Astronomy Final Review Exams 1-3
The main greenhouse gases in Earth's atmosphere are
Water and carbon dioxide
Why is it so difficult to figure out what Earth was like during the Hadean eon
We have essentially no intact rocks from that eon
Of the following options, when was the Earth's ozone layer thickest
400 million years ago
Which of the following is NOT a piece of evidence that life began on Earth over 3 billion years ago
"RNA World" fossils are found in rocks that are over 3 billion years old
If the same side of the Earth always faced the Sun, how many times would Earth spin on its axis over the course of one orbit around the Sun
1 time
The ages of meteorites, moon rocks, and Earth rocks imply that the Earth is roughly
4.5 billion years old
What is another way to write out 3 billion
3x10^9
If we discovered a plane around the Sun with an orbital period of 8 Earth-years, what would its semi major axis be
4 AU
Cells from this type of life have their DNA contained within nuclei
Eukarya
If we discovered life on Mars and found that it required liquid water to survive, this would be strong evidence that it was related to life on Earth
False
Which of the following would cause Earth's magnetic field to dramatically decrease in strength
If Earth's rotation period became 100x longer
Which of the following is NOT a reason we find many fewer 3 billion year old rocks on earth than 1 billion year old rocks on earth
Less rocks were being formed 3 billion years ago
The interior of the Hadean Earth was
Likely hotter than the modern Earth's interior
At various points in the past, the Universe's peak blackbody wavelength has been located in all parts if the electromagnetic spectrum EXCEPT
Radio
Select the world with the weakest greenhouse effect:
the Moon
What type of galaxy do we live in
A spiral galaxy
At a distance from the sun was the thermal motion of gas molecules fastest within the Sun's circumstellar disk
.3 AU
Select the larger distance
1.2x10^8 Parsecs
If you have 40 grams of a radioactive isotope with a half-life of 100 years. How much of it will be left after 200 years
10 grams
At a given spot on Earth, roughly how many high tides occur each day
2
The moon makes one complete cycle of its phases every
27 Earth Days
How do we believe earth acquired most of its water
A few volatile-rich planetesimals were scattered into the inner solar system during planet formation
Which of the following planets would you expect to have a magnetic field
A planet with volcanic activity and with a rotation period of 16 hours
Of the following events, select the one that occurred first in the formation of the solar system
A slow rotating portion of a giant molecular cloud began to collapse under its own gravity
Which of the following is NOT a reason we believe that all life on Earth has a common ancestor
All known life uses liquid water
Why can we use iridium levels to search for signs of major impacts on Earth
Almost all of the Earth's original iridium is in its core, so iridium on the surface comes from impacting objects
Imagine you discover a new blue-colored galaxy with lots of cold gas and many young stars. Based on this information, you know that this galaxy is NOT
An elliptical galaxy
Most Extremophiles belong to which domain of life
Archea
If you looked at the gas cloud and saw absorption lines, at what position would you be located? (Sun on left, gas cloud in middle, A above gas cloud, B to the right of gas cloud)
B
The figure shows two different orbits around the sun- Width of A equals width of B- A is a circle and B is a eccentric orbit
B's eccentricity is higher They have the same semi major axis They have the same orbital period
If you see a new moon in the night sky, where is the moon's position
Between earth and the sun
The largest divisions of Earth's history are called
Eons
The modern domains of life are defined by
Comparing the DNA of different organisms
If an object has an orbit shaped like an elliptical, where in its orbit is It traveling the slowest? (Whichever one is farthest away from sun)
D
The AU is a unit that astronomers use to measure
Distance
Why is Earth volcanically active but Mercury is not
Earth is larger than Mercury
Which of the following occurs if the size of Earth's polar caps decreases
Earth's albedo goes down and its average temperature increases
Which of the following feature of Earth is NOT critical for Earth's ability to host life
Earth's craters
Imagine you study the light coming from a gas cloud and observe the spectrum: True or False: The Photons in this spectrum were created when electrons moved form a low energy level close to the nucleus to a high one further away from the nucleus
False
True or False: An atom of a radioactive isotope has a 50% chance of decaying over the course of 1 half-life and a 100% chance of decaying over the course of 2 half-lives
False
True or False: As elliptical galaxies age, they steadily transform into spiral galaxies
False
True or False: Asteroid impacts are known to be the cause of most mass extinctions in Earth's history
False
True or False: Because Mercury is the closest planet to the Sun, every part of Mercury's surface is hotter than Earth's
False
True or False: Continental crust is generally denser and older than oceanic crust
False
True or False: If the average temperature of Mars was 30 degrees celsius, then is polar caps would become large lakes of liquid water
False
True or False: Igneous rock can be transformed into Metamorphic rock, but sedimentary rock cannot be
False
True or False: In the "language" of DNA, every one of the 65 different genetic "words" corresponds to the construction of a different amino acid
False
True or False: On average, hydrogen atoms will move more slowly than oxygen atoms at the same temperature
False
True or False: Roughly 70% of the Earth's mass is in the form of water
False
