FINAL: Ch. 1-24
The dwarf planet Ceres is located in the main asteroid belt at an average distance of 2.8 AU from the sun. How long does it take Ceres to complete one full orbit of the sun?
4.7 years
If a superior planet is observed from Earth to have a synodic period of 1.2 years, what is its sidereal period?
6 years
Newtons 2nd law
F=ma
What is Newton's second law?
Force = mass x acceleration
Newtons 3rd law
Forces come in pairs of equal magnitude and opposite directions.
When less energy radiates from a planet, its ______________ increases until a new ______________ is achieved.
temperature; equilibrium
When a boat moves through the water, the waves in front of the boat bunch up, whereas the waves behind the boat spread out. That is an example of
the Doppler effect.
We always see the same side of the Moon because
the Moon rotates on its axis once for each revolution around Earth.
The copernican heliocentric model of the solar system removed the need for epicycles to describe all the motions of the planets.
False
Extremophiles are organisms that
live in extreme conditions Extremophiles, such as bacteria that live in ice or thermal vents, are able to thrive under extreme conditions that we would consider as inhospitable to life.
Refraction is caused by
light changing speed as it enters a new medium
The habitable zone around a star is the area where scientist believe it is possible for life to exist. What property do planets have in the habitable zone?
liquid water
A neap tide occurs during a _______.
first quarter or third quarter moon .
The transit method preferentially detects
large planets close to the central star.
CHAPTER 1
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Life first appeared on Earth
3.5 billion years ago
Which giant planet has the most extreme seasons?
Uranus
Which of the following was not made in the Big Bang?
carbon
Energy and wavelength are ___ related.
inversely
Convection in the ____________ causes weather on Earth.
troposphere
Mercury is located at just 0.4 AU from the sun. How long does it take Mercury to complete one sidereal orbit of the sun?
0.25 years
Based on the information in the previous question what is the magnitude of the acceleration the person experiences?
0.33 m/s^2
Drag each type of material to the bar indicating where each could be found in the forming Solar System. Water ice, Highly volatile materials, and Refractory materials
-Refractory materials (longest gray line) -Water ice (medium blue line) -Highly volatile materials (short yellow line) Refractory materials are those such as rocks and metals that have high melting points and so can exist even at very high temperatures. They are found throughout the Solar System. Water ice and other highly volatile materials have lower melting points and so can only exist as solids farther away from the heat of the Sun.
The dwarf planet Ceres has a mass of 9.4x1020 kg. If it were to collide with Earth at a speed of 5 km/s what would the impact energy be?
1.2x1028 J
If a radioactive element has a half-life of 10,000 years, what fraction of it is left in a rock after 40,000 years?
1/16 For each half-life, 1/2 of the population decays, so in 4 half-lives, 1/2 * 1/2 * 1/2 * 1/2 = 1/16 remains.
What fraction of a radioisotope is expected to remain after 3 half lives?
1/8
If the radius of an object's orbit is reduced by a factor of 2.00, then in order for angular momentum to be conserved, the velocity must increase by a factor of
2.00 In order for angular momentum to be conserved, when the radius is decreased by a factor of 2.00 , then the velocity must increase by a factor of 2.00. This is shown mathematically as
Choose the standard notation form of the scientific notation number 2.45x10^4.
24,500
The light-gathering power of a 4-meter telescope is ______________ than that of a 2-meter telescope. Group of answer choices
4 times larger
Two stars have the same luminosity, but Star A is 8.0 times farther away than Star B. How much fainter does Star A appear compared to Star B?
64.0 times fainter Star A is 64.0 times fainter than Star B. The brightness of an object is given by: brightness=L/(4πr^2). Both of the stars in our problem have the same luminosity, L. But the distance to star A, rA, is 8.0 times greater than the distance to star B, rB.
During practice a baseball player applies a force F1 to a weighted baseball of mass m1 which causes an acceleration of a1 on the ball. At the game the player applies triple the force to the standard baseball which has 1/2 the mass of the practice baseball. What is the acceleration of the baseball in the game in terms of a1?
6a1
Choose the correct proper scientific notation form of the number 0.00724
7.24x10^-3
Which of the following statements about the habitable zone is correct?
A world that is found to exist in the habitable zone of another star may have a higher probability of having life on it than those outside of this zone. Liquid water is essential to life on Earth, and it is thought that a world around another star that has liquid water may be capable of having life, but being in the habitable zone just means it's more likely for a star to have liquid water—not that it does, or even if it does, that it can actually sustain life.
Moons of the outer planets may provide a home for life because
All answers are correct: some have organic molecules, some have an interior source of energy, and some have liquid water.
Based on the relation shown here between rising carbon dioxide (CO2) concentrations and average global temperatures, what is a logical prediction about what would happen if CO2 levels were to continue to rise?
Average global temperatures would increase.
About how long does it take the Moon to orbit Earth?
B. 29 days
The horizon is defined:
B. by the direction perpendicular to a line to the zenith. This way everyone understands and defines the horizon the same way: as the point 90° below the zenith. The horizon is ideally assumed to be perfectly flat, free of trees and hills.
Compare the gravity between these pairs, each consisting of an Earth-like planet and its star. You are given the mass of the planet in Earth masses, the mass of the star in Sun masses, and the distance in AUs.
Because the masses and distances for these pairs are stated in common units, after canceling out like terms we are left with these ratios: 1 MEarth/2 MSolar/2 AU = (1 × 2)/2^2 = 1/2 4 MEarth/2 MSolar/3 AU = (4 × 2)/3^2 = 8/9 1 MEarth/1 MSolar/1 AU = (1 × 1)/1^2 = 1 2 MEarth/1 MSolar/1 AU = (2 × 1)/1^2 = 2 This is the correct order, ranking them in increasing order of gravity.
Drag each phase of the Moon to its correct location during that phase.
Beginning with FULL moon and going clockwise: full moon --> waxing gibbous --> first quarter --> waxing crescent --> new moon --> waning crescent --> third quarter --> waning gibbous -->
How do scientists determine the mass of a planet?
By studying the orbits of the planets moons
What causes the angle of the Sun to change over the year?
C. Earth's North Pole always points in the same direction in space. Sometimes this is toward the Sun, and sometimes it's away from the Sun. Earth orbits the Sun as its axis remains pointed towards Polaris on the celestial sphere. Without this tilt, the Sun would always shine directly on the equator.
Study the size difference of the gas giants as shown in the above image (distance from the Sun increases from left to right), and choose the best explanation below for your observations.
C. Gas giants decrease in size with increased distance from the Sun because the Solar Nebula was less dense farther out. Although more types of materials could condense at increasing distance from the Sun (where the temperature was colder), the Solar Nebula was less dense with increasing distance, so there was less overall material to accrete into planets. As such, the more distant giants are smaller.
Label the Northern Hemisphere, solstices, and equinoxes on the appropriate locations in this diagram of Earth in its orbit around the Sun.
Clockwise = A, C, B, and D
No matter where you are on Earth, stars appear to rotate about a point called the:
D. celestial pole. As the Earth rotates on its north-south axis, the stars appear to rotate around the point extending up from that axis onto the celestial sphere The Earth rotates about an axis that extends through the North and South poles. The celestial poles are an extension of this axis on the sky, which is why the stars appear to rotate around them.
Newton's second law of motion states that:
D. the acceleration of an object is proportional to the net force acting on it. This can be represented mathematically as F = ma. Newton's second law tells us that an unbalanced force acting on an object changes its motion. Acceleration is just another word to describe the change in motion.
density vs concentration
Density is the frequency of objects in an area and concentration is the spread of objects in an area
Ganymede, Europa, and Io share a 4:2:1 resonance in their orbits around Jupiter. If Io's orbital period is 1.77 days, what are the orbital periods of Europa and Ganymede? Note that Io is the innermost of the three moons, and Ganymede is the outermost.
Europa: 3.54 Ganymede: 7.08
Rank, from greatest (at top) to smallest (at bottom), the seasonal variations of the terrestrial planets.
GREATEST --- Mars Earth Venus Mercury SMALLEST---
Given the Io:Europa:Ganymede resonance of 4:2:1 match the number in the ratio with the moon it is associated with.
Ganymede = 1 Europa = 2 Io = 4
The diagram shown illustrates the location of the Solar System's eight planets and three large dwarf planets. Sort each object according to its basic composition.
Gaseous: Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus,Neptune Rocky: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Ceres Rocky/Ice mixture: Pluto, Eris
Label the various atmospheric layers for Uranus.
HIGHEST ALTITUDE---- Stratosphere Methane ice Hydrogen sulfide Ammonium hydrosulfide ice Water ice
What is bad about this pie chart? NOTE: YOU MUST SELECT ALL REASONS THAT APPLY
It does not add to 100% The source of the data in unclear.
According to the graphs in Figures 1.7b and c, by how much did the number of viruses increase in four time steps?
It went up more than 10 times.
energy
J, Joules
Match the planet with the signature material in its ring structure.
Jupiter = Sulfur particles Saturn = Bright water ice Uranus = Dark carbon
The energy that keeps Io's core molten comes from
Jupiter's gravity.
Some of the most interesting objects in the Solar System are small, but how small? Place these objects in order from largest to smallest.
Largest--- Earth's moon Eris Pluto Charon Ceres Comet Halley
Waxing Crescent
Less than half illuminated and growing each night
Match the resvoir of asteroids/comets with its description: Main Asteroid Belt = Kuiper Belt = Kuiper Belt =
Main Asteroid Belt = Located between Mars and Jupiter, disc shaped Kuiper Belt = Located just past Neptune (TNO's) Kuiper Belt = Spherical in shape, extends 100,000AU out from the sun.
The scientific method works well when it is used properly, but ignoring the rules, not looking at results in an objective manner, and flat-out cheating can lead to bad science. We must therefore be careful along every step of the scientific process, including the selection of which evidence to consider for a hypothesis. Consider the following scenario: A person sees a UFO in the middle of the night while walking alone on the beach. No other evidence of the UFO is left behind at the scene. Would the anecdotal verbal account from this witness be valid scientific evidence of the event?
No, because follow-up tests conducted by others cannot verify it. Anecdotal evidence cannot be used as scientific evidence because someone's personal account cannot be verified in repeated tests.
Rank these hypothetical moons from oldest to youngest based on their cratering. You can assume the moons have never been volcanically active.
OLDEST--- -moon completely covered in craters, old and new -moon partially covered with craters -moon with very few craters YOUNGEST---
For Earth, P2/A3 =1.0 (in appropriate units). Suppose a new dwarf planet is discovered that is 14 times farther from the Sun than Earth is. For that planet,
P2/A3 = 1.0.
The following chemicals either have been or are now part of terrestrial planet atmospheres. Determine whether each is found in either a planet's primary or secondary atmosphere.
PRIMARY ATMOSPHERE--- He, H2 SECONDARY ATMOSPHERE--- CO2, N2, O2, H2O
CH 13
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CH 14
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CH 24
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CH. 10
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CH. 11
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CH. 12
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CH. 7
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Match the planet with the feature is had from an extreme impact late in its formation. Venus:
Rotates in the opposite direction as other terrestrial planets
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Asteroids are
Small rock and metal objects orbiting the sun Asteroids are small chunks of rock and metal orbiting the Sun. Most are found between Mars and Jupiter, but they are not restricted to only that location.
Star A and star B are two nearby stars. If star A is blue and star B is red, which of the following statements must be true?
Star A is hotter than star B.
Sunspots appear dark because
Sunspots appear dark because they are hotter than the surrounding gas of the photosphere. Sunspots have about half the temperature of the photosphere and thus appear significantly fainter.
A radioisotope has a half life of 300 years. How many half lives have occurred for that radioisotope after 2100 years?
T = number of half-lives T= (t/t1/2) T= (2100/300) = 7
An alchemist succeeds in turning lead into 8 pounds of gold. However they create gold 199 which is an unstable isotope of gold with a half life of 3 days. How much of the gold 199 will remain after 15 days? Fun fact: Gold199 decays in to mercury (one of the few metals that is a liquid at room temperature) so as it decayed away it would flow away as a liquid.
T= (t/t1/2) T = (3/15) = 5 N = N0 (1/2)^T N = 8(1/2)^5 N = 8(1/32) = 0.25
If one telescope has an aperture of 20 cm, and another has an aperture of 30 cm, and if aperture size is the only difference, then which should you choose, and why?
The 30 cm, because the image size will be larger.
The chemical compositions of Jupiter and Saturn are most similar to those of
The Sun
Suppose an abnormally large amount of hydrogen suddenly fused in the core of the Sun. Which of the following would be observed first?
The Sun would emit more neutrinos.
How has the global climate been changing over the past 100+ years?
The climate is getting warmer with time.
Four transitions are shown in the image. Order the transitions in the order of increasing energy.
The closer the energy levels, the smaller the energy of the transition. As we know that the energy transition is more when the difference between the higher energy level and lower energy level is more as here more energy is required to go from one energy level to another as compared to that of two other energy levels having less difference of energy.
Newton's second law says that the acceleration (a) of an object depends on its mass (m) by the equation: a = F/m F is the force that is causing the object to accelerate. In the case of dropping objects from a height, the force that causes them to accelerate toward the Earth is gravity. If the acceleration of objects dropped from a height does not depend on the object's mass (as shown by Galileo's experiment), what does this imply about the force of gravity?
The force of gravity increases with increased mass. If mass goes up in the equation a = F/m, then F must go up by the same factor in order to force acceleration to be constant—that is, doubling the mass results in twice the force from gravity.
In the diagram shown, m2 is in a circular orbit around m1. Label m2 with the arrow that shows the direction of the gravitational force acting on it from m1.
The gravitational force vector on an object always points toward the center of mass of the object creating that force. In the case of orbital motion, it always changes direction to point toward the center of the orbit, resulting in a centripetal force that makes the object's velocity constantly change direction.
