AST 115 - HW 3

Which of the following statements about scientific models is true? -All models that explain nature well are correct. -A model tries to represent only one aspect of nature. -A model tries to represent all aspects of nature. -All current models are correct. -A model can be used to explain and predict real phenomena.

A model can be used to explain and predict real phenomena.

Galileo observed which of the following phases of Venus? -full -crescent -new -gibbous -all of the above

All of the above

The controversial book of this famous person, published in 1543 (the year of his death), suggested that Earth and other planets orbit the Sun.

Copernicus

T or F? Columbus was the first person to discover that Earth is round.

False

T or F? The Ptolemaic model of the solar system was useless for predicting planetary positions.

False

He discovered that Jupiter has moons

Galileo

One of the "nails in the coffin" for the Earth-centered universe was?

Galileo's observations of the moons of Jupiter

He discovered that the orbits of planets are ellipses.

Kepler

In the Ptolemaic model of the solar system, Venus should exhibit which phases?

New & Cresent

He developed a system for predicting planetary positions that remained in use for some 1,500 years.

Ptolemy

The Earth is instantly replaced in its orbit by a speck of dust. Which statement best describes the subsequent orbital motion of that piece of dust?

The dust particle will continue in the same orbit as the Earth did, orbiting the Sun in 1 year.

Which of the following critical features of the heliocentric model leads to Venus exhibiting a full range of phases? -Venus physically distorts from a sphere as it orbits the sun. -When Venus is closer to the Sun, it moves faster. -Venus passes on the far-side of the sun from the Earth's perspective.

Venus passes on the far-side of the sun from the Earth's perspective.

Kepler's second law, which states that as a planet moves around its orbit it sweeps out equal areas in equal times, means that?

a planet travels faster when it is nearer to the Sun and slower when it is farther from the Sun.

How did Eratosthenes estimate the size of Earth in 240 B.C.?

by comparing the maximum altitude of the Sun in two cities at different latitudes

When we see Venus in its full phase, what phase would Earth be in as seen by a hypothetical Venetian?

full

The principle of Occam's Razor states that

in explaining natural phenomena, the simplest explanation consistent with the observations is to be preferred.

Which of the following is the reason for the solar day being longer than a sidereal day?

the combined effect of the rotation of Earth and its orbit about the Sun

Why did Ptolemy have the planets orbiting Earth on "circles upon circles" in his model of the universe?

to explain the fact that planets sometimes appear to move westward, rather than eastward, relative to the stars in our sky