True or False: The Earth contains much more iron that water (which is made of hydrogen and oxygen) because hydrogen and oxygen were much rarer elements than iron in the Sun's circumstellar disk
False
True or False: The K/T Extinction is the deadliest mass extinction in Earth's history
False
True or False: The distance from the Earth to the Sun would always be exactly 1 AU if the eccentricity of Earth's orbit was 1.0
False
True or False: The gravity of all the matter in the Universe is causing the expansion rate of the Universe to become slower and slower
False
True or False: The most accurate way to estimate the age of the Earth is to determine the oldest Earth rocks we can find on its surface
False
True or False: the oldest known fossils are used to estimate the age of the Earth
False
Which of the following choices have all of the Earth events ordered correctly in time (from longest ago to most recent)
Formation of Eukarya, rise of atmospheric oxygen, Cambrian Explosion, formation of plants living on land
The Earth's atmosphere comes from
Gas from the outgassing of Earth's rocks that remains bound to earth
This is an attractive force between any two objects that have mass:
Gravity
The correct ordering (from oldest to newest) of Earth's Eons is:
Hadean, Archaen, Proterozoic, Phanerozoic
Compared to red light, blue light
Has a shorter wavelength
The rate that objects strike the moon
Has decreased over the solar systems history
If one neutron is added to the nuclear of a hydrogen atom, it will become
Hydrogen
Which substance formed first in the Universe
Hydrogen
The densest materials making up a planet are usually found
In the planet's core
Which type of radiation does earth generate the most of
Infrared
Earth's greenhouse effect is regulated by the carbon cycle. Which part of the Earth's carbon cycle operates on Venus as well
Injection of atmospheric carbon dioxide from volcanism
Why is Iridium generally very rare on Earth's surface
Iridium is very dense so it migrated to Earth's core during differentiation
The reason that the Moon experiences more extreme temperatures than the Earth is because
It does not have an atmosphere but Earth does
Imagine you discover a planet that has active volcanoes and rotates on its axis once every 12 hours. What can you predict about this planet based on this information
It has a magnetic field
Imagine you discover a new planet in the solar system . Observations of this planet show that the surface is rocky and that its average density is 6g/cm^3. What can you conclude about this planet
It has a very large iron core
Which of the following is NOT a property of the moon
It has much higher abundances of volatiles than Earth does
Which of the following is NOT a reason the Earth's interior is hot
It is heated by the sun
The Earth's atmosphere warms the Earth's surface because
It is transparent to visible light but not to infrared light
Why doesn't Venus have a strong magnetic field
It rotates too slowly
How will the gravitational force between two objects change if we triple the separation between them
It will become 9x weaker
How will gravitational force between two objects change if we decrease the mass of one of the objects by 50%
It will become twice as weak
Imagine the Sun's surface temperature suddenly doubled but its size, mass, and distance stayed the same, How would the sun's appearance change to us
It would appear bluer and brighter
If the earth was suddenly moved .5 AU from the Sun, how would the force of gravity between the sun and Earth change
It would become four times as strong
If the masses of both the Sun and the Earth were suddenly doubled, how would the force of gravity between the two objects change?
It would become four times as strong
If the Earth's rotation rate was decreased by 100 times (or length of a single day became 100 times longer), how would the moon's orbit change over time
It would get steadily closer to Earth
The brightness of a star in the night sky depends on
Its luminosity and its distance
A planet's escape velocity will go up if
Its mass increases
The strength of a planet's magnetic field depends on
Its rotation rate and interior heat
Where is the tallest and largest volcano in the solar system
Mars
One reason that the tallest mountain on Mars is taller than the tallest mountain on Earth is that
Mars' surface gravity is weaker than Earth's
The strength of the gravitational force between two objects depends on their
Mass and separation distance
Carbon-14 (half life of 5,730) is most useful for finding the age of which of the following materials
Materials recovered from an ancient Egyptian city
All of the following methods are used to measure the distances to galaxies EXCEPT
Measuring peak blackbody wavelength of galaxies
The oldest rocks that we have come from
Meteorites
The expansion of the Universe causes
More distant galaxies to have larger redshift
All of the following statements about mutations are true EXCEPT
Mutations are errors that occur when a cell is making new copies of its proteins
Throughout the course of a single night, every star in the sky will appear to change its position except for Polaris, the North Star. Will this be the case in the future
No
Which was most likely the first step in the formation of the first organisms on Earth
Organic molecules are built or delivered from inorganic processes
Most volcanoes on Earth are located where
Oceanic crust is being subducted below continental crust
If no stars rise or set throughout the course of an entire night (and its not cloudy), you know you must be located
On one of Earth's poles
If the moon had a very thick atmosphere, which panel would the distribution of crater sizes look like instead
Panel with a CCD curve
The first organisms on Earth likely did not use photosynthesis because
Photosynthesis is a very complicated metabolism
What process removes carbon dioxide from the Earth's atmosphere
Precipitation