Label the interior areas of the terrestrial planets shown.
The materials within terrestrial planets have been separated by density, a process known as differentiation. When rocks of different types are mixed together, they tend to stay mixed. Once this rock melts, the denser materials sink to the bottom and the less dense materials float to the top. The core consists primarily of iron, nickel, and other dense metals. The mantle is made of medium-density materials. The crust is made of lower-density materials.
Which is not true on the vernal and autumnal equinoxes?
The motion of the stars in the sky is different from that on other days.
Label these important reference points. Their location in your sky depends on your location on Earth: A. Horizon B. North celestial pole C. Zenith D. Celestial equator
The north celestial pole and the celestial equator are specific places in the celestial sphere, while the zenith and the horizon are relative to where you are standing. The zenith is the point directly over your head, and the horizon is where the ground meets the sky wherever you are standing on Earth. The north celestial pole and the celestial equator are positions on the celestial sphere directly above Earth's North Pole and equator.
As shown here, the eye is an optical device that has several components that are analogous to features of another optical device—the telescope.
The ocular and telescope part analogies are as follows: pupil=aperture; lens=objective lens; retina=CCD; and optic nerve=wiring to computer.
Why can reflector telescopes be built so much bigger than refractor telescopes?
The primary mirror is supported at the base of the telescope
Place the following in order from largest to smallest semimajor axis:
The semimajor axis, or average distance from the Sun, is larger if the period is larger. A consequence of this law is that more distant planets travel more slowly around the Sun while the closer planets travel faster.
What is misleading about this line graph? NOTE: ALL REASONS THAT APPLY SHOULD BE SELECTED
The source of the data is unclear The y axis is not clearly labeled. The data is cherry picked The x axis scale does not match the numerical values.
How does the speed of light in a medium compare with the speed in a vacuum?
The speed in the medium is always slower than the speed in a vacuum.
Which data point on the plot shown represents when the initial sample of radioactive nuclei only has 12.5% (or 1/8) of radioactive nuclei remaining?
The sport at 3 half-lives Since 12.5% of 16 is 2, the correct point is on the "parent" line that notes that there are "2" nuclei remaining.
The seasons are caused by
The tilt of the earth's axis 23.5 degrees
What is the primary boundary in communicating with any extraterrestrial life?
The vast distances between objects in space and finite speed of light
The brightness of an object decreases with increasing distance from the object according to what?
The warping of the lens due to gravity
Imagine that you are observing a car that is out of control and spinning on the ice on the highway. The car suddenly stops spinning and starts spinning in the other direction as it slides down the highway. In order for this to happen, what must have taken place?
There must have been external forces acting on the car—for example, the spinning car struck another car.
Identify the following major moons of Jupiter.
These moons are collectively called the Galilean moons as Galileo discovered them in 1610.
Astronauts in a space shuttle can float while orbiting Earth. Why are these astronauts weightless?
They are falling around Earth at the same rate as the shuttle.
When we use the unit year in Kepler's 3rd law we are referring to a length of time of 365.24 days or 31,556,925 seconds. Why is a year defined to be this length of time?
This is the time of the sidereal orbit of the earth, the time it takes the earth to complete one full circle around the sun.
Why were the exposures in this article taken 6 months apart?
This provides the largest possible angular shift of the star between exposures. Exposures for parallax measurements can be taken with any length of time between them, but the parallax angle will be maximized if they are taken when the Earth is on opposite sides of the Sun. This is especially important if the angle is very small and hard to measure, as it was in the case of this article.
Scientists discover a planet of 5 ME orbiting a star of 2Ms at a distance of 4AU. How does the gravitational force in this system compare to the Earth-Sun system?
This system has 10/16 the gravitational force of our Earth-Sun system.
Saturn's moon Enceladus has a cycle similar to the water cycle here on Earth. Instead of water this cycle is the transition through solid, liquid and gas of hydrocarbons . Answer 1:
Titan; hydrocarbons
Astronomers cannot use parallax to find the distance to most stars. This is because the stars are
Too far away It is possible to measure parallax to some nearby stars, but even then their distance results in tiny angles. Most stars are so distant that Earth's relatively small orbit does not cause enough change in their position to be measureable.
Which exoplanet detection method has been used to discover the most exoplanets.
Transit method
Which of the giant planets has the most extreme seasons?
Uranus
Which of the following Solar System objects is not a good candidate for future searches for life?
Uranus Out of these choices, Uranus lacks pretty much all of the conditions that we would consider necessary for life. It is quite far from the Sun and so is very cold; it has no solid surface and no clear water layer or ocean. While the other choices may not have all of these either, they have or had at least one and so represent more likely places to concentrate our searches. The giant planets in general would be inhospitable to life as we know it for various reasons, including having no solid surface. However, some of their moons present very intriguing possibilities for the search for life.
Neptune's existence was predicted because
Uranus did not obey Newton's laws of motion.
Properties of weight:
Weight depends on the effect of gravity. Weight increases or decreases with higher or lower gravity. Weight can be zero if no gravity acts upon an object, as in space. Weight often is measured in newtons, a unit of force.
Label each position of the outer planet with its phase as seen from Earth. If full or new, including whether the planet will have a larger or smaller angular size than it usually does from Earth's vantage point.
When a superior planet is at opposition or conjunction with the Earth, the Sun illuminates the side of that planet that is facing the Earth, and so it appears full. Unlike the Moon, the superior planet therefore has two full phases, one when the planet is closest to the Earth and larger in our sky, and another when it is farthest and smaller in our sky. A new or crescent phase is physically impossible! At both quadrature positions, the Earth sees more of the planet lit than not, and so it appears to be gibbous.
When does an equation follow the inverse square law?
When a variable in the denominator is squared.
This image shows the path of a star as it moves through its orbit. From the point of view of an observer at the telescope, determine how the light from the star will be affected by the Doppler shift, and label each point accordingly. You may assume that the center of the star's orbit is not moving with respect to the observer.
When an object is moving toward an observer, its light appears to have a shorter wavelength, and is therefore "blueshifted." When an object is moving away from an observer, its light appears to have a longer wavelength, and is "redshifted." If there is no radial motion (the object is not moving at all, or is moving sideways or "transversely"), then there is no Doppler shift. Measuring the degree to which the light is shifted can give us the radial velocity of the object.
A mutation is
a change to DNA that is sometimes beneficial and sometimes not.
Meteor showers occur because Earth passes through the path of
a comet
An iron meteorite most likely came from
a differentiated asteroid
The Great Red Spot on Jupiter is
a storm that has been raging for more than 300 years.
On average, a bright comet appears about once each decade. Statistically, that means that
about 10 comets will be observed in a century.
Moons of outer planets may serve as a home for life because
all of the possible answers are correct: some have liquid water. some have organic molecules. some have an interior source of energy.
Which planet(s) have ring structures?
all the giant planets (Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune)
If we could increase the quantum efficiency of the human eye, it would
allow humans to see better at night or in other low-light conditions.
The Urey-Miller experiment produced ____________ in a laboratory jar.
amino acids
A spectrum that appears to contain the full rainbow except for some dark lines is
an absorption spectrum
A spectrum that appears dark except for some bright lines is
an emission spectrum
The Sun, Moon, and stars
appear to move each day because the celestial sphere rotates about Earth.
Coronal mass ejections
are caused by breaking magnetic fields
Impacts on the terrestrial planets and the Moon
are less common than they used to be.
If scientists want to and out about the composition of the early Solar System, the best objects to study are
asteroids and comets.
Why is Jupiter reddish in color?
because of the composition of its atmosphere
During the Cambrian explosion approximately 535 to 525 million years ago,
biodiversity increased significantly.
Which type of erosion has only been seen on Earth?
biological
The main greenhouse gases in the atmospheres of the terrestrial planets are
carbon dioxide and water vapor
Over the last 800,000 years, Earth's temperature has closely tracked Choose one:
carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere.
Over the past 800,000 years, Earth's temperature has closely tracked with
carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere.
The rebounding of the crust layers after the initial impact create what feature of the impact crater?
central peak
What is the name for the driving force behind plate tectonics?
convection
When hydrogen is fused into helium, energy is released from
conversion of matter to light energy Einstein's equation E = mc2 equates energy to mass and suggests that one can be converted into the other. In the case of nuclear fusion reactions that occur in the Sun, a small amount of mass is converted into a large amount of energy.
What evidence is there that planets formed from collisions?
cratering
What is the main reason that Earth's inner core is liquid today?
decay of radioactive elements
Normally mass is also conserved in closed systems in which angular momentum is conserved. However if angular momentum is conserved while mass is added to a system and the radius of the system is constant what will happen to the velocity?
decrease
Cameras that use adaptive optics provide higher spatial resolution images primarily because
deformable mirrors are used to correct the blurring due to Earth's atmosphere
According to the IAU boundaries for constellations, as the sun moves along the ____ it will pass through ____ constellations during the course of one Earth year.
ecliptic 13
Which type of wave does NOT need a medium to travel?
electromagnetic waves
It was Kepler's introduction of _____ that removed the need for all ____ from the model of the solar system.
ellipticals; epicycles
Venus, Earth and Mars all have secondary atmospheres. What event in Earths past had a strong impact on why the Earths atmosphere is so different from that of Venus?
emergence of life
When an electron moves from a high energy level to a low energy level a photon is
emitted
In the geocentric model an ___ is needed to explain the observed ____ motion of the planets as viewed from earth.
epicycle retrograde
Which best describes the shape of a graph of radioactive decay?
exponential
The magnetic fields of the giant planets
extend far into space.
A tardigrade is an example of what kind of creature?
extremophile
The dynamo theory says that a planet will have a strong magnetic field if it has
fast rotation and a liquid core.
F
force (N, newtons)
Match the physics principle with its effect on the cloud of gas and dust in the nebular hypothesis: gravity = conservation of angular momentum =
gravity = pulls material towards the center conservation of angular momentum = slows the contraction perpendicular to the axis of rotation
Uranus and Neptune are different from Jupiter and Saturn in that Uranus and Neptune
have a higher percentage of ices in their interiors.
Dwarf planets differ from the other planets in that they
have lower mass
The difference between a prokaryote and a eukaryote is that prokaryotes
have no nucleus
We classify moons as formerly active if they
have regions with few craters.
Match these visual analogy images with the proper descriptions of the formation of features in an impact crater. The numbers associated with the descriptions indicate the chronological order in which they occur. Use the scroll bar to see all answer options.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O50o1aWbDZk These images correspond to the following descriptions, in order: just prior to impact (1); crater wall formation (2); crater wall formation (3); secondary craters (4); secondary craters (5); and central peak (6).
The synodic period for an inferior planet is the time between
inferior conjunctions
Match the technological advancement with the way it improves the capability of the telescope: photographic plate CCD
integration time; quantum efficiency
What is the relationship between the distance to a star and its parallactic angle (parallax)?
inverse
Frequency and wavelength are ____ related.
inversely
Carbon is a favorable base for life because
it can bond to many other atoms in long chains The ability of carbon to produce complex molecules, leading eventually to amino acids and proteins, is why we favor carbon as a life-bearing atom.
How is a moon classified as regular or irregular?
its orbit
The amount of angular momentum in a spherical object does not depend on
its temperature.
The radial velocity method preferentially detects:
large planets close to the central star.
The spectroscopic radial velocity method preferentially detects
large planets close to the central star.
Match the problem with telescopes with the solution that scientists developed: diffraction limit atmospheric seeing
larger telescope; adaptive optics
The habitable zone is the place around a star where
liquid water can exist on the surface of a planet.
Which property of a star is NOT used to calculate the radius of the star? distance brightness mass temperature
mass
The equation E=mc^2 governs the relationship between ___?___ and ___?___ .
mass energy
When viewed through a telescope, Uranus and Neptune are distinctly bluish green in color. What gas is responsible for this striking appearance?
methane
During a solar eclipse the shadow of the ___ falls on the ___.
moon;earth
The difference between a moon and a planet is that
moons orbit planets, whereas planets orbit stars.
What is the name of the particle that rarely interacts with matter resulting in one detector using 50,000 lbs of water to detect it?
neutrino
The physical model of the Sun's interior has been confirmed by observations of
neutrinos and seismic vibrations.
The solar neutrino problem pointed to a fundamental gap in our knowledge of
neutrinos.
Rank the phases of the Moon in the order they appear in one lunar cycle as seen from the NORTHERN Hemisphere, starting with a NEW Moon.
new moon --> waxing crescent --> waxing gibbous --> full moon --> third quarter
The cosmological principle states that
on a large scale, the universe is the same everywhere at a given time
The cosmological principle states that
on a large scale, the universe is the same everywhere at a given time The same physical laws govern how the universe works, both now and at all times in the past. Also, the properties of the universe are the same everywhere at a given point in time. Because of the nature of our expanding universe, conditions were quite different at earlier periods of its history.
The synodic period for a superior planet is the time between
oppositions
What is the name of a particle of light?
photon
If we were to take a snapshot of where the photons are inside the Sun, and which direction they are traveling, we would find that
photons are traveling in all directions. There must be a general trend toward the surface, but the process of random walk scatters photons in every direction possible.
Kepler's second law says that
planets move fastest when closest to the Sun.
Hydrostatic equilibrium in the Sun means that
pressure balances the weight of overlying layers. The Sun produces energy in its core, which creates an outward pressure that would make the Sun expand if not for its self-gravity pulling its mass toward the center. Hydrostatic equilibrium occurs when this outward pressure exactly balances the inward force of gravity (due to the weight of overlying layers on the inner layers).
In Newton's universal law of gravitation, the force is
proportional to both masses.
