Chapter 3

Question 1

People of central Africa learned to predict rainfall patterns by tracking rainfall amounts and

Answer 1

By observing the orientation of the crescent Moon relative to the horizon

Question 2

The names of the seven days of the week are based on the

Answer 2

Seven objects seen with a naked eye that appear to move among the constellations

Question 3

At the Sun Dagger in New Mexico, a dagger-shaped beam of sunlight pierced a spiral

Answer 3

At noon on the summer solstice.

Question 4

Which of the following was an important reason why most ancient Greeks rejected the notion that the Earth orbits the Sun?

Answer 4

They could not measure small changes in the positions of stars that occur as Earth orbits the Sun.

Question 5

Which person developed a system for predicting planetary positions that remained in use forsome 1500 years?

Answer 5

Ptolemy

Question 6

In terms of the history of science, we give special credit to the ancient Greeks because as far as is known, they

Answer 6

were the first to seek natural explanations for what they observed

Question 7

Which person discovered that the orbits of planets are ellipses

Answer 7

Kepler

Question 8

Which person tried fitting perfect circles to Tycho’s data, but in doing so found discrepancies of up to 8 arc minutes. Because he was confident that Tycho’s data had uncertainties of only 1arc minute, he abandoned perfect circles, which led him to a model using elliptical orbits

Answer 8

Kepler

Question 9

Which of the following statements about scientific models is true

Answer 9

A model can be used to explain and predict real phenomena

Question 10

What do scientists mean by verifiable observations

Answer 10

statements that a person can, in principle, verify for himself or herself

Question 11

What is meant by a hypothesis?

Answer 11

a tentative explanation for a phenomenon that can be tested with observations or experiments

Question 12

What expresses what we mean by a scientific theory

Answer 12

a simple model that explains a wide variety of phenomena and that has survived repeated tests

Question 13

When did humans first confirm that Earth is not the center of the universe

Answer 13

about 400 years ago

Question 14

What practical value did astronomy offer to ancient civilizations

Answer 14

It helped them keep track of time and seasons, and it was used by some cultures for navigation

Question 15

Scientific thinking is

Answer 15

based on everyday ideas of observation and trial-and-error experiments

Question 16

What do we mean by a geocentric model of the universe

Answer 16

a model designed to explain what we see in the sky while having the Earth located in the center of the universe