Question 27

According to Young, light seems to act like what

Answer 27

A wave (of some unknown type)

Question 28

Did Maxwell confirm Young's result? If so, according to Maxwell what is light

Answer 28

Yes- light is an electromagnetic wave

Question 29

According to Einstein, energy within light comes in the form of what (and its name)

Answer 29

Particles (photons)

Question 30

Today, what do physicists state about the nature of light

Answer 30

Light has a "wave-particle duality" of nature (it shows both aspects)

Question 31

Which has a longer wavelength: violet light or red light? Which has more energy

Answer 31

Red light has a longer wavelength (and less energy) than violet light

Question 32

Which differs greatly from others: x-rays, radio waves, sound waves, visible light

Answer 32

Sound waves (all of the others are light)

Question 33

You want to observe the x-rays that an object emits. Where is your telescope located

Answer 33

In space (above the Earth's atmosphere)

Question 34

Sirius is white, Betelgeuse is red, and Spica is blue. List these stars from hottest to coolest

Answer 34

Spica (blue) is the hottest, then Sirius, and the Betelgeuse (red) is the coolest

Question 35

What do astronomers use to determine the chemical composition of the stars

Answer 35

Spectroscopy (spectral analysis)

Question 36

A very hot, dense, glowing object produces what type of spectrum

Answer 36

Continuous

Question 37

A warm glowing cloud produces what type of spectrum

Answer 37

Emission

Question 38

The Sun (and other stars) produces which type of spectrum

Answer 38

Absorption

Question 39

Are normal atoms overall positively, negatively, or neutrally charged

Answer 39

Normal atoms are always neutrally charged

Question 40

According to Rutherford's results, the nucleus of the atom is what (three answers)

Answer 40

Small, massive and positively charged

Question 41

Within the atom, where are neutrons and protons located

Answer 41

The nucleus (center)

Question 42

When atoms absorb photons, the electrons can move to (-------) orbits

Answer 42

Higher

Question 43

When electrons move to (-----) orbits, atoms emit photons

Answer 43

Lower

Question 44

What transitions of the electron within the hydrogen atom result in the Balmer series

Answer 44

The second and all the higher orbits

Question 45

The spectrum of the light from a star exhibits a blue shift. What does this mean

Answer 45

It's moving towards us

Question 46

The wavelength of the hydrogen alpha line is 656.28 nm. In a stars spectrum, this line is observed at a wavelength of 657.28. Is the star moving towards or away from us? How do u immediately know?

Answer 46

It is moving away from us, its wavelength is now longer, or a red shift