While the auroras that can be seen near the poles are a famous result of the magnetosphere there is another feature that results from the interaction of the earths magnetic field and the solar wind. What is this other feature that can impact the integrity of satellites orbiting the earth?
radiation belts
As energy moves out from the Sun's core toward its surface, it first travels by _________________ , then by _________________ , and then by _________________ .
radiation; convection; radiation
Any explanation of a phenomenon that includes a supernatural influence is not scientific because
science is the study of the natural world.
The time a planet takes to come back to the same position in space in relation to the Sun is called its ______________________ period.
synodic
Which orbital period of the moon is closest to the length of a month and denotes the time between two full moons?
synodic
The chemical compositions of Jupiter and Saturn are most similar to those of
the Sun.
Meteorites can provide information about all of the following except
the composition of comets.
Auroras are the result of
the interaction of particles from the Sun and Earth's atmosphere and magnetic field.
Auroras are the result of:
the interaction of particles from the Sun and Earth's atmosphere and magnetic field.
Scientists know that Earth was once completely molten because
the interior layers are denser.
Sunspots change in number and location during the solar cycle. That phenomenon is connected to
the magnetic field of the Sun.
Different cultures created different calendars because
the number of days in a month and the number of days and months in a year are not integers.
Geologists can determine the relative age of features on a planet because
the ones on top must be younger.
A telescope on Mars could measure the distances to more stars than can be measured from Earth because
the parallax "baseline" would be longer.
Hadley circulation is broken into zonal winds by
the planet's rapid rotation.
Deep inside the giant planets, water is still a liquid even though the temperatures are tens of thousands of degrees above the boiling point of water. That can happen because
the pressure inside the giant planets is so high.
The advantage of an interferometer is that
the resolution is dramatically increased
Compared to your mass on Earth, on the Moon your mass would be?
the same; mass doesn't change.
In the seasons video, what was represented by the piece of paper?
the surface of Earth
To maintain a bound orbit an object must have a velocity equal to or greater than____ and less than _____.
the velocity required for a circular orbit; escape velocity
The three types of meteorites come from different parts of their parent bodies. Stony-iron meteorites are rare because
the volume of a differentiated body that has both stone and iron is small.
Astronomers think that intelligent life is more likely to be found around stars of types F, G, K, and M because
those stars live long enough for life to begin and evolve
The Roche limit is where the ____ overpower the ____ causing the object to be pulled apart.
tidal forces; internal gravitational forces
Why would astronomers put telescopes in airplanes?
to get the telescopes above the majority of the water vapor in Earth's atmosphere
A centripetal force is one that points ____ the center of a circle . The force that provides the centripetal force for planets is the ______.
towards;gravitational force
All weather and wind on Earth are a result of convection in the
troposphere
In which region of an H-R diagram would you find the main-sequence stars with the widest habitable zones?
upper left
The atmosphere of Mars is often pink-orange because
winds lift dust into the atmosphere.
Capella (in the constellation Auriga) is the sixth-brightest star in the sky. When viewed with a high-power telescope, it turns out that Capella is actually two pairs of binary stars: the first pair are G-type giants, whereas the second pair are M-type main-sequence stars. What color does Capella appear to be?
yellow
The force of a magnetic field on a stationary charge is
zero
Once we have come up with a number of plausible hypotheses to explain the "sailing rocks" phenomenon shown, what is the next step we should take, according to the scientific method?
Make predictions for each hypothesis, which will be observed if that hypothesis is correct. The scientific method requires that we make predictions for our hypothesis, which can then be tested.
Parallax is what scientists measure to determine the distance to nearby stars. What is parallax short for?
Parallactic angle
CH 13
SMARTWORK
Examine the following images that were taken simultaneously of the same part of the Sun but at different wavelengths. What do the images tell you about the relationship between sunspots and solar flares?
Solar flares happen where there are sunspots. Regions of extremely high magnetic fields are the sites of sunspots, solar flares, and other types of solar activity.
What is an astronomical unit?
The average distance of the Earth from the Sun
What does it most likely mean when a star has very weak hydrogen lines and is blue?
The star is too hot for hydrogen lines to form.
What features do the tidal forces of the moon acting on the Earth create?
Two tidal bulges, one one the side of the Earth closest to the moon and one on the side of the Earth farthest from the moon.
How are Uranus and Neptune different from Jupiter and Saturn?
Uranus and Neptune have a higher percentage of ices in their interiors.
On which of the following planets is the atmospheric greenhouse effect strongest?
Venus
If you see the first quarter Moon on the meridian, the Sun must be
change their relative positions over time.
Frequency and energy are ____ related.
directly
If an object crosses from farther to closer than the Roche limit, it
may be torn apart.
Place the names of the types of radiation in their correct places in the EM spectrum
"Really Make It Visible, Use X-ray Glasses"
The Sun's structure exhibits many distinct layers. Starting from its center, place the layers in order.
(closest to center) core, radiative zone, convective zone, photosphere, chromosphere, corona (farthest from center) From the center and moving outward, the layers are as follows: 1. The core, where temperature and pressure are sufficient to enable nuclear fusion. 2. The radiative zone, where radiative transfer carries energy from the core outward. 3. The convective zone, where packets of hot gas become buoyant and rise up through the lower-temperature gas above them. 4. The photosphere, the visible surface of the Sun, where light can finally escape directly into space. 5. The chromosphere, the first layer of the Sun's atmosphere, where temperatures (that had steadily declined in each successive layer above the core) begin to increase again. 6. The corona, first seen from Earth during solar eclipses, where the temperature soars from several thousand K to several million K.
CHAPTER 2
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CHAPTER 3
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CHAPTER 4
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CHAPTER 5
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CHAPTER 6
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ch 11 extra credit
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Studying the climate on other planets is important to understanding the climate on Earth because
-comparing climates on other planets helps scientists understand which factors are important. -other planets offer a range of extremes to which Earth can be compared. -underlying physical processes are the same on every planet.
Categorize the four diagrams of the orbit by how many orbits the particle has moved, using the position of the particle and the position of Mimas, marked by a yellow circle.
.0.5 orbits: yellow dot at top 1.0 orbits: yellow dot at left 1.5 orbits: yellow dot at bottom 2.0 orbits:yellow dot at right Since Mimas orbits once for every two orbits of a particle in the Cassini Division, it will take it twice as long to move to any particular position around Saturn (e.g., when the particle is halfway around, Mimas is only a quarter of the way around). Mimas and particles in the Cassini Division line up in a very specific way with each other throughout their orbits. This special alignment causes Mimas to interact gravitationally with particles in the Cassini Division in such a way that it flings them out of that region, clearing the space and creating a gap in the rings.
Locate on the Earth where you would be moving the fastest.
0 degrees --> the equator The equator has the greatest distance to travel during one Earth rotation, so locations on the equator move the fastest.
Two 10-meter telescopes, separated by 85 meters, can operate as an interferometer. What is its resolution when it observes in the infrared at a wavelength of 2 microns?
0.005 arcsec
9.154 x 10-3 (Earth's diameter compared to the Sun's):
0.009154 A positive exponent means the number is large and the decimal should be moved to the right three times, giving a number in the thousands. A negative exponent means the number is small and the decimal should be moved to the left three times, giving a decimal in the thousandths.
The distance to a star is measured to be 300 light years. What would the parallax of the star be if we attempted to measure it?
0.011 arcseconds
In an effort to study the sun scientists want to place a satellite in orbit around the sun that will complete a full orbit in just 0.1 years. How far from the sun would the satellite need to be?
0.215 AU
Your task is to convert 86,400 (the number of seconds in a day) and 0.0113 (the mass of a particular moon compared to the mass of its planet) to scientific notation. 0.0113 = X × 10-2 Enter the correct value for X.(please use 4 decimal places in your answer)
1.1300 For every place you move the decimal point to the left, add one power of 10. For every place you move the decimal point to the right, subtract one power of 10. Therefore, 0.0113 = 1.1300 × 10-2 since you move the decimal point 2 places to the right.
The Chelyabinsk meteor that produced a dazzling display and injured many people (due to the shock wave shattering glass) is believed to have a mass of 1x107 kg and have been traveling at a speed of 18 km/s. What was the impact energy of the meteor?
1.6x1015 J
If a radioactive element A decays into radioactive element B in 1 half-life of 20 seconds, then after 40 seconds
1/4 of element A will remain. In 40 seconds, 2 half-lives for element A have passed. In 1 half-life, 1/2 of the material decays. So, after 2 half-lives, 1/2 of the remaining 1/2 (or 1/4) remains
Two stars are of equal luminosity. Star A is 3 times as far from you as star B. Star A appears ______________ star B.
1/9 as bright as
What is the surface temperature of a star that has a peak wavelength of 290 nm?
10,000 K
The normal procedure when discovering a new "wandering star" or object that moves relative to the background stars is to study its motion and determine its sidereal period. Using the sidereal period scientists can then determine the objects distance from the sun. An object is discovered with a sidereal period of 1,000 years. What is its distance from the sun?
100 AU
The circumference of a circle is equal to 2πr, where r is the radius. If the radius of Earth's orbit is 1.5 × 108 km, determine how fast Earth moves along its orbit. Assume there are 365 days in a year.
107588.70 km/hr
You are riding a ferry down a river. The boat is moving at 15 mph relative to the shore. You throw a ball towards the back of the boat at a speed of 4 mph. What is the speed of the ball relative to the shore?
11 mph
The following graph shows the number of sunspots counted on the Sun as a function of time. What is the period between the first and second solar cycle on this graph?
11 years When taking many sunspot cycles into account, the period (time between maxima or minima) is 11 years. However, this can vary from cycle to cycle. The first maximum peaks around 1980, and the second around 1990. This leads to a difference of roughly 10 years, which gives the period between these maxima. On average, the solar cycle has a period of 11 years.
If it takes the Moon roughly 28 days to go once around Earth, how many degrees must the Moon move every day?
12.9° In one orbit around Earth the Moon must move 360°. It takes the Moon roughly 28 days to do this. So, the moon moves 360°/28 days = 12.9°/day.
What is the maximum mass that an object can have and still be eligible to be a planet?
13 times the mass of jupiter
Particles at the very outer edge of Saturn's A Ring are in a 7:6 orbital resonance with the moon Janus. If the orbital period of Janus is 16 hours 41 minutes, what is the orbital period of the outer edge of Ring A?
14.30 hours
1.60934 x 103 (the number of meters in a mile):
1609.34 A positive exponent means the number is large and the decimal should be moved to the right three times, giving a number in the thousands. A negative exponent means the number is small and the decimal should be moved to the left three times, giving a decimal in the thousandths.
When studying the Crab Nebula scientists detect a high energy gamma ray with a frequency of 3x10^27 Hz. Knowing that the speed of light is 3x10^8 m/s, what is the wavelength of the gamma ray?
1x10^-19 m
A very large cloud of dust and gas with radius 3x1012 m has an angular velocity of just 2 m/s. If all of the mass of the cloud contracts to form a protostar with a radius of 6x103 m what is the resulting rotational velocity of the protostar?
1x10^9 m/s
Assume you want to deduce the radius of a Solar System planet as it occults a background star when the relative velocity between the planet and Earth is 30 km/s. If the star crosses through the middle of the planet and disappears for 26 minutes, what is the planet's radius?
23,000 km
The parallax of a star is measured to be 0.13 arcseconds. What is the distance to the star in light years?
25 light years d=1/p d= 1/.13 = 7.69 1 parsec = 3.26 ly (1 parsec/7.69 parsec) = (3.26 ly/ ? ly) = 25 ly
What is the energy of the gamma ray with frequency 3x10^27 Hz from the previous question? Recall that planck's constant h=6.63x10^-34 Js.
2x10^-6 J
Now imagine that the outer moon has a retrograde orbit. This means the two moons will be orbiting in opposite directions. The inner moon will still complete two orbits for each orbit of the outer moon.Now how many close approaches will the moons experience?
3 times It can be tricky to picture, but the retrograde motion does introduce a lot more encounters between moons than regular motion.
How many parsecs are in 10,000 light-years?
3065.93982 = 3066 pc 10,000 ly divided by 3.26 ly/pc is 3,067 pc. This is the upper limit of distances out to which astronomers could use the parallax method at the time of this article.
Clemson is located at approximately 35 degrees north latitude. If you are looking for the north pole star while in Clemson you should look __ degrees above the ___.
35 horizon
About how long does it take Earth to orbit the Sun?
365 days
Your task is to convert 86,400 (the number of seconds in a day) and 0.0113 (the mass of a particular moon compared to the mass of its planet) to scientific notation. 86,400 = 8.64 × 10N Enter the correct value for N.
4 For every place you move the decimal point to the left, add one power of 10. For every place you move the decimal point to the right, subtract one power of 10. 86,400 = 8.64 × 104 in scientific notation, since you move the decimal point 4 places to the left.
In the binary system shown here, a small blue star orbits a larger red star, moving from left to right in front of the red star. Match the orientation of the stars to the appearance of the light curve of the system.
4 star pics, from left to right one with blue star on left, one w/ blue in front, blue on right, no blue The maximum amount of light is when the two stars are distinguishable separately. The largest dip comes when the blue star, which emits more light per unit surface area, is totally blocked by the cooler red star. The smaller dip comes when the blue star blocks some of the red star's surface, replacing some of the red star's light with its own, but still not making as much as both stars would if seen separately.
The force of gravity is directly proportional to the mass of the planet, so any change only in the mass of a planet will change the force of gravity (and therefore your weight) by the same amount. What if the radius of the planet were increased by a factor of 2 instead?
4 times stronger The force of gravity between two objects depends proportionally on their mass and inversely proportionally on the squared distance between them. If the distance between the objects decreases, then the force of gravity between them will increase by the square of this smaller distance.So, if the distance decreases by 2 times, the force of gravity increases by 22 = 4 times.
The parallax of a star is measured to be 0.23 arcseconds. What is the distance to the star in parsecs?