The number of __________ in an atom determines what element it belongs to
Protons
Panspermia could transport living samples of Earth life to all of the following places except
Proxima Centauri (the nearest star to our sun)
Which type of molecule reads and carries out the instructions contained within DNA
RNA
Which process is NOT part of Earth's carbon cycle
Radioactive decay
Which of the following is NOT a molecular component used in all cells
Right Handed amino acids
Water erosion generally leads to the formation of which type of rock
Sedimentary rock
Which one of the following is NOT a characteristic exhibited by all known organisms
Silicon Based Chemistry
The largest object in our solar system is a
Star
How was the amount of carbon dioxide in the Earth's atmosphere during the Archean eon compared to the amount during the Phanerozoic
The Archean likely had a higher amount of atmospheric carbon dioxide
The temperature in Oklahoma is warmer in July than in January. This is because
The Earth's spin axis is tilted by 23 degrees relative to its orbital plane
The modern way that life is classified uses the tree of life. This tree of life is based on:
The differences between organisms' DNA
If you dug up an animal fossil, you would know that this fossil was made in
The Phanerozoic eon
Every planet in our solar system orbits around
The Sun
What would happen to the amount of the carbon dioxide in Earth's atmosphere if the sun's luminosity suddenly decrease by 10%
The amount of carbon dioxide would increase gradually over several million years
What is one reason it took is long for animals and plants to appear in land during Earth's history
The amount of ultraviolet radiation striking the continents was too harsh for life for most of Earth's history
The sun rises and sets every 24 hours because
The earth spins on its axis once every 24 hours
How does the Giant Impact Hypothesis of the moon's formation explain the Moon's lack of volatiles
The heat generated by the impact would vaporize the volatiles in the material that formed the moon
Which of the following is NOT a characteristic of our solar system
The most massive planets are the ones closest to the sun
Why do some scientists now think the Hadean Earth may have actually been a relatively cool environment
The oldest zircon grains contain a chemical signature of liquid water
All of an organism's hereditary information is stored in
The sequence of its DNA base pairs
A planet's ability to retain an atmosphere depends on all of the following EXCEPT
The planet's tides
(A Is smooth like Maria and B is rough like highlands) Based on the above images, which of the following statements is correct
The rocks making up Region A's surface are younger than those making up Region B's surface
Measuring peal wavelength of an objects blackbody spectrum will tell us
The surface temperature of the object
Why is there convection in Earth's mantle
There is a huge temperature difference between Earth's surface and Earth's core
Which of the following is NOT a reason that Jupiter has much more hydrogen gas than the Earth
There was never any gas near 1 AU when the planets were forming in the Sun's circumstellar disk
True of False: Even though the composition of the planets is very different from the composition of the Sun, we believe that planets formed out of a circumstellar disk with a sunlike composition
True
True or False: All known extremophiles need liquid water to grow and reproduce
True
True or False: All of life on Earth uses the same molecule to store and release energy
True
True or False: Every domain of life contains microbial (single-celled) organisms
True
True or False: On Earth, older rocks typically lie beneath younger rocks
True
True or False: Plants, animals and fungi all belong to the same domain of life
True
True or False: Some of the "organelles" in Eukarya cells are likely related to simple bacteria organisms
True
True or False: We know the Universe is expanding because nearly every galaxy we look at is redshifted
True
If the photons of one type of radiation (Type A) have more energy than another type (Type B), we know that
Type A has a shorter wavelength than Type B
If liquid water exists on Mars today, where is it most likely located
Underground
Which body has the fewest impact craters
Venus
Why is the surface of Venus hotter than the surface of Mercury
Venus has a stronger greenhouse effect than Mercury
(Earth to the left, A, B, C from left, top, and right, people on ABC, moon to the right) Imagine people standing at each of the 3 marked positions. In this diagram, which one is experiencing a low tide
Wherever moon isn't parallel to earth and feeling affects of tides
If a solar system planet's orbit was shaped like an elliptical, where would sun be located
Whichever letter is closest to the orbit
Shown below are the reflectance spectra of three different planets- Which spectrum would correspond to a red planet
Whichever line has an increasing albedo
Imagine two stars (A and B) have the same identical composition, surface temperature, radius, and mass. In addition, both stars are the same distance from you. If star A is traveling toward you at 250km/s and Star B is traveling away from you at 200km/s, which of the following is true
You would observe that the blackbody spectrum if Star A peaks at a shorter wavelength that that of Star B
Which of the following is an example of a photoautotroph
a tree
Of the following types of radiation, which one's photons have the lowest energy
infrared light
The most massive planets in our solar system formed
outside the snow line
Select the most volatile substance
oxygen
The Co-Accretion Theory suggests that the moon is accreted from the same pool of the planetesimals that the Earth did. Although this is a failed theory of Moon formation, which property of the moon can it successfully explain
the moon's isotopic similarities to Earth