Final test Flashcards
A star in which light cannot escape because of the immense gravitational pull at its surface is called a
black hole
Which of these is the largest moon in the solar system
ganymede
What is the primary component of Venus’ atmosphere
CO2
Which of the jovian planets have rings
Saturn, Uranus, Jupiter, Neptune
Which planet has the highest average surface temperature, and why?
Venus, because of its dense carbon dioxide atmosphere
Where did Saturn’s rings likely come from
Either a moon that never formed, or a moon destroyed by tidal forces
Cosmic background radiation refers to
uniformly distributed residual radiation that resulted from the Big Bang
Between planets is the asteroid belt found?
Between mars and Jupiter
A star’s color tells us
its surface temperature
The measure of a star’s brightness as it is measured form Earth is called its _____
apparent magnitude
According to calculations made by modern astronomers, the age of the universe is close to
14 billion years
Why do comet’s tails always point away from the Sun?
Because of the solar wind
Which of the following is furthest from the Sun?
a comet in the Oort cloud
Astronomers have decided that, rather than being a planet, Pluto is really just a large member of
the Kuiper belt
Dark energy
Would be considered to be the opposite of gravity, is energy that exerts an outward pressure, causing space time to expand, and is the phenomenon responsible for the acceleration of the universe
The star nearest the Earth is
the Sun
If one object has a large redshift and another object has a small redshift, what can we conclude about these two objects
The one with the large redshift is moving away from us faster than the one with the small redshift
Most meteors seen as shooting stars are about the size of
grains of sand
Which explanation best describes why Earth observers always see the always see the same face of the moon
The moon’s rate of spin matches the rate at which the Moon revolves around Earth
How do asteroids differ from comets
Asteroids are rocky bodies and are denser than the comets, which are made of icy material
Which of the following is not a characteristic of the outer plants?
They have very few, if any satellites
Supernovae are one of the most extreme events in the know universe. They are caused by
the implosion of a white dwarf, which has run out of all its fuel
When the Sun passes between the Moon and the Earth, we have
met our end
What is the likely cause of the 98 degree tilt of Uranus ‘a axis?
a collision with a large body early in the solar system’s evolution
Dark-Matter is matter that
cannot be seen or felt, but can be measured through its gravitational effects
Luminosity is
the total amount of light energy that star emits into space
What is the most abundant component (82%) of Jupiter’s atmosphere?
Hydrogen
The Big Bang
marked the beginning of space and time
The “Big Bang” refers to the
point in time in which the known (and perhaps knowable) universe came into being.
Cosmology is the study of the overall structure and evolution of
the universe
_____ has the Great Red spot on its surface
Jupiter
The reason we don’t have eclipses monthly is because of the
different orbital planes for Earth and the moon
Nebular theory pertains to the formation of
the solar system
Which body in the solar system has the highest level of volcanic activity?
Io
In a museum collection you can likely see a
meteorite but not a meteoroid
What makes the North Star, Polaris, special?
It appears very near the north celestial pole
Edwin Hubble discovered that the farther away a galaxy is the
faster it is receding from us
Rank the five terrestrial worlds in order of size from smallest to largest
Moon, Mercury, Mars, Venus, Earth
What are Saturn’s rings composed of
Chunks of ice and rock
The planet with a mass most like Earth’s is
Venus
Explain why it is so rare for someone to see a solar eclipse, yet fairly common to have witnessed a lunar eclipse
It is rare for someone to see a solar eclipse because it happens during the daytime, there is a small window of time to see it, have a very small shadow, and you have to been on the right place on earth when the Sun, moon and Earth are in line to see it.
List the planets in order, starting with the Sun and moving outward
Sun, mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto
Describe the current theory for the formation of Earth’s moon
Current theory of how the moon was form is from a collision of a Mars sized object hitting Earth. The moon is deb re from that collision. Te moon is slowly moving farther away from earth causing the Earth to slow down making our days longer because we are losing gravitational forces
We see the constellation as distinct groups of stars. Discuss why they would look entirely different from some either location in the universe, far distant from Earth
The group of constellation we see from Earth look different from other location in the universe because you have moved the point that you are looking from. The Stars stay in the same place, your change you angle that they are being seen makes then look different.
Compare and contrast the properties of the inner planets versus the outer planets.
Inner planets are smaller, made up of rock, and are closer together with less moons than outer planets. Outer planets are made up of gases, much larger and have rings around them and have many moons. All of these planets orbit the same direction and are on the same orbital plane
A _____ cross-valley profile is typical of canyons and valleys eroded and deepened by alpine or alley glaciers
U-shaped
The capacity a material has for transmitting fluids is known as its
permeability
If you were to examine the profile of a typical river, you would produced in the water table. Such a depression is an
cone of depression
The Mohorovicic discontinuity marks the change in rock density elasticity between the
mantle and the crustal surface
In the meandering river, erosion is most notable
on the outer side of the meander
When rock is subjected to compressive force, it may fault. If rocks int the hanging wall are pushed up over rocks in the footwall, it is called a
reverse fault
The formations of rock hanging from the roofs of caves are called
stalactites
The water table is found at the
top of the zone of saturation
Divergent boundaries are areas of
tensional forces that stretch the crust and generate a spreading center
The founder of the theory of continental drift is credited to
Alfred Wegener
The Core of the Earth is probably composed of
an iron-nickel alloy
A good example of present-day passive continental margin is the
east coast of North America
The release of water vapor to the atmosphere by plants is called
transpiration
Isostasy is
crustal equilibrium relative to the mantle
Because S-wave do not travel through Earth’s outer core, scientists inferred that the outer core is
Molten liquid
Deep-oceanic trenches are most abundant around the rim of the _____ ocean basin
Pacific
Of the three agents of erosion-water,wind, and ice-the one with ability to move only the smallest particles
wind
When an earthquake occurs, energy radiates in all direction from its source. The source is also referred to as the
focus
The former late Paleozoic super continent is known as
Pangaea
A syncline is
a fold in which the layers dip toward the axis
The ocean crust
becomes progressively older away from the mid-ocean ridges
Streams transport great quantities of sediment. The most effective transport of sediment occurs in
turbulent flow
The Earth’s lithosphere
consist is of the crust and the uppermost part of the mantle
Two boundaries associated with seafloor spreading centers are
Divergent and transform fault boundaries
The position on Earth’s surface directly above the earthquake source is called
epicenter