4.35 parsecs d (distance) = 1/p (angle) d=1/.23 d =4.345
The asteroid that led to the extinction of the dinosaurs was believed to have 6.8×10156.8×1015 kg of mass and a speed of 12 km/s. What is the impact energy associated with the collision with Earth?
4.9x10^23 J https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8F01d8yaU5k
The temperature in the Thermosphere is measured to be 500 K. What is the temperature at this altitude in the thermosphere in degrees Fahrenheit?
441 degrees Fahrenheit
Given two extrasolar planets have a resonance of 1:3 and the planet closest to the star has an orbital period of 15 days what is the orbital period of the other planet?
45 days
An ice skater of mass mi begins a spin with a rotational velocity of vi and a radius ri. When the ice skater pulls in their arms their radius decreases by a factor of 4. What is the new rotational velocity of the ice skater?
4vi
Perform this division problem involving numbers in scientific notation. (8.4×10^9)/(2.1×10^3)
4x10^6
Add the scientific notation number 4.2x10^3 to the scientific notation number 5.3x10^4 and choose the correct answer in proper scientific notation form.
5.72x10^4
The average meteor has a mass of just 0.002 kg and travels about 25 km/s. What is the impact energy of these meteors with the Earth?
6.3x105 J
Multiply the scientific notation number 3.2x10^4 and the scientific notation number 2.4x10^7 together and choose the correct answer in proper scientific notation form.
7.68x10^11
Weight refers to the force of gravity acting on a mass. We often calculate the weight of an object by multiplying its mass by the local acceleration due to gravity. The value of gravitational acceleration on the surface of Mars is 0.38 times that on Earth. Assume your mass is 75.00 kg. Then your weight on Earth is 735.00 newtons (735.00 N = m × g = 75.00 kg × 9.8 m/s2). What would be your mass on Mars? (kg) What would be your weight on Mars? (N)
75.00 kg 279.30 N Mass is an intrinsic property of matter and does not change from place to place. Your mass on Mars would still be 75.00 kg. However, your weight is influenced by the local gravitational acceleration. On Earth your weight is 735.00 N. Because Mars has a gravitational acceleration that is only 38% of Earth's, your weight on Mars would be 38% of your weight on Earth. Therefore, on Mars you would weigh only 279.30 N. WeightMars = 0.38 × (735.00 N) = 279.30 N
An extrasolar system is seen to have 3 planets with resonance 1:3:5. If the outermost planet from the star has an orbital period of 40 days what is the orbital period of the closest planet to the star?
8 days
The discovery of life on another world would be even more exciting if that life were intelligent and technologically advanced enough to communicate with us or visit our planet. How feasible would a long-distance communication be between us and life on a world around another star? The star nearest to us is Proxima Centauri, which is 4.24 light-years away. How many complete messages, including a reply, could be sent back and forth between Alpha Centauri and the Sun within a 70-year lifetime?
8 messages Seventy years divided by 8.48 years for each message, including its reply, is just over 8 total messages. This is the closest star to us; communication with others would take even longer.
If an event were to take place on the Sun, approximately how long would the light it generates take to reach us? Group of answer choices
8 minutes
If star A appears twice as bright as star B but is also twice as far away, star A is ______________ as luminous as star B.
8 times
If the Moon were 2 times closer to Earth than it is now, the tides would be
8 times stronger.
The parallax of a star is measured to be 0.35 arcseconds. What is the distance to the star in meters?
8.6x10^16 meters d=1/.35 d= 2.86 parsec 1 parsec = 3 x 10^16 m (1 parsec/2.86 parsec) = (3 x 10^16 meters/? meters) = 8.6 x 10 ^16 m
Using the following figure, determine how long multicellular organisms have been present on Earth.
800 million years Though single-celled organisms developed relatively quickly after Earth formed, multicellular organisms did not begin until about 800 million years ago.
Unaware of the radioactive nature of the gold they created our alchemist sends a 100g sample to their colleague. The colleague is confused to recieve only 12.5g of gold with a note stating that 100g was sent. How long did it take the 100g sample of gold199 with a half life of 3 days to reach its destination?
9 days
A bar is a measure of atmospheric pressure, where one bar is equivalent to Earth's atmospheric pressure at sea level. Venus's atmosphere has a pressure of 92 bars. Water pressure in Earth's oceans increases by one bar for every 10 m of depth. How deep would you have to go to experience pressure equal to the atmospheric surface pressure on Venus? ___?___m deep
920 m deep
Assume that you and your sister can both throw a baseball at a speed of 80 km/h. If you are in an airplane traveling at 875 km/h and play catch with your sister who is near the front of the plane (you being toward the rear), how fast would the ball be traveling as seen by an observer on the ground when you throw the ball? ? km/h How fast would the ball be traveling as seen by an observer on the ground when your sister throws the ball back to you? ? km/h
955 km/h 795 km/h The baseball, and everything else in the airplane, all share the airplane's velocity as seen from someone on the ground. So before you even begin throwing the baseball around the airplane, the person on the ground would see it traveling at a speed of 875 km/h. When you throw the baseball, you are throwing it in the direction that the airplane is moving, so the velocity you give to the ball adds to the initial speed seen by the observer on the ground. This means the observer sees the baseball traveling at 875 + 80 , or 955 km/h. When your sister throws the baseball, she is throwing it in the opposite direction than the airplane is moving, so the velocity she imparts to the ball subtracts from its initial speed as seen by someone on the ground. Therefore, the observer on the ground would see the baseball traveling at 875 - 80 , or 795 km/h.
Both tails of a comet initially point = The light from the ion tail is created by = The light from the dust tail =
= directly away from the sun = ions reforming and releasing electromagnetic waves. = is reflected sunlight from the dust.
The planet in the diagram shown is in an elliptical orbit around the Sun. Rank the average orbital speed of the planet at each shaded orbit segment. The areas in segments A, B, and C are EQUAL. Highest speed --> Lowest Speed
A --> B --> C Hint- keepers second law orbit closest to sun is faster then further distance from sun Kepler's second law states that a planet sweeps out equal areas in equal times during its orbit around the Sun. Therefore, the planet stays in each segment for the same time period (t2-t1 = t4-t3 = t6-t5). When the planet is close to the Sun, it moves faster in order to travel the larger distance in its orbit. Farther away from the Sun, the planet travels more slowly over the shorter distance in the same time. Newton later explained that this is because the gravitational force is stronger when closer to the Sun.
A new star is forming inside this glowing cloud of gas. The dark band in the middle is made of a disk of thick dust, which obscures the light within it and hides the forming star from view. Newly forming stars are surrounded by gas and dust. Based on this observation, what is the most likely scenario for the formation of the Solar System?
A cloud of gas and dust collapsed into a flattened disk, within which the Sun and planets formed. A collapsing cloud that flattens into a disk explains the disk shape of our Solar System, where the planets all orbit near the same flat plane. The planets orbit in the same direction as the cloud they formed from was rotating in. Most other options would not explain this flat shape and the orderly orbits, and star collisions are so rare that that formation scenario is highly unlikely.
As a comet leaves the inner Solar System, its ion tail points
A comet's ion tail always points away from the Sun. Since the solar wind radiates outward from the Sun, the tail always points in the direction of the solar wind.
In the elliptical orbit shown, the given areas were made in the same amount of time. Match the correct description of the change in speed the planet would experience to the proper segment.
A consequence of Kepler's second law is that since a planet's orbit must be an ellipse, its speed within its orbit must constantly be changing, speeding up as it nears the Sun, and slowing down as it moves away from the Sun. At the beginning of the red segment, the planet is falling toward the Sun and by the end is moving away, so the planet speeds up at first but slows down by the end. The reverse is true of the green segment. In the blue segment, the planet is moving away from the Sun the entire time, so it will be slowing down the entire segment.
The proton-proton chain powers the Sun by fusing hydrogen into helium. As a by-product, several different particles are produced, which eventually produce energy. The process has multiple steps, and this Exploration is designed to explore these steps in detail, hopefully to help you keep them straight. Two hydrogen nuclei (both positively charged) have collided to produce a new nucleus with only one positive charge. What is a neutrino? Did the neutrino enter the reaction, or was the neutrino produced in the reaction?
A neutrino is an almost massless particle that is produced in nuclear processes involved with electrons and positrons. The neutrino is produced in this reaction.
The Earth is in the habitable zone of the Sun where it's possible for liquid water to exist on the surface of a rocky world as long as it has a sufficiently thick atmosphere. When considering life on planets around other stars, we must take into account the fact that not all stars are like our Sun; they vary in mass, and therefore vary in luminosity. These three figures show different scenarios for how the location of the habitable zone (blue region) varies for stars of different mass. Choose the figure that accurately represents the location of the habitable zone.
A planet would have to be located farther away from a brighter, more massive star to be cool enough for water to exist in the liquid phase instead of the gas phase, but closer to a dimmer, less massive star in order to be warm enough for water to exist in the liquid phase instead of the solid phase. Explanation: The habitable zone is closer to less massive stars and farther away from more massive stars.
When using the scientific method what is the definition of a fact?
A repeatable observation or measurement.
About how long does it take Earth to go around its axis once?
A. 1 day One Earth rotation on its axis defines the length of a day.
Match the geological process with the image of a landscape created by that process.
A. Erosion... rocky structures B. Impact cratering... crater in ground C. Tectonism... land D. Volcanism... volcano
If Earth's axis were tilted by 45°, instead of its actual tilt, how would the seasons be different than they are currently?
A. Winters would be colder. The seasons are caused by the tilt of the Earth's axis to its orbit around the Sun. When a hemisphere is tilted more toward the Sun, it will be warmer and experience summer. The greater this tilt, the hotter the summer. The opposite is true during the winter, with a greater tilt causing a colder winter. A greater axial tilt therefore results in more extreme seasons.
If you were standing at Earth's North Pole, where would you see the north celestial pole relative to your zenith? A. at the zenith B. on the horizon C. 23.5° south of the zenith D. none of the above; the north celestial pole can't be seen from there.
A. at the zenith The north celestial pole is defined as the point in the celestial sphere directly above Earth's the North Pole. So, if you are at the North Pole, the north celestial pole must be directly above your head.
Looking down on Earth from above the North Pole, the Moon orbits Earth:
A. counterclockwise
Sort each scenario into the category indicating whether or not the car is accelerating.
Accelerating: slowing speed, increasing speed, constant speed while turning Not accelerating: constant speed Velocity is a vector, meaning that it contains information about both speed and direction. If the velocity changes in any way, there is an acceleration. This includes a change in speed and/or a change in direction. The only type of object that is not accelerating is one that has a constant speed and direction.
Label these important places on the celestial sphere: A. North celestial pole B. South celestial pole C. Celestial equator D. Ecliptic
All of these are imaginary places in the celestial sphere that line up with either a part of Earth or its orbit around the Sun. The celestial poles and equator are directly above the poles and equator on Earth's surface, and the ecliptic traces out the plane of Earth's orbit around the Sun.
Study how the various properties of a main-sequence star are related to one another in the figure. Then select the properties in the list that would increase if the mass of a main-sequence star is increased.
All of these quantities increase with increased mass --> temperature, luminosity, and radius
Identify the various air flows found on Venus.
All winds on Venus are ultimately driven by convection. Hot air rises in the equatorial zone, where solar heating is concentrated and flows to the poles. Such an almost-planetwide overturning of the troposphere is called Hadley circulation. However, the meridional air motions are much slower than zonal winds.
Why is an iron atom a different element from a sodium atom?
An iron atom has more protons in its nucleus than a sodium atom has.
Newtons 1st law
An object at rest stays at rest and an object in motion stays in motion with the same speed and in the same direction unless acted upon by an unbalanced force.
What determines an asteroid's shape? Compare the images of asteroids below and choose the answer that best fits your observations.
Asteroids have a range of sizes, with the largest being spherical and the smaller ones irregular in shape. Asteroids come in a variety of shapes and sizes, ranging from the large, round Ceres to the small, irregular Gaspra.
Identify the location of the inner planet shown when it is at a superior conjunction as seen from Earth.
At superior conjunction, a planet is in line with the Sun and Earth at a position on the other side of the Sun from the Earth.
Identify the different layers of Earth's atmosphere: Aurora = Meteors = Weather Balloon =
Aurora = Thermosphere Meteors = Mesosphere Weather Balloon = Stratosphere Mount Everest = Troposphere
Why did the Moon move away from Earth billions of years ago?
Back when the Moon was formed, the tidal forces between Earth and the Moon were much stronger. As these tidal forces acted between Earth and the Moon, a natural part of this interaction was the Moon being moved into a higher orbit, triggering the Moon to begin receding from Earth. And while the Moon recedes at about 4 cm per year, Earth's rotation is slowing down. Eventually Earth and the Moon will be tidally locked with each other, but before that happens, the Sun, as it expands into a red giant star, will have already swallowed the Earth-Moon system!
When you look at the sky on a dark night and see stars of different colors, which are the hottest?
Blue Wien's Law states that as a star's surface temperature increases, the peak wavelength for the light produced shifts to wavelengths with decreasing value. As blue light has the smallest value for the options provided, it would have the greatest temperature associated with it.
The most common type of asteroids are___?___ and ___?____. Less common are ___?___ which are formed at the center of differentiated asteroids.
C-type ; have not differentiated ; M-type
Place the following in order from largest to smallest semimajor axis: a. a planet with a period of 84 Earth days b. a planet with a period of 1 Earth year c. a planet with a period of 2 Earth years d. a planet with a period of 0.5 Earth year C. a planet with a period of 2 Earth yearsB. a planet with a period of 1 Earth yearD. a planet with a period of 0.5 Earth yearA. a planet with a period of 84 Earth DAYS
C. a planet with a period of 2 Earth years --> B. a planet with a period of 1 Earth year --> D. a planet with a period of 0.5 Earth year --> A. a planet with a period of 84 Earth DAYS The semimajor axis, or average distance from the Sun, is larger if the period is larger.
