ASTR Q5

A planet whose composition resembles that of our Sun is: 1) Earth 2) Mercury 3) Jupiter 4) Pluto 5) you can't fool me, the planets are all made of materials quite different from those in the Sun

3) Jupiter

Which of the following is NOT a terrestrial planet? 1) Mars 2) Earth 3) Jupiter 4) Venus 5) Mercury

3) Jupiter

Which planet in the solar system has not been examined up close by spacecraft? 1) Earth 2) Neptune 3) Pluto 4) Saturn 5) you can't fool me, spacecraft have visited all the planets

3) Pluto

You are the captain of an interplanetary tour ship and a wealthy tourist from Texas asks you to take him to see only the "largest damn planets" in the solar system. Which of the following would you NOT include in your tour? 1) Mercury 2) Jupiter 3) Saturn 4) Neptune 5) Uranus

1) Mercury

Which of the following places is most likely NOT to be differentiated? 1) a small asteroid, such as asteroids Fraknoi and Morrison 2) Earth 3) Jupiter 4) Venus, because it is so hot 5)Ganymede, the largest satellite in the solar system

1) a small asteroid, such as asteroids Fraknoi and Morrison

The material that would eventually make all the major bodies in our solar system first gathered together as smaller pieces which astronomers call: 1) planetesimals 2) nebuloids 3) satellites 4) differentiated objects 5) jovians

1) planetesimals

In the far future, a visiting tourist from another planetary system asks to see the most massive object in our solar system. Where would you take him/her/it? 1) the Sun 2) Jupiter 3) the asteroid belt 4) Comet Halley 5) Neptune

1) the Sun

Usually, the most distant planet from the Sun in the solar system is: 1) Mercury 2) Pluto 3) Venus 4) Neptune 5) none of the above

2) Pluto

The small bodies in the solar system composed mainly of ices (frozen gases) that usually orbit far from the Sun are called: 1) snowroids 2) comets 3) asteroids 4) satellites 5) jovians

2) comets

In a bad late-night science fiction film, a villain is using a large collection of radioactive atoms as energy for a weapon to threaten the good guys. The atoms have a half-life of 1 hour. The villain has 4 kilograms of the radioactive material now, and he needs a minimum of 1 kg. for his weapon to work. After how much time will the weapon no longer be a threat? 1) just a little after 1 hr 2) just a little after 2 hrs 3) just a little after 4 hours 4) just a little after 16 hours 5) can't be determined from the information given

2) just a little after 2 hrs

A future interplanetary tourist whose parents kept him too warm as a baby asks for your help to find a "really cold place" in the solar system. Which of the following would be the best place to take him? 1) the Earth's polar regions 2) the moons of Neptune 3) the moons of Mars (which are captured asteroids) 4) the frozen surface of Halley's Comet when it is closest to the 5) Earth in its orbit 6)the deep atmosphere of Jupiter

2) the moons of Neptune

Our best evidence and theoretical calculations indicate that the solar system began with a giant spinning system of gas and dust called: 1) the Titius-Bode cloud 2) the solar nebula 3) a planetesimal 4) the asteroid belt 5) the beltway

2) the solar nebula

One piece of evidence that can help astronomers sort out how the planets in our solar system formed is 1) discovering other galaxies of stars beyond the Milky Way 2) counting the number of moons around each planet in our own solar system 3) finding circumstellar disks of material around nearby stars 4) counting the craters on the surface of Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune 5) measuring variations in the amount of snowfall in northern Canada during this century

3) finding circumstellar disks of material around nearby stars

During the process of differentiation, 1) satellites separate from the parent planets and go into their own orbits 2) the faster planets move further out from the Sun 3) heavier materials sink to the centers of molten planets 4) the atmosphere of a planet changes from oxidized to reduced 5) the surface of a planet changes to resemble Bayonne, New Jersey

3) heavier materials sink to the centers of molten planets

The inner planets are made mostly of rock and metal because: 1) lighter materials cannot orbit the Sun; they would fall in immediately 2) the Sun is made mostly of rock and metal and the inner planets are closest to the Sun 3) it was so hot where the inner planets formed that the lighter materials evaporated 4) Jupiter's large gravity immediately attracted all the lighter materials, and so there were few light atoms left by the time the inner planets were ready to form 5) this is an unsolved problem in astronomy

3) it was so hot where the inner planets formed that the lighter materials evaporated

What is the single most important reason that astronomers have learned more about our planetary system in the last 30 years than all of history before then? 1) astronomers today are a lot smarter than astronomers were earlier 2) the Hubble Space Telescope 3) we have been able to send spacecraft to visit many planets and satellites 4) radio telescope arrays allow astronomers to make out details on the planets that they have never been able to see before 5) the planets (moving in their slow orbits around the Sun) happen to be closer to the Earth in the last 30 years than at any previous time in human history

3) we have been able to send spacecraft to visit many planets and satellites

Radioactive dating techniques have revealed that our Earth and Moon are approximately how old? 1) about 6,000 years 2) about 2 million years 3) about 100 million years 4) about 4.5 billion years 5) you can't fool me, we have no way of measuring ages as old as the Earth's

4) about 4.5 billion years

The small rocky and metallic bodies (most of which orbit between Jupiter and Mars) are called: 1) comets 2) satellites 3) Titius-Bode objects 4) asteroids 5) silicates

4) asteroids

In studying the surfaces of solid bodies in the solar system, astronomers have learned that the number of craters (per unit area): 1) is about the same on every world 2) is greater as you get closer to the Sun 3) is greater as you get further and further from the Sun 4) is roughly proportional to the age of the surface we are examining 5) follows no discernible rules or relationships at all

4) is roughly proportional to the age of the surface we are examining

The chemistry of the terrestrial planets does not include a lot of free hydrogen. Chemists call the chemistry in places like the Earth: 1) reduced 2) expanded 3) silicate 4) oxidized 5) comet-like

4) oxidized

All the planets (without exception) 1) have solid surfaces 2) have thick atmospheres 3) have satellites orbiting around them 4) revolve around the Sun in the same direction 5) rotate on their axes in the same direction that they revolve around the Sun

4) revolve around the Sun in the same direction

Which of the following ways that jovian (giant) planets differ from the terrestrial planets is NOT CORRECT? 1) jovians have more mass than the terrestrials 2) jovians are further from the Sun than terrestrials 3) jovians are made of lighter elements on average than terrestrials 4) jovians have rings while terrestrials do not 5) jovians (being larger) rotate significantly more slowly than terrestrials

5) jovians (being larger) rotate significantly more slowly than terrestrials

The rate at which a collection of the same radioactive atoms will decay depends on: 1) the amount of radio radiation falling on the material 2) the amount of light falling on the material 3) the temperature of the material 4) the size of the planet or moon on which the material is located 5) only on internal processes within the atoms; nothing external matters

5) only on internal processes within the atoms; nothing external matters

Which of the following characteristics do all four terrestrial planets have in common? 1) the all have one or more moons 2) all have liquid water on their surfaces 3) they all rotate in 24 hours or less 4) they all have thick atmospheres 5) they all have solid surfaces with signs of geological activity on them

5) they all have solid surfaces with signs of geological activity on them

On which of the planets (other than Earth) could a human being step out of a spacecraft and survive without any protective gear (special suit, oxygen tanks, etc)? 1) Venus 2) Mars 3) Jupiter 4) Neptune 5) you can't fool me; there is no other planet on which we could survive unprotected

5) you can't fool me; there is no other planet on which we could survive unprotected