Exam #1

Question 1

How many forces does it take to keep a body in orbit?

Answer 1

1

Question 2

What is correct about Pluto?

Answer 2

It is now considered to be a dwarf planet

It is found in the Kuiper belt

Question 3

If someone were to ask “how many galaxies are in the universe?” the most correct answer should be:

Answer 3

1

Question 4

If the Milky Way galaxy or shrunk down to the size of the United States, on the scale, the solar system would be the approximate size of ________.

Answer 4

A dime

Question 5

What type of EMR has the third lowest frequency?

Answer 5

Infrared

Question 6

What type of EMR penetrates the skin but get of sort by the bone?

Answer 6

X-rays

Question 7

What type of EMR has a slightly shorter wavelength and Violet visible light?

Answer 7

Ultraviolet

Question 8

What type of EMR has the second highest energy?

Answer 8

X-rays

Question 9

What type of spectrum would you get from the florescence lights (hot, thin gas) in this room?

Answer 9

Bright line (emission)

Question 10

What type of spectrum would you get from molten lava (hot dense melted rock) in Hawaii?

Answer 10

Continuous

Question 11

What type of spectrum is a rainbow in the sky after a storm?

Answer 11

Dark line (absorption)

Question 12

What color of visible light has the third longest wavelength?

Answer 12

Yellow

Question 13

Which phenomenon listed is an example of diffraction?

Answer 13

Being in the bay near McCovey Cove in SF and having a wave pass you that entered the bay under the Golden gate Bridge

Question 14

Which phenomenon listed is an example of refraction?

Answer 14

• A rainbow in the sky after a storm
• A spoon seeming to be broken or bent when sticking out of a glass of water
• seeing a “halo” around the sun

Question 15

By observing the wavelengths of the missing lines (dark lines) in an absorption (dark line) spectrum what can you determine about the source producing those dark lines?

Answer 15

It’s composition

Question 16

Assume that you use a prism to disperse the light from a certain source and observe a spectrum that has all visible colors with no breaks in between. From this observation, you can correctly conclude that:

Answer 16

• That the source of light is admitting white light

* That the source of light is a dense solid liquid or gas

Question 17

Which of the following is not a unit of distance?

Answer 17

Megahertz

Question 18

If you are in a room that only has one wavelength of green light illuminating it and then looked at your DVDs surface what color(s) would you see coming from the DVD?

Answer 18

Just green

Question 19

Why does the Milky Way galaxy look like a band of the light when we view it in the night sky?

Answer 19

Because our galaxy is relatively flat and we are seeing distant stars along it’s plain

Question 20

When thinking of the earth out word which of these gives you correct relative order of distance from Earth?

Answer 20

Kuiper belt, Oort cloud, Andromeda galaxy, quasar three CE 273

Question 21

According to the Potatochip rule which should be the most common of the five listed above in the universe?

Answer 21

Dwarf planets

Question 22

According to the potato trip rule which should be least common of the five listed above in the universe?

Answer 22

Clusters of galaxies

Question 23

The philosophical concept that states that a simple hypothesis is more likely to be correct that a complex one is known as:

Answer 23

Occam’s Razor

Question 24

The fifth major planet from the sun is:

Answer 24

Jupiter

Question 25

The Greek scientist Eratosthenes determine the ________ using shadows.

Answer 25

Circumference of earth

Question 26

The individual stars you observant night from Santa Rosa with your naked eye……..

Answer 26

Are all further from us then the Alpha Centuri start system it is

Question 27

The first astronaut to walk on the moon was?

Answer 27

Neil Armstrong

Question 28

On average it takes light about eight minutes to travel to earth from Venus. What else can we conclude from this information?

Answer 28

• Venus is about eight light minutes away
• if Venus blows up, we would have to wait about eight minutes to see the explosion
• When we see Venus through a telescope, we are seeing it the way it looked eight minutes ago.

Question 29

How many stars are in the solar system?

Answer 29

1

Question 30

The speed of light is about?

Answer 30

300,000 km/sec

Question 31

How far will light travel in one day?

Answer 31

1 light day

Question 32

How many light minutes are in 1 light hour

Answer 32

60

Question 33

If the Death Star were to blow up Mars (12 light minutes away) at this instant in time, how long would we have to wait, on earth, to see the explosion?

Answer 33

12 minutes

Question 34

What 2 regions of the solar system are thought to be the origin of comets?

Answer 34

• Kuiper belt

* Oort Cloud

Question 35

In 1954 in Alabama, Ermaline Hewlett Hodges was struck by _________.

Answer 35

A meteorite

Question 36

If you were going to design a pair of glasses for humans to see mice running around at night you might want them to convert……

Answer 36

Infrared to visible light

Question 37

If you find out that a galaxy was just discovered and astronomers are calling it be Orion dwarf galaxy, what other conclusion can you correctly make about this galaxy?

Answer 37

It is found in the same direction but further than the stars with in the constellation of Orion

Question 38

What is correct about the Canis Major dwarf galaxy?

Answer 38

It is now thought to be the closest galaxy to the Milky Way galaxy

Question 39

If you and your friend were separated by a distance of “1 astronomical unit”, what else can you say about this distance?

Answer 39

It is equivalent to 93 million miles

It is the average Earth-Sun distance

Question 40

How many galaxies are in the solar system?

Answer 40

Billions