Where on Earth can you stand and, over the entire year, see the entire sky?
C. at the equator At the equator both celestial poles are on the horizon and therefore you can eventually see every star on the entire celestial sphere. The equator is the only part of Earth that gets a full view of the celestial sphere over the course of a year, though stars near the celestial poles will always be near the horizon and difficult to spot.
The Celestial Equator (CE):
C. is specific to an observer. No two observers have the same celestial equator. If you were standing on Earth's equator, the celestial equator would be a line stretching from east to west through your zenith.
Polaris, the North Star, is unique because it:
C. is the only star in the sky that doesn't move throughout the night. Since Polaris is almost directly above the Earth's rotational axis at the North Pole, every other star in the sky appears to move in circles around it. Polaris is in a unique spot almost directly above the rotational axis of the Earth, so from our point of view, the sky appears to move around Polaris.
If the star Polaris has an altitude of 35°, then we know that: A. our longitude is 35° west. B. our longitude is 55° east. C. our latitude is 35° north. D. our latitude is 55° north.
C. our latitude is 35° north. The altitude of the north celestial pole, and therefore Polaris, is equal to your latitude on Earth. If you're standing on the North Pole (latitude 90°), Polaris will be at your zenith, with an altitude of 90°. Moving farther south to lower latitudes will cause Polaris to be observed at lower altitudes, down to zero at the equator. The altitude of the north celestial pole (near Polaris) is equal to your latitude on Earth.
Earth is composed of differentiated layers with distinctive attributes. Starting with the center and moving outward, indicate the proper sequence of the layers.
CENTER solid core liquid core mantle crust atmosphere EXTERNAL When the rock and metals within a planet are melted, the denser materials sink to the bottom, and the less dense materials float to the top. This happened early in Earth's history, and as the layers solidified, they maintained the properties imparted by differentiation. Earth's inner core has two sections: the solid inner core and the liquid outer core. Based on the fact that temperature increases the deeper you go toward the center, it seems surprising that the inner core could be solid. However, whether a material is solid or liquid depends on pressure as well as temperature. At the center of the Earth, even though the temperature is higher, the pressure is so great that the inner core of Earth is solid. Above the core, the mantle is the region where convection occurs and drives movement of the plates of the crust. Earth's final layer is the atmosphere, which was not created by differentiation. It is a secondary atmosphere created by outgassing, plant life, and perhaps even comets.
If your hypothesis has passed nine tests, but fails the tenth one, what do you do?
Change the hypothesis or create a new one, then come up with new predictions and conduct more tests. If a hypothesis fails a single test, it must be revised or abandoned, and any new hypothesis must be continuously tested for its validity.
After it was discovered, astronomers predicted Uranus's orbit using Newton's laws of motion and gravity, which had worked extremely well for all of the other planets. To their surprise, they found that their observations of Uranus's motion through the sky did not match their predictions. Which of the following would be the most logical next step?
Check for other previously undiscovered factors that might alter Uranus's orbit while still allowing it to obey Newton's laws of motion and gravity.
The figure shows the orbits of several short-period comets as viewed from above the Solar System, as well as the orbits of some planets.
Clockwise Motion: Comet Haley Counterwise Motion: Saturn, Jupiter, Comet Encke Explanation: Most short-period comets have prograde orbits that move in the same direction as the planets. Since most of the comets shown orbit counterclockwise, the planets must also be orbiting in that direction. Comet Halley is an exception to the comets shown, with a retrograde (clockwise) orbit.
The search for extrasolar planets has uncovered a phenomenon astronomers call a "hot Jupiter." If our Solar System had one, where would it orbit, relative to the other planets?
Closest to Sun Hot Jupiter Mercury Venus Earth Mars Jupiter Farthest from Sun
Label the various processes associated with tectonism.
Compression would be where the two arrows are pushing the land together, making it look wavy. Spreading center is where lava looks like it's about to push through the ground. Fault is the one that looks like two trapezoid pieces are sitting unevenly with each other, having the arrows point at each other closely. Spreading is where the two arrows are going the opposite direction, having a fall in between them. Subduction looks like one arrow pointing west, and the other pointing south-eastward. A spreading center currently exists between the Nazca and Pacific plates. A subduction zone exists where the Nazca Plate goes beneath the South America Plate. Compression is producing the bending and folding of western South America, and faults are helping produce the mighty mountains of the Himalayas. Spreading is represented with the small image in the lower left.
Match the energy transport method with its description: Conduction = Convection = Radiation =
Conduction = Thermal vibrations cause neighboring material to vibrate transferring energy. Convection = Hotter less dense material flows up while cooler more dense material sinks down. Radiation = Energy carried in electromagnetic waves.
The following image represents a section of the H-R diagram. Use the image as a guide to rank the stars according to their relative temperatures, from coolest to hottest.
Coolest to Hottest: 1) Betelgeuse 2) Aldebaran 3) The Sun 4) Polaris 5) Veg 6) Rigel
Label each region of the Sun with the most important process that is happening there.
Core - Nuclear fusion reactions create energy Radiative Zone - Energy is absorbed, emitted, and deflected by matter in unpredictable directions Convective Zone - Moving matter physically transports energy outward Outer Part - Energy radiates outward at the speed of light Densities are highest in the core, where nuclear fusion reactions occur. The energy produced here makes its way slowly through the radiative zone, "bouncing" randomly from particle to particle until it eventually finds its way to the convection zone. Here, densities are low enough that the plasma of the Sun can move more effectively, and it becomes more efficient for energy to be transported outward by convection, physically carried upward to the surface of the Sun by the material that absorbed it. Past this zone, at the photosphere, energy is finally free to travel outward into space as light.
Match the eccentricity values with the properly shaped ellipse.
D) 0.95 B) 0.8 F) 0.5 C) 0 The eccentricity of an ellipse depends on the separation of the foci. When they are at the same place, as in a perfect circle, the eccentricity value is zero. As the foci are moved farther apart, the eccentricity value increases. Because the value is a ratio of the distance between the foci and the major axis, the value can never reach or exceed 1.
The tilt of Earth's axis causes the seasons because
D. Both B and C are correct B. the days are longer in summer. C. the rays of light strike the ground more directly in summer
Which is not true about the vernal and autumnal equinoxes?
D. The motion of the stars in the sky on the equinoxes is different than on other days.
What is the small object to the right of the asteroid Ida?
Dactyl, its moon Dactyl was the first moon found orbiting an asteroid. Since then, moons have been found orbiting over 200 asteroids. Some asteroids even have two moons. Ida is very old, fractured, and made of solid rock. Dactyl is also fractured and cratered.
How does the spectrum of a distant star reveal the star's chemical composition?
Dark lines, also called absorption lines, within the spectra are "fingerprints" for the different atoms and molecules within a star's atmosphere. Additionally, these chemical "fingerprints" can overlap; separating them from each other can be challenge, much like finding multiple fingerprints upon the same doorknob and separating them to identify different people who touched it.
Sort the meteorites by their likely origin in either a differentiated or undifferentiated body.
Differentiated = all with rocky/iron makeup Undifferentiated = all with rocky makeup The meteorite that shows chondrules most likely came from primitive undifferentiated material. The rest appear to have been differentiated into either stony or metallic material.
Match the measurement with the units required to use the parallax equation: Distance = Angle =
Distance = parsec Angle = arcseconds
Match the planet with the feature is had from an extreme impact late in its formation. Mars:
Distinctly different features in northern and southern hemispheres
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Put the following stages of planet formation in order of occurrence.
Earliest stage... -An interstellar cloud collapses into a disk of gas, dust -Gas pushes smaller dust grains into larger grains -Larger dust grains grow into clumps -Clumps of dust collide and stick, forming planetesimals -Km sized planetesimals attract other objects by gravity -Planets of various sizes form Latest stage... The process of planet formation begins with a cloud of dust and gas that collapses to form an accretion disk. Within the disk, random motions of the gas push the dust around, and some of the dust sticks together to form larger and larger grains, eventually becoming clumps. With continued collisions, 100-meter clumps of dust grow into kilometer-sized planetesimals, which have enough gravity to grow still larger by pulling in and capturing other smaller planetesimals. The process continues until planets of various sizes are formed.
On which of the following does plate tectonics occur?
Earth
Order the following images from smallest to largest structure to give our cosmic address.
Earth --> Solar System --> Milky Way Galaxy --> Local Group The Earth is one small planet in the Solar System, which is one small part of the Milky Way, which is one member of the Local Group of galaxies, which is a small part of the entire Virgo Supercluster.
The following figure shows the estimated relative amounts of water on the moons Europa and Titan, and on Earth. Rank the worlds by the amount of liquid water on each.
Earth < Europa < Titan
Lava flows on the Moon and Mercury created large, smooth plains. We don't see similar features on Earth because
Earth has plate tectonics that recycle the surface. The Earth's surface is constantly moving and changing, so its surface is continually renewed.
The Sun rotates once every 25 days relative to the stars. The Sun rotates once every 27 days as seen from Earth. Why are those two numbers different? Group of answer choices
Earth moves in its orbit as the Sun rotates.
The Sun rotates once every 25 days relative to the stars. The Sun rotates once every 27 days relative to Earth. Why are these two numbers different?
Earth moves in its orbit during this time. Because we are moving in the same direction as the Sun's rotation, the Sun, in effect, takes a little longer to catch up to Earth's changing point-of-view. As the Sun spins, Earth moves around the Sun in its own orbit so that our point of view of the Sun is constantly changing.
If the Sun instantaneously stopped giving off light, what would happen on Earth?
Earth would get dark 8 minutes later Light travels at 3 x 108 m/s, and the Earth-Sun distance is about 1.5 x 1011 m. Given that distance = speed * time, it would take about 1.5 x 1011 m / 3 x 108 m/s = 8 minutes for the Earth to get dark in the scenario given.
If the Sun instantaneously stopped giving off light, what would happen on Earth?
Earth would get dark 8 minutes later.
An angle exists between the ecliptic and the celestial equator because
Earth's axis is tilted with respect to its orbit.
Which of the following shapes best represents Earth's orbit?
Earth's orbit has an eccentricity of 0.017, which is so close to a circle that you could not visually tell the difference.
Day and night are caused by
Earth's rotation on its axis
Earth has fewer craters than Venus because
Earth's surface experiences more erosion
A lunar eclipse occurs when the ________ shadow falls on the ________.
Earth's; Moon A lunar eclipse happens when the Earth's shadow falls on the Moon.
A lunar eclipse occurs when _________________ shadow falls on _________________ .
Earth's; the Moon
Put these four shapes in order from largest to smallest eccentricity value.
Eccentricity decreases as the focal points get closer together. A more elongated ellipse has a larger eccentricity value, so the order should be from the most elongated to the most circular.
What did Kepler's 1st law introduce to orbits that removed the need for all epicycles?
Elliptical orbits Copernicus Epicycles vs Kepler's Ellipses
When Earth catches up to a slower-moving outer planet and passes it in its orbit, in the same way that a faster runner overtakes a slower runner in an outside lane, the outer planet:
Exhibits retrograde motion. From the point of view of the Earth when we pass the slower moving planet, it will appear to move backward since it will start ahead of Earth and then gradually move behind. This brief backward motion in our sky is called retrograde motion.
Label the layers of the Sun as represented in this graph of density and height above the solar surface. Corona, Photosphere, and Chromosphere
Explanation: The photosphere is the deepest and most dense layer of the Sun's atmosphere. As such it generates the Sun's absorption spectrum. The chromosphere and corona are considerably thinner layers, and so make their own emission spectra. The photosphere is the deepest and most dense layer of the Sun's atmosphere. As such it generates the Sun's absorption spectrum. The chromosphere and corona are considerably thinner layers, and so make their own emission spectra.
Rank the following events in the order that corresponds to the formation of a planetary system.
First, gravity causes a cloud of interstellar gas to collapse. Second, a rotating disk forms and dust grains stick together by static electricity. Third, small bodies collide to form larger bodies. Fourth, primary atmospheres form. Fifth, a stellar wind "turns on" and sweeps away gas and dust, including primary atmospheres. Sixth, secondary atmospheres are formed.
What is Newton's third law?
For every action force there is an equal and opposite reaction force
The diagram shows the configuration of the Sun, Earth, and Moon during a solar eclipse, and the regions on Earth from which the solar eclipse is visible. Identify how much of the eclipse can be seen at each location on Earth by dragging each label to the corresponding target.
For those on Earth within the darkest part of the Moon's shadow (the "umbra"), there will be a total solar eclipse, with the entire disk of the Sun blocked by the Moon. Those within the larger "penumbra" will see a partial eclipse, as the Moon will not completely block the Sun. Those outside the shadow will see no eclipse at all, just an ordinary new Moon. On the opposite side of the Earth, where it is nighttime, the Sun and Moon are below the horizon and therefore not visible. As such, not everyone on Earth will be able to experience any particular eclipse.
Energy stored in matter itself—mass energy—can be very powerful. Per Einstein's famous equation E = mc2, energy is equivalent to mass times a constant (the speed of light squared). The speed of light is very large, so just a small amount of mass can result in a very large amount of energy. How can mass turn into energy? Consider the two most common elements in the universe: hydrogen and helium. As shown in this figure, a hydrogen nucleus (where most of its mass is contained) is made of one proton (p). A helium nucleus is made of two protons and two neutrons (n). Nuclear reactions can change what a nucleus is made of. The mass of hydrogen is 1.6726 x 10-27 kg, and the mass of helium is 6.6465 x 10-27 kg. Given this, which of the following nuclear reactions would result in a decrease of total mass, and thus a release of energy, while keeping the same number of particles involved?
