Earth Quizzes (Planets, life, etc.)

Question 1

What are the terrestrial planets?

Answer 1

Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars

Question 2

Around 4.5 billion years ago, the early Earth experienced a catastrophic impact. What resulted from this event?

Answer 2

The formation of the Moon

Question 3

As planets develop, denser material sinks toward the center of the planet while lighter material moves toward the surface. This process is called…

Answer 3

Differentiation

Question 4

What technique for finding exoplanets involves looking for the shift in spectral lines caused by the star’s motions?

Answer 4

Doppler Technique

Question 5

Why are terrestrial planets largely devoid of light elements like Hydrogen and Helium (compared to the gas giants)?

Answer 5

The temperature in the region was so high that most of those elements were evaporated. Solar winds blew the light elements away from those planets. Radiation pressure from the sun pushed the light elements away from those planets.
It is NOT because the initial gas cloud which formed the sun and planets was already devoid of the light elements in that specific region.

Question 6

What are 3 pieces of evidence supporting the idea that Mars once had water?

Answer 6

Layers of sedimentary rock, deep canyons, and sulfide minerals.

Question 7

During the period of heavy bombardment, numerous large collisions would leave imprints on the impacted body, evidenced by the heavily cratered surface of our moon. What is the main reason we don’t see more imprints of these collisions here on Earth?

Answer 7

Erosion and volcanic activity gradually diminished most of these imprints over time.

Question 8

Which of the following tectonic plate motions is responsible for the formation of deep-sea trenches, such as the Marianas Trench?

Answer 8

Ocean-Ocean convergence

Question 9

What 3 things helped our Earth develop and retain its atmosphere?

Answer 9

Gases trapped under the surface of the Earth escaping through volcanoes, comets vaporizing into gas as they impacted the Earth, and gases being freed from Earth’s crust by collisions.
What did NOT help was gas atoms keeping a high thermal velocity for being close to the sun

Question 10

What results from oceanic divergence?

Answer 10

New seafloor is created

Question 11

What two things can be used to reveal the various stages of Earth’s history?

Answer 11

Rock layers and fossils, and elemental abundances

Question 12

What is the habitable zone around a star?

Answer 12

The range of distances from a star that can support water in liquid form

Question 13

What event caused the extinction of the dinosaurs approximately 65 million years ago?

Answer 13

A large meteor crashed into Earth in the Gulf of Mexico

Question 14

Why is Pluto a bad place to look for life in our Solar System?

Answer 14

It is too cold, with no liquid water

Question 15

What does the ‘assumption of mediocrity’ imply?

Answer 15

The initial conditions needed to kickstart life are not special

Question 16

What is true about photosynthesis in plants?

Answer 16

Both water and sunlight are necessary reactants for photosynthesis to occur. Photosynthesis is largely responsible for the oxygen levels in the atmosphere. Photosynthesis is also largely responsible for the carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere.

Question 17

What phenomena allowed living organisms to move from the sea to the land?

Answer 17

Formation of the ozone layer

Question 18

What is true about oxygen in the atmosphere?

Answer 18

Oxygen was first produced by microorganisms via photosynthesis. The amount of oxygen has changed over the course of Earth’s evolution. Oxygen was produced in huge amounts about 2.4 billion years ago.
It DOES NOT make up about 50% of the Earth’s atmosphere.

Question 19

Which part of the electromagnetic spectrum is least absorbed by greenhouse gases and the atmosphere?

Answer 19

Visible

Question 20

Without greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide, the temperature of the Earth would increase? decrease? or not change?

Answer 20

Decrease

Question 21

What type of chemical bond occurs when one electron is transferred between the outermost shells of the two atoms, making each of those shells complete?

Answer 21

Ionic bond

Question 22

The number of electrons in the outermost shell of an atom largely dictates the atom’s chemical properties and its likelihood of entering into reactions. What is the name of this shell?

Answer 22

The valence shell

Question 23

What element is the main basis for life on Earth?

Answer 23

Carbon

Question 24

Organic molecules are mostly made of what two atoms?

Answer 24

Carbon and hydrogen atoms

Question 25

What properties of water make it essential for life on Earth?

Answer 25

Its cohesive and adhesive properties, its high heat capacity, and its polar solvent nature which facilitate chemical reactions.

Question 26

What is true of proteins?

Answer 26

A protein is a polypeptide formed by the combination of amino acids via peptide bonds. The blueprint for producing proteins is stored in DNA. Proteins contain multiple structural levels resulting from corkscrew-like twists, bends, folds and other bonds.
Proteins are NOT found only in muscular tissue to help in muscle contractions and pumping blood.

Question 27

What is the smallest unit of life that can function independently and perform all necessary functions?

Answer 27

A cell

Question 28

The versatility of carbon and its ability to form millions of molecules is the basis for organic chemistry. What is true of its versatility?

Answer 28

A carbon atom can simultaneously make four covalent bonds. Varying the spatial structure of its atomic bonds results in the formation of different isomers. Carbon bonds have the ability to rotate freely.

Question 29

What is true of DNA and RNA?

Answer 29

They differ in their sugar group, which constructs the backbone of the molecules along with a phosphate group. They both consist of nucleotides which are linked together through covalent bonds. Three of the four bases making up DNA and RNA are identical (adenine, cytosine, and guanine).
They DO NOT both have a double-stranded structure forming a helix shape.

Question 30

What best describes Ribonucleic acid (RNA)?

Answer 30

It is a messenger molecule which takes instructions from DNA and uses them to direct the production of proteins.

Question 31

In order to have a stabilized structure of lipid molecules, a two-layered structure called a lipid bilayer is required. Describe this sructure.

Answer 31

The two layers are oriented in opposite directions, with hydrophilic heads of fatty acids facing toward the edges of the structure and the hydrophobic tails facing toward the interior.

Question 32

What is true about adenosine triphosphate (ATP)?

Answer 32

It is composed of adenine, ribose, and three phosphates. It is a high-energy molecule due to the presence of the last two unstable phosphate bonds. It is known as the energy currency of a cell.

Question 33

What is the primary difference between prokaryotes and eukaryotes?

Answer 33

Eukaryotes have a nucleus within the cell while prokaryotes do not.

Question 34

Which of the following best describes the process of endosymbiosis?

Answer 34

It is the combination of two simple prokaryotic cells to produce one eukaryotic cell

Question 35

What types of cells have qualities of both Prokaryotes and Eukaryotes?

Answer 35

Archaean cells