PEO 1

Question 1

Compared to the Solar System as a whole, Earth has its fair share of elements that are gases at low temperature (volatiles), including the noble gases (He, Ne, Ar, Kr, Xe).

Answer 1

False.

Question 2

What force resulted in the flattening of the Solar System, such that most planets etc. revolve about the Sun in a plane through the Sun’s equator?

Answer 2

Centrifugal Force.

Question 3

What property of the Solar System is not compatible with the Kant/Leplace Nebular Hypothesis for the origin of the Solar System?

Answer 3

The distribution of angular momentum (we have a slow-spinning sun, so momentum is in the outer planets).

Question 4

What are the four elements that compromise >92% of Earth’s mass?

Answer 4

Silicon (Si), Iron (Fe), Magnesium (Mg), Oxygen (O).

Question 5

Which type of galaxies (spirals or ellipticals) tend to be populated by older stars, and exhibit little ongoing star formation?

Answer 5

Ellipticals.

Question 6

Considering the Doppler Effect: Compared to when it is stationary, will an object moving toward you have the wavelength of the radiation it is emitting: A) be shifted to a shorter wavelength, B) be shifted to a longer wavelength, or C) Show no change?

Answer 6

A.

Question 7

What is the heaviest element that can be fused in even the largest stars?

Answer 7

Iron (Fe).

Question 8

(True or False) The Sun is one of the largest stars in the Universe?

Answer 8

False.

Question 9

Which planet has the greater density, Mars or Saturn?

Answer 9

Mars.

Question 10

During the formation of the Solar System, when the Sun and its atmosphere had contracted to about the present orbit of Venus, what happened to it (the Sun)?

Answer 10

It became thermonuclear and fused with Hydrogen and Helium.

Question 11

What happened to the Solar System when it became thermonuclear and fused with Hydrogen and Helium?

Answer 11

The inner part was in a blast zone and it produced solar wind and stripped the inner planets of their gases and the outer planets captured them and got bigger.

Question 12

What is the age of the universe according to the most recent data?

Answer 12

13.82 billion years old.

Question 13

It is estimated that there are at least _____ stars in the Milky Way Galaxy.

Answer 13

300 billion.

Question 14

What portion (%) of the mass of the Solar System does the Sun represent?

Answer 14

99.87%.

Question 15

(True or False) Studies of thousands of thousands of galaxies have shown us that the ones closer to us are receding at a faster rate than the ones father from us.

Answer 15

False.

Question 16

According to the data about the Doppler effect seen when looking at other galaxies, which of the following is most accurate: Most are stationary, most are moving toward Earth, most are receding away from Earth, most are receding away from Earth and each other.

Answer 16

Most are receding away from Earth and each other.

Question 17

What chemical element composes the overwhelming majority of the visible universe?

Answer 17

Hydrogen.

Question 18

What chemical element is the second most overwhelming majority of the visible universe?

Answer 18

Helium.

Question 19

The isotropic microwave radiation that can be detected coming from everywhere in the universe, represents the radiation that consists of the earliest low-energy photons that began to travel freely through the transparent universe, how long after the Big Bang?

Answer 19

380,000 thousand years after the Big Bang.

Question 20

Why can’t we see radiation/light from earlier in the history of the universe than 380,000 years after the Big Bang?

Answer 20

The universe was an opaque blob of energy with nothing.

Question 21

How are/were the heavier (more massive) elements (other than Iron) formed?

Answer 21

In various versions of star deaths (supernebulae).

Question 22

Which of the following is currently thought to represent the greatest proportion of the Universe: Dark Matter, Light Matter, Ordinary Matter, Light Energy, Dark Energy?

Answer 22

Dark Energy.

Question 23

According to your textbook and recent research, how was Earth’s moon formed?

Answer 23

It is a mixture of Mars-size planetesimal that impacted Earth along with some material of Earth’s mantle.