Four hydrogen nuclei combine into one helium nucleus. Four hydrogen nuclei have a mass of 4 times 1.6726 x 10-27 kg = 6.6904 x 10-27 kg, but one helium nucleus has a lower mass at 6.6465 x 10-27 kg. The lost mass is turned partly into pure energy. This is what makes the Sun shine. Nuclear reactions like this occur when the nuclei of atoms change by breaking apart (fission) or combining with other nuclei (fusion). The Sun produces energy through nuclear fusion, combining hydrogen into helium and losing a tiny amount of mass in the process.
The image provided shows a light source moving relative to three different observers: Fred, Velma, and Daphne. If the light source is emitting green light and moving with sufficient speed, identify which colors each person could possibly see.
Fred-red Velma-green , and Daphne-green. Edwin Hubble found that the light from galaxies is redshifted, which provides evidence that the Universe is expanding.
Label the layers of the Sun with the appropriate description of how energy is transported from the center to the surface.
From the center(core) moving outward: C. Energy is produced here. A. Energy is carried outward by radiation, constantly interacting with surrounding particles. D. Energy is carried by rising heated material. B. Energy is carried away purely by radiation with few interactions. The Sun's energy is produced only in the very center—the core. Once the energy leaves the core it radiates through the relatively low-opacity radiative zone, constantly interacting with other particles and gradually losing energy. The upper layer of the Sun's interior is more opaque, and so energy is transported by rising and falling, convecting material. At the top of this layer the Sun becomes fully transparent, and energy radiates directly away from what is considered the Sun's surface.
Locate the parts of a sunspot in the figure.
Granules - lightest yellow part that looks like pebbles or whatever. Penumbra - darker brown/yellow part that looks like it's being stretched out. Umbra - the really dark/black part. Sunspots are places where energy transportation via convection is being suppressed as material is trapped at the surface by magnetic field lines.
The connection between gravity and orbits enables astronomers to measure the __________ of stars and planets.
Gravitational force is caused by mass, therefore orbital properties are also dictated by the masses of the objects being orbited and orbiting.
Perihelion is the point in an oGroup of answer choicesclosest to; farthest fromrbit _______________ the Sun; aphelion is the point in an orbit _______________ the Sun.
Group of answer choicesclosest to; farthest from
Different materials condense into clouds at different temperatures, as shown in these plots of the temperatures of the cloud layers of Jupiter and Uranus. Use the temperature curves shown to rank the following cloud types in order of decreasing temperature.
HIGHEST TEMP--- Water ice Ammonium hydrosulfide ice Ammonia ice Hydrogen sulfide ice Methane ice LOWEST TEMP---
Place in order, from lowest to highest, the layers of Earth's atmosphere.
HIGHEST--- Magnetosphere Thermosphere Mesosphere Stratosphere Troposphere LOWEST---
Label the different parts of Venus's atmosphere.
HIGHEST--- Sulfuric acid cloud layer Tropopause Sulfuric acid haze Troposphere LOWEST---
Half of the _______ decay into ______ during the time of one ______.
Half of the [parent atoms] decay into the [daughter atoms] during the time of one [half life].
In Table 13.1, the percentage of hydrogen in the Sun decreases when changing from percentage by number of atoms to percentage by mass, but the percentage of helium increases. Why?
Helium is more massive than hydrogen.
Match the planet with the feature is had from an extreme impact late in its formation. Mercury:
Higher than expected density
Match the element or compound with the type of atmosphere it is associated with.
Hydrogen = Primary Helium = Primary Carbon Dioxide = Secondary Nitrogen = Secondary
The astronomer's periodic table displays the abundances of the Sun's elements in boxes of relative size. Place the elements into their appropriate boxes.
Hydrogen, Helium, oxygen, nitrogen, sulfur
frequency
Hz, Hertz
Select the main processes that build up structures on the terrestrial planets.
Impacts, tectonism, and volcanism build up structures on the terrestrial planets.
Match the appropriate descriptions of luminosity, temperature, and size of stars to the correct portion of the H-R diagram.
In general the smallest stars are to the bottom left, which is why those stars are low luminosity even though they are so hot, and the largest stars are at the upper right, which is why those stars can be so highly luminous despite being so cool.
The Voyager spacecraft made close-up observations of Saturn's rings that seemed to have no explanation. In particular, Saturn's F Ring appeared twisted, which apparently did not follow Newton's law of gravity and the expected orderly orbits of particles through collisions and gravitational interactions. Given this observation, what is the most logical step in the scientific process?
In keeping with the laws of physics, further observations must be made to search for previously undiscovered objects that might gravitationally influence the rings.
In the following scenarios, the driver of a car has a cup of coffee set in a drink holder. Identify how the coffee in the cup would be affected when the car is at constant velocity, speeding up, and slowing down.
In the diagram, the coffee experiences no acceleration forward or backward when the car is moving at a constant velocity. When the car is accelerating forward, the coffee sloshes to the back of the cup, just as you would be pressed back into your seat. When the car is slowing, or decelerating, the coffee sloshes toward the front of the cup, just as you would be pressed forward against your seatbelt.
Study this picture of a meteorite that has been sliced open to show its interior, and use your observations to determine the most likely formation scenario for a planet.
Individual particles in the nebula stick together to form larger pieces which later collide with and stick to other pieces to gradually form larger objects, which eventually grow to the size of a planet.
Study this picture of a meteorite that has been sliced open to show its interior, and use your observations to determine the most likely formation scenario for a planet. Scroll down and select the best answer below.
Individual particles in the nebula stick together to form larger pieces, which later collide with and stick to other pieces to gradually form larger objects, which eventually grow to the size of a planet. The mottled appearance of meteorite interior suggests that planets were formed by smaller pieces that stuck together to form larger ones.
The diagram shows a cross section of a planetesimal. Identify the types of asteroids that could result from the fragmentation of different parts of such a body.
Inner orange: M type Outer orange/grey: S type The planetesimal shown has been differentiated. If it were to break apart, S-type (stony) asteroids would result from the silicate rocks of the crust and mantle layers, and M-type (metal) asteroids would result from the core's metallic elements, such as iron and nickel.
Proton-proton nuclear reaction chain that occurs in the core of the Sun - Sort the particles into the categories describing whether they are input particles that get used up in the reaction, new output particles persisting after the reaction, or intermediate particles that exist only temporarily during the reaction. Input: Output: Intermediate:
Input: Hydrogen, electron Output: Neutrino, Gamma Ray, Helium-4 Intermediate: Deuterium, Helium-3, Positron In the proton-proton chain, six hydrogen particles go in and two come out. Four are therefore lost and are included in the input category. Deuterium (2H) and Helium-3 (3He) are temporarily created before combining with other particles to form larger nuclei, so they are intermediates. Electrons come from the outside (making them input particles) and combine with the intermediate positrons to form gamma rays, which are output particles. Neutrinos are additionally created as output particles. Helium-4 (4He) is the final resulting nucleus and counts as an output particle. The overall reaction is: 4 1H + 2 e- → 4He + 2𝜈ν+ 6𝛾
Intrinsic vs extrinsic properties
Intrinsic (or characteristic) properties do not depend on the amount of the matter that's present. Extrinsic properties do depend on the amount of matter that's present. Intrinsic = "intensive"; density, conductivity, reactivity Extrinsic = "extensive"; volume and mass
Order the moons of Jupiter from nearest the planet to farthest.
Io --> Europa --> Ganymede --> Callisto The Galilean moons contain the vast majority of the mass of the Jupiter system, aside from the planet itself. They are so large, in fact, that if it weren't for the glare of bright Jupiter, they would be visible to the naked eye from Earth!
Match the moon of Jupiter with its corresponding feature.
Io = Volcanic activity Europa =Cryovolcanically active Ganymede = Impact creaters that have filled with water and frozen Callisto = Geologically dead, large valhallan crater
Beside rings, all of the giant planets have many moons that orbit them, some of which are comparable in size to Mercury. Compare the following images of the Moon, Mercury, and Jupiter's moon, Io, and choose the image that has the geologically youngest surface (has been changed most recently). Note: There is a difference between volcanoes, which look like circular blemishes on the surface, and impact craters.
Io has no impact craters on its surface, but Mercury and the Moon have many.
Because of its small size, Mercury has lost most of its internal heat from its formation and is nearly geologically dead. Io is smaller than Mercury, but it is the most geologically active object in the Solar System, with volcanic eruptions constantly repaving its surface. This image shows a couple of volcanic eruptions as they happen. Of the four large Galilean moons orbiting Jupiter, Io is the closest to the planet. Considering Io's size and location in the Solar System, what is the most likely reason for Io's high level of geological activity?
Io's proximity to Jupiter provides a current source of internal heat.
Identify the main parts of a comet in these two images.
Ion tail Coma Dust tail Nucleus At the center of the head of a comet is the nucleus, which is immediately surrounded by the coma. The ion tail extends in a straight line away from the head of comet, where the dust tail also extends out from the head but with a gentle curve.
If a quantity is conserved, it means that it
It doesn't change
Uranus is visible to the naked eye, a bit brighter than the faintest naked-eye stars. However, it was not until well after the invention of the telescope in the late 18th century that Uranus was accidentally discovered. How could people have missed this naked-eye planet until then? Compare Uranus's properties in the following chart to the other planets, then select the option that could explain why Uranus was harder to discover.
It has a longer orbital period than Jupiter and Saturn.
What determines if a planet is Superior?
It is farther from the Sun than the Earth.
If the radius of a spherical object is halved, what must happen to the period so that the spin angular momentum is conserved?
It must be divided by 4.
If the radius of an object's orbit is halved, and angular momentum is conserved, what must happen to the object's speed?
It must be doubled. the formula for angular momentum is L=mvrL is angular momentum is mass v is speed r is the radius of how spread out the mass of an object is
Choose the most likely source of the magnetic field for each of the giant planets. Jupiter = Saturn = Uranus = Neptune =
Jupiter = Metallic hydrogen layer combined with planet rotation Saturn = Metallic hydrogen layer combined with rotation Uranus = Superionic ocean combined with rotation Neptune = Superionic ocean combined with rotation
Match the giant planet with its respective interesting weather phenomena: Jupiter = Saturn = Uranus = Neptune =
Jupiter = The great red spot Saturn = The polar hexagon Uranus = Extreme seasons due to extreme tilt Neptune = dark spots
The radiation belts around Jupiter are much stronger than those found around Earth because
Jupiter rotates faster than Earth.
Which law and the equation associated with it is used to calculate the mass of binary star systems?
Kepler's 3rd law
Kepler's second law says that:
Kepler's second law says that planets move fastest when they are closest to the Sun.
The average speed of a new planet in orbit has been reported to be 33 km/s. When it is closest to its star it moves at 31 km/s, and when it is farthest from its star it moves at 35 km/s. Those data must be in error because
Kepler's second law says the planet must move fastest when closest to its star, not when farthest away.
Suppose you read on the Web that a new planet has been found. Its average speed in its orbit is 33 kilometers per second (km/s). When it is closest to its star, it moves at 31 km/s, and when it is farthest from its star, it moves at 35 km/s. This story is in error because
Kepler's second law says the planet must move fastest when it is closest, not when it is farthest away. As stated, the information violates Kepler's second law—planets move fastest when they are closest to their central star. Perhaps the values for the planet's speed were reversed.
The diagram shows the zodiacal constellations viewable from Earth at different seasons. Label the month that the Sun appears in each marked constellation.
L --> R = D, A, C, and B (at bottom center) The constellation the Sun appears to be in is on the opposite side of the Earth from the Sun at that time. That is, from our vantage point, the Sun appears right in front of the constellation. This placement corresponds to the astrological zodiac sign for that time period. The dates you find here may not match the dates assigned to traditional zodiac signs, as they have shifted from the actual position of the Sun over time due to the precession of the Earth's axis.
What is Newton's first law?
Law of Inertia An object at rest stays at rest and an object in motion stays in motion with the same speed and in the same direction unless acted upon by an unbalanced force.
Identify the major moons of Saturn.
Left to Right: F, G, A, E, B, D, C F. Mimas G. Enceladus A. Tethys E. Dione B. Rhea D. Titan C. Iapetus
Drag and drop the following terms to identify some features that can be seen in this image of Uranus.
Left to right: A - cloud B - ring C - moon
Waning Crescent
Less than half illuminated and shrinking each night
Whether a planet has an atmosphere or not depends on a number of factors: mass, temperature, composition of the crust, volcanic activity, and complex evolutionary processes. Rank the planets according to how well they retain their atmospheres, using the following criteria: -The planet that still maintains its primary atmosphere, ranks first. -The planet that lost its primary atmosphere but retains a dense secondary atmosphere, ranks second. -The planet that lost its primary atmosphere and retains a tenuous secondary atmosphere, ranks third. -The planet that retained neither its primary nor secondary atmospheres, ranks last.
MOST SUCCESSFUL--- Jupiter Venus Mars Mercury LEAST SUCCESSFUL---
Research has supported the hypothesis that the wind is responsible for the motion of sailing rocks. There is evidence that wind can set the rocks moving when the ground becomes muddy or when thin layers of ice form beneath the rocks. This scenario has not been falsified by any tests conducted so far, and it is currently the favored explanation within the scientific community. What is the next step in the scientific process?
Make further predictions about this hypothesis and conduct more tests, abandoning or revising the hypothesis if any of the tests are failed. Just because a hypothesis is consistent with the evidence at hand doesn't necessarily mean that it is true. It could fail a new test in the future.
In 1500s, Copernicus reintroduced the heliocentric model that the ancient Greeks had rejected, and it began to gain favor among some scientists. He suggested that the planets all orbit around the Sun in perfect circles, as shown in the figure to the right. This offers a much more elegant explanation of retrograde planetary motion than the geocentric model. What would be the next step in the scientific process for the Copernican heliocentric model?
Make predictions from Copernicus's model, and verify them with observations. A hypothesis does not become a theory solely because it seems elegant or because a number of scientists agree. It must first pass many tests based on predictions it generates.
Properties of mass:
Mass is a property of matter. The mass of an object is the same everywhere. Mass can never be zero. Mass does not change according to location. Mass usually is measured in grams and kilograms.
What is matter?
Matter is composed of atoms. Atoms make molecules and compounds, which, in turn, create larger substances. Essentially everything around us is matter since all objects around us are made of atoms. By definition, matter is anything that has mass and takes up space.
Match the solar system object with the composition of its atmosphere.
Mercury --> No atmosphere, too hot Jupiter --> Primarily hydrogen atmosphere Pluto --> No atmosphere, too cold Venus --> Primarily Carbon dioxide atmosphere
The distinct layers of Earth's atmosphere vary in temperature in a somewhat surprising way. Arrange these four layers in ascending order, based on the temperature at the upper boundary of each.
Mesosphere Troposphere Stratosphere Thermosphere
Our solar system is part of the ________ galaxy which has an approximate diameter of _____ light years.
Milky Way 100,000
Montreal Protocol = Paris Agreement =
Montreal Protocol = Ozone Depletion Paris Agreement = Global Temperature Increase
What is the most likely reason for the different levels of geological activity between the Galilean moons?
Moons farther away from Jupiter experience weaker tidal heating. The order of decreasing geological activity on each of the Galilean moons exactly matches the order of increasing distance from Jupiter. The more distant an object is from Jupiter, the less of an impact the differential gravitational tidal forces will have on it. The degree of ellipticity of the moon's orbit also plays a role; moons with more circular orbits, like Callisto's, will not experience as much tidal heating due to the symmetry of their orbits.
What is Kepler's third law?
More distant planets orbit the Sun at slower average speeds, obeying the relationship
Waxing Gibbous
More than half illuminated and growing each night
Waning Gibbous
More than half illuminated and shrinking each night
Indicate the correct motion of a comet as it orbits the Sun.
Moving toward the Sun, less fast, Moving toward the Sun, faster, Moving fastest, Moving away from the Sun, faster, Moving away from the sun, less fast. Explanation: The ion tail points directly away from the Sun while the dust tail curves along the comet's orbit, therefore the comet is moving counterclockwise in the figure. Additionally, the conservation of angular momentum states that the comet will move faster as it gets closer, and it will move slower as it gets farther away.
If you start with a radioisotope sample containing 1600 atoms. How many atoms of the original radioisotope will remain after 5 half-lives?
N = number of remaining particles N0 = number of starting particles T = number of half-lives that have happened N = N0 (1/2)^T N = 1600(1/2)^5 N= 1600(1/32) N=50
Using the graph, sort the organisms according to whether or not they need oxygen to survive.
Need oxygen = Vertebrates, Arthropods, Reptiles Do not need oxygen= Cyanobacteria Large, complex, mobile organisms developed once oxygen became available as an energy source. There are still many types of life abundant today on Earth that do not require oxygen, such as cyanobacteria, but because they use a less-energetic source of energy, they tend either to be single-celled organisms or nonmobile such as plants. Atmospheric oxygen levels were very low until relatively recently in the history of our planet. Early forms of life would not have had that easily accessible energy source that is now available to us and so would have been either small or passive (like plants). Once oxygen levels increased to near what they are today, then larger, active organisms such as arthropods and vertebrates (including reptiles and humans) evolved by making use of oxygen as their energy source.
Uranus's orbit did not appear to behave according to Newton's laws of motion and gravity. The most likely culprit for Uranus's misbehaving orbit was the gravitational influence of another planet. Using Newton's laws, astronomers were able to calculate exactly where they would expect this still-undiscovered planet to be. When telescopes were pointed at this position, Neptune was seen. What does this imply?
Newton's laws have been verified by yet another test, so we should use them with high confidence until and unless they are falsified by future tests.
Rank each object being pushed in order of increasing acceleration.
Newton's second law states that F = ma, which can be solved for acceleration: a = F/m (force divided by mass). Increasing the force will therefore increase the acceleration; increasing the mass (which is in the denominator) will decrease the force. Newton's second law governs the motion of objects experiencing a force: F = ma (force is mass times acceleration). More force will accelerate an object more. Also, it's harder (takes more force) to accelerate an object with greater mass, which indicates that it has more inertia.
Rank the following in order of increasing size.
ORBIT OF THE MOON AROUND EARTH ORBIT OF EARTH AROUND THE SUN SOLAR SYSTEM PROTOSOLAR NEBULA GALAXY UNIVERSE The Moon's and Earth's orbits are both a part of the Solar System. The nebula from which the Solar System was made must have been larger, as it also formed many other stars at the same time. A galaxy is a vast collection of stars orbiting a common center, and the universe is everything that there is.
Using the following figure, and the fact that Earth formed about 4.5 billion years ago, calculate the percentage of Earth's history during which atmospheric oxygen levels have been at about today's levels—what we would consider breathable.
Oxygen levels have only been at today's levels for about 5.6 percent of Earth's entire history. Even though cyanobacteria started releasing oxygen relatively early on, it took quite a long time to build.
In 2006, shortly after the discovery of Eris, the International Astronomical Union settled on a physically meaningful definition of a planet: an object that orbits around the Sun, is large enough to be spherical, and has cleared the neighborhood around it of other objects orbiting the Sun. An object that meets the first two criteria, but not the last, was given the new classification of dwarf planet. Sort the objects below according to how they are classified under these new definitions.
PLANTS = Earth, Saturn DWARF PLANETS = Ceres, Pluto, and Eris NOT A PLANET OR DWARF = Eros (asteroid), Io (moon of Jupiter)
Sort each of the five terrestrial bodies into the appropriate category based on the type of atmosphere it currently retains, if any.
PRIMARY ATMOSPHERE--- N/A SECONDARY ATMOSPHERE--- Venus, Mars, and Earth NO ATMOSPHERE--- Mercury, Earth's Moon
Perihelion and aphelion describe the points in an orbit that are ___?___ (respectively) the Sun.
Perihelion is when an object is closest to the Sun, and aphelion is when an object is farthest from the Sun.
Based on the images of the moons and the properties of the objects listed, which of the following statements is correct?
Phobos and Deimos have properties that suggest that they are the same type of object as c-type asteroids. Phobos and Deimos are very small and low-density objects, with odd, potato-like shapes. This is quite different from the larger size and higher density of our Moon, which is massive enough for its gravity to have forced it into a round shape.
Why do photons take so much longer than neutrinos to emerge from the Sun?
Photons interact strongly with matter, while neutrinos do not. Because neutrinos do not interact strongly with matter, they are considered a form of dark matter. This strong interaction causes the photons to scatter in random directions as they move from particle to particle. Neutrinos do not interact strongly with matter and so pass by the particles in the Sun as if they were not there.
Besides adding adaptive optics to a telescope, what else can be done to reduce the effects of seeing?
Put the telescope at a higher altitude (the height above sea level). The higher in altitude the telescope is, the less atmosphere light from astronomical objects must pass through to reach the telescope. As such, seeing is not as bad at higher altitudes. Seeing is eliminated completely if the telescope is placed above the atmosphere (for instance, in orbit around the Earth).
The composition of the protoplanetary disk varies with distance from the protostar due to temperature. Starting with those closest to the protostar, place these materials in order based on where they can be found predominantly in their solid states.
Ranked from closest to furthest: 1. Iron, silicates, carbon 2. Water 3. Methane, Ammonia, Carbon Dioxide Rocky materials and metals remain solid at relatively high temperatures, closer to the protostar; these are called refractory materials. Other materials, called volatiles, remain in solid form only at lower temperatures. Water is an example of a volatile.The most highly volatile materials—such as methane, ammonia, and carbon monoxide—survive in solid form only in the coldest, outermost parts of the protoplanetary disk.
The arbitrary division where short-period comets end and long-period comets begin is 200 years. Using Kepler's third law for bodies orbiting the Sun, calculate the semimajor axes for the orbits of a short-period comet with a period of 151.0 years, and for a long-period comet of 1451.0 years. Semimajor axis of long-period comet: ? Semimajor axis of long-period comet: ? AU
Recall Kepler's third law: Period^2 (years) = Semimajor axis^ (AU), or P^2 = a^3 Semimajor axis of long-period comet = 28.4 AU Semimajor axis of long-period comet = 128.2 AU
The words weather and climate
Refer to very different size scales. Refer to very different time scales.
Which of the following is a reason that all large astronomical telescopes are reflecting telescopes?
Reflecting telescopes can be designed to be shorter than refracting telescopes. Reflecting telescopes are not as heavy as refracting telescopes. Reflecting telescopes minimize chromatic aberration. Refracting telescopes have several limitations that make them not suitable for large telescope designs. For example, chromatic aberration is a phenomenon associated with refracting telescopes: the refraction takes place within the glass lenses. The large, heavy primary lens placed at the top of a refracting telescope limits its size. By contrast, reflecting telescopes can be made larger because they are supported from the bottom and won't warp under their own weight. The mirrors within a reflecting telescope can "fold" the light, thus allowing for reductions in the length and thus the weight of the telescope.
The coriolis effect is a result of the spherical shape of the Earth rotating which causes a faster speed at the equator than the poles. Due to this difference in surface speed particles moving from the equator towards the north pole will curve to the ___?___ while particles moving from the equator towards the south pole will curve to the ___?___.
Right, left
Match the motion of the earth with its observable effect. Rotation of Earth about its axis Revolution of the Earth around the sun Precession of the Earth
Rotation of Earth about its axis --> the sun rises and sets Revolution of the Earth around the sun --> the seasons Precession of the Earth --> gradual change of the south pole
A planet's temperature depends on its distance from the Sun as well as the strength of its greenhouse effect. Let's remove the effect of distance from the Sun by just considering how the temperature of a planet changes due to the presence of its atmosphere. From the numbers given in the animation, calculate the difference in temperature for each planet with and without its atmosphere, and then rank the planets in order of increasing greenhouse effect.
SMALLEST EFFECT--- Mars Earth Venus LARGEST EFFECT---
CH. 12
SMARTWORK
CH. 7
SMARTWORK
CH. 9
SMARTWORK
List the atmospheric layers of the sun in order from closest to the surface to furthest from the surface. SURFACE---- SPACE----
SURFACE---- corona, chromosphere, and photosphere SPACE----
The colored bands of Jupiter and Saturn are due in part to their compositions: Water and ammonia clouds reflect white light, and ammonium hydrosulfide clouds reflect brown and red light. Alternating cells of rising and falling air can bring ammonia to higher altitudes, where it can condense into visible clouds, or they can push the air down into lower altitudes, making the deeper ammonium hydrosulfide cloud layer visible. The bands of Jupiter are more obvious than those of Saturn, with brighter and more highly varying colors. Compare the cloud layers of Jupiter and Saturn shown to determine why.
Saturn's different cloud layers are deeper, making them harder to see.
Label each position of the inner planet with its phase as seen from Earth. If full or new, include whether the planet will have a larger or smaller angular size than it usually does from Earth's vantage point.
See picture diagram on smartwork Q#8
On rare occasions, comets have been seen orbiting the Sun. These are planetesimals made of rock and ice that become visible to us when their ice sublimates at the closest approach to the Sun, making them glow brightly and grow tails. Where do they come from? We can answer that question by studying the orbits of the comets that pass close enough to us that we can observe them. We see two distinct types of orbits: short-period and long-period comets.
Short-period comets come from some location near the ecliptic plane of the Solar System, and long-period comets come from farther away, with random directions in a spherical distribution around the Sun. As stated and shown in the animation, short-period comets move in roughly the same plane as the planets (with relatively small inclinations). The long-period comets, on the other hand, are very far from the Sun at aphelion. They have orbits tilted far from the ecliptic plane, indicating that they did not originally orbit within that plane.
Which of the selected orbits have the greatest and the lowest closest-approach speed?
Slowest speed at closest approach is closest to center;fastest speed at closest is furthest from center Unbound orbits have to be moving faster than the escape speed. An unbound orbit will have a faster closest-approach speed than a bound orbit. This orbit is the fastest because it is the largest hyperbola.
Rank the following pairs of masses by the strength of their gravitational force. Note: The captions under the images give the relative masses of each object and their distance from one another (M1, M2, d).
Smallest force to greatest force = m,m,1.5r --> m,m,r --> m,2m,r Since the gravitational force is directly proportional to mass, increasing at least one of those masses will increase the force. It is inversely proportional to distance (which is in the denominator of Newton's universal law of gravitation), so increasing the distance will decrease the force.
How could Cassini "contaminate" a moon?
Some microorganisms from Earth can survive the environment of space, thus contaminating any moon they land on.
Which of the following is the biggest disadvantage of putting a telescope in space?
Space telescopes are much more expensive than similar ground-based telescopes.
From the vantage point of Earth in the diagram shown, how will the parallax of Star A compare to that of Star B?
Star A has twice the parallax of Star B. The parallax angle (p) is inversely proportional to the distance to the object (d): 𝑝=1𝑑p=1d, where p is in arcseconds and d is in parsecs. Decreasing the distance by a factor of 2 will therefore increase the parallax by a factor of 2. Nearer stars have larger parallaxes.
Stars A and B appear equally bright, but star A is twice as far away from us as star B. Which of the following is true?
Star A is 4 times as luminous as star B. Luminosity is proportional to brightness times distance squared (d2). If the brightness of the two stars is the same, but star A is twice as far (dA = 2dB), then its luminosity compared to star B is a factor of 22 = 4 times brighter. In other words, if a star is twice as far away, it would appear 22 = 4 times fainter. In order to have the same brightness, it would have to be 4 times more luminous.
Star A and star B are two blue stars at nearly the same distance from Earth. If star A is many times brighter than star B, which of the following statements is true?
Star A is a blue giant, whereas star B is a white dwarf.
Star A and star B are two red stars at nearly the same distance from Earth. If star A is many times brighter than star B, which of the following statements is true?
Star A is a red giant, whereas star B is a main-sequence star.
An eclipsing binary system has a primary eclipse (star A is eclipsed by star B) that is deeper (more light is removed from the light curve) than the secondary eclipse (star B is eclipsed by star A). What does that information tell you about stars A and B?
Star A is hotter than star B.
Star A and star B are two nearby stars. If star A has a parallactic angle 4 times as large as star B's, which of the following statements is true?
Star A is one-quarter as far away as star B.
Star A and star B are a binary system. If the Doppler shift of star A's absorption lines is 3 times the Doppler shift of star B's absorption lines, which of the following statements is true?
Star A is one-third as massive as star B.
Star A and star B are two stars nearly the same distance from Earth. If star A is blue and star B is red, but they have equal brightness, which of the following statements is true?
Star A is smaller than star B.
Star A and star B are nearly the same distance from Earth. If star A is half as bright as star B, which of the following statements must be true?
Star B is twice as luminous as star A.
Identify the statement that best describes how the latitude of sunspots varies over a sunspot cycle, which is defined to begin at solar minimum.
Sunspots are at higher latitudes at the beginning of a cycle, and lower latitudes at the end of the cycle. There is a lot of scatter in the "butterfly diagram," but if we look at the average latitude of the sunspots in each year, we can see a trend of higher latitudes (farther from the equator at 0º) gradually progressing to lower latitudes and then suddenly moving back to higher latitudes.We can use the top graph to see how this corresponds to the solar cycle. The high latitude sunspots begin just after each solar minimum, when the sunspots are just beginning to increase in number. As the cycle progresses toward maximum, the sunspots begin to move toward lower latitudes and continue to do so after the maximum and into the next minimum. Just after this minimum, as the number of sunspots begins to increase again, the sunspots suddenly move back up to high latitudes and the cycle repeats itself.
Pluto's moon Charon is half the size of Pluto, making it the largest known moon in the Solar System when compared to the size of its planet. Tidal forces of Earth on the Moon have caused the Moon to be in synchronous rotation with the Earth, so the same side of the Moon always faces us. The same has happened to Charon due to the tidal forces of Pluto, but due to its large size, Charon has had the same effect on Pluto. Thus, they are in synchronous rotation with each other. If an observer on Pluto and another observer on Charon are standing motionlessly in the positions indicated in the above figure, choose the figure below that demonstrates where the observers will be in relation to each other after Charon has passed through one quarter of its orbit around Pluto.
TO THE LEFT 1/4 (the man is head to head) Just like the Moon always faces the same side toward Earth, both Charon and Pluto always face the same side toward each other.
Correctly position these four planets within the accretion disk of our early Solar System based on the materials that were present where they formed. Uranus, Jupiter, Saturn, Earth
Temperature drops with distance of the protostar:Earth, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus Earth formed close to the Sun where only refractory (rocky) material could survive. The other three planets formed farther from the Sun, where water, ice, and, in the case of Uranus, other volatile materials could exist. This is why the outer planets are so much larger than the inner planets.
Newton determined that the force of gravity on an object is proportional to its mass, causing its mass to be canceled out (Newton's second law) and resulting in a constant acceleration. If the laws of physics are universal, then Newton should be able to apply his discoveries about gravity on Earth to the motion of the planets in our Solar System. Newton's third law says that for every force there is an equal reaction force in the opposite direction. What does this imply about the force of gravity associated with a person standing on the Earth?
The Earth's gravity pulls downward on the person, and the person's gravity pulls upward on the Earth. The force of Earth's gravity pulling down on the person is always met with another "reaction" force of equal magnitude but in the opposite direction, according to Newton's third law. As such, the person must pull back up on the Earth, providing this reaction force from the opposite direction.
Given that Jupiter has 300 ME and is 5 AU from the sun and Mercury has 1/20 ME and is located at 1/3 AU from the sun, compare the gravitational force between each planet and the sun. Using the equation 𝐹=𝐺(𝑚1*𝑚2)/(𝑟^2) which system has the greater gravitational force?
The Jupiter-Sun system
It is unlikely that the Moon formed elsewhere and was captured by Earth's gravity, since it may be impossible for the Earth to capture an object as large as the Moon. It is also of note that the Moon contains an unusually low quantity of volatiles, which are materials like water that are easily vaporized at high enough temperatures. Based on this, and given the moon's density, which of the following formation scenarios of the Moon most closely matches our observations?
The Moon accreted from the debris of the impact of a large object with the surface of the Earth. This would explain why the density of the Moon is similar to the density of the crust of the Earth. Such an impact would knock debris from the outer layers of the Earth into space, where it would mix with debris from the impactor, form a ring orbiting around the Earth, and then eventually accrete into the Moon.
The appearance of Jupiter and Saturn are primarily determined by the upper layers of clouds on the planets. What about these cloud layers causes Jupiter to have more distinct bands than Saturn?
The cloud layers on Saturn are much thicker than on Jupiter
Why do Jupiter and Saturn appear red/white and brownish orange, while Uranus and Neptune are blue? From the following figures displaying the composition of the Jovian planets with depth, choose the most likely reason for this difference. Note that we are looking at/through the upper cloud layers of each planet, which gives us the perception of a visible surface. Labels of "ice" in the figure refer to clouds made of tiny ice crystals, not a solid layer of ice.
The cloud tops of Jupiter and Saturn have a different composition from the cloud tops of Uranus and Neptune.
The solar corona has a temperature of 1 million to 2 million K; the photosphere has a temperature of only about 6000 K. Why isn't the corona much, much brighter than the photosphere?
The corona has a much lower density.
The following graph shows the concentrations of carbon dioxide (CO2) and methane (CH4) in Earth's atmosphere for the past few hundred thousand years along with global temperatures. How do the current levels of carbon dioxide and methane in the atmosphere compare with the values seen over the last 800,000 years?
The current concentrations of both are far higher than the rest of the graph.
What is misleading about the bar graph shown above? NOTE THAT ALL POSSIBLE REASONS SHOULD BE SELECTED
The data is cherry picked. The lower bound of the y axis is set to an arbitrarily high number.
What is misleading about the bar graph shown above? NOTE: YOU MUST SELECT ALL REASONS THAT APPLY
The data is cherry picked. The numerical values given do not match the size of the bars. The lower bound begins a an arbitrary value.
What is the difference between mass and weight?
The difference between mass and weight is that mass is the amount of matter in a material, while weight is a measure of how the force of gravity acts upon that mass. Mass is the measure of the amount of matter in a body. Mass is denoted using m or M. Weight is the measure of the amount of force acting on a mass due to the acceleration due to gravity. Weight usually is denoted by W. Weight is mass multiplied by the acceleration of gravity (g). W = m * g
The direction of revolution in the plane of the Solar System was determined by
The direction of rotation of the original cloud As a molecular cloud begins to collapse, any initial rotation will increase as the collapse continues. Conservation of angular momentum perpetuates a disk shape for the cloud, which will eventually become a central star and planar distribution of planets will rotate and revolve in the same manner as the initial rotation.
When using Newtons law of universal gravitation it is important to remember that the variable 'r' represents what?
The distance between the center of mass of each object.
Rank the distance of Venus from Earth, from closest to farthest, based on the images given.
The distance to Venus can be judged by the sizes of the apparent radius of the planet in each image. Even though the entire planet cannot be seen in any of the images, the thinnest crescent can be seen to have the largest apparent size. As the planet appears to get more lit up, the apparent size gets smaller.
Newton developed a universal law of gravitation that can be used under most circumstances, not just for objects on the surface of the Earth. Here is the law:𝐹=𝐺(𝑚1*𝑚2)/(𝑟2), where G is a constant. Think about what happens when you increase and decrease each of the variables in Newton's equation for the gravitational force between two objects of mass m1 and m2, a distance r from one another. Given your results, what is the likely cause of Kepler's observation that planets travel faster when they are closer to the Sun?
The force of gravity is stronger closer to the Sun.
From our vantage point on Earth, it looks like the Earth is stationary, and the Sun, Moon, stars, and planets are orbiting around us. Humans believed this geocentric (Earth-centered) view of the universe for the majority of history. The geocentric model of the universe looked like the left figure shown, with all celestial objects orbiting Earth in perfect circles. The brightest planets are visible to the naked eye, and they move through the background of the stars from one night to the next. Study the picture, which shows Mars's position with respect to the stars over the course of many nights. What can you conclude from this, assuming that the geocentric model holds that the Sun, Moon, and planets like Mars all orbit around Earth in simple circles?
The geocentric model is wrong because it falsely predicts that Mars should always move in the same direction with respect to the stars. This most simplistic version of the geocentric model cannot explain the occasional "backward" or retrograde motion of planets against the background of the stars.
Mars has about half of Earth's diameter. If the interiors of those planets are heated by radioactive decays, how does the heating rate of the interior of Mars compare with that of Earth?
The heating rate of Mars is 0.125 times that of Earth.
How does the heliocentric model explain the retrograde motion of Mars?
The heliocentric model explains retrograde motion because Mars only appears to move backward as Earth passes it in its orbit around the Sun. Mars is not really changing direction, but it appears to be moving backward from Earth's vantage point as we pass close to Mars in our orbit.
Four transitions are shown in the image. Identify the transitions in order of increasing wavelength of the photon that each transition would emit.
The highest energy transition will make the shortest wavelength photon, and so on down to the lowest energy transition, which will make the longest wavelength photon.
This image displays the Planck spectra, or blackbody curves, for four stars at different temperatures. The curves are adjusted so that they have the same brightness at 550 nm. Identify the temperature value for each blackbody curve. 20,000 K10,000 K5000 K2500 K
The highest temperature stars emit more blue light than any other colors, and therefore appear blue.The lowest temperature stars emit more red light than any other colors, and therefore appear red.Stars with median temperatures, such as our Sun, emit more light at a color between blue and red, and in turn appear yellow
If the Moon were twice as massive, how would the strength of lunar tides change?
The highs would be higher, and the lows would be lower.
If Earth had half its current radius, how would the strength of lunar tides change?
The highs would be lower, and the lows would be higher.
To explain the fact that summer is hotter than winter, we can hypothesize that seasons are caused by a variable distance between the Earth and the Sun at different times of the year. Now consider the following facts that relate to this hypothesis: - The Earth's orbit is elliptical (not a perfect circle). - The Southern Hemisphere experiences opposite seasons from the Northern Hemisphere. - The intensity of light from a source is stronger closer to the source. - The Earth's closest approach to the Sun is in January. Is the hypothesis that the seasons are caused by a variable distance between the Earth and the Sun verified or falsified by the evidence?
The hypothesis is falsified because some of the evidence is against it.
Properly identify the features of an impact crater using this image of a Moon crater.
The impact that produces a crater heats and compresses the surface it hits. Ejected material is thrown from the site to form rays (pulverized material) and secondary craters. The rebound from the deformed surface sometimes forms a central peak surrounded by a crater wall.
The rings of Saturn were discovered by Galileo using the first telescope to gaze at the night sky. They are bright and large enough to be visible even with the smallest of astronomical telescopes. If Saturn's rings are made of individual small particles at varying distances from the planet, and given what you know of the laws of physics as governed by gravity, how would you expect these particles to behave?
The particles closer to Saturn will orbit faster around the planet than those farther away. Newton's law of gravity applies in this situation. Not only do particles closer to the planet have a shorter distance to travel around a single orbit, but they will also be moving faster due to the stronger gravitational force closer to the planet.
Rank the following in order of size, from smallest to largest.
The radius of Earth --> A light-minute --> The distance from Earth to the Sun --> A light-hour --> The radius of the Solar System --> A light-year
What is the primary reason the Moon cooled quicker than the Earth?
The radius of the Moon is less than Earth. The time it takes an object to lose its internal energy is proportional to its radius. For example, Mars has a radius about half that of Earth, so it has been losing its internal thermal energy about twice as fast as Earth has. That is one reason why Mars is less geologically active than Earth.
Rank the Galilean moons of Jupiter in order of amount of geological activity, from greatest to least.
The ranking is also one of distance from Jupiter. Io is the closest and most active, followed by Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto, which has likely never had activity of any kind.
Space telescopes that exist in orbit above most of Earth's atmosphere are expensive, so they must therefore be supported with a very compelling motivation. If you were trying to justify funding for a space telescope in orbit around the Earth, which of the following would be the best argument to use?
The telescope could observe wavelengths of light that are not visible from the ground. In order to observe some types of light (gamma ray, X-ray, and some wavelengths of ultraviolet and infrared), we must put telescopes above the Earth's atmosphere.
Starting with the first image here, place the remaining images in chronological order over the course of one period for the orbital motion of two stars in a binary system.
The two stars are always exactly opposite one another about their common center of mass, and from the first picture both are moving in a counterclockwise fashion.
When we are faced with more than one hypothesis that has not been falsified by the evidence, Occam's razor tells us that the one that makes the fewest assumptions is most likely to be correct. An assumption is a condition that must be true for our hypothesis to work, but that we cannot prove one way or the other. Which of the following hypotheses about the bizarre motion of sailing rocks relies on the fewest assumptions?
The wind moves the rocks. The most assumptions must be made about extraterrestrial visitors (for instance, that they actually exist in the first place, that they have the technology to travel to Earth and remain undetected, and that they would have some reason for moving the sailing rocks).The human prankster also requires some assumptions—such as that the prankster has the capability of moving the heavy rocks while leaving no evidence of his or her presence. The wind is a natural explanation that requires the fewest assumptions, and its capability of moving the rocks is something that can be calculated through equations or directly tested through experiments and measurements.
The following graph shows the relative concentrations of carbon dioxide (CO2) and methane (CH4) in Earth's atmosphere for the past few hundred thousand years. What, if any, correlation is there between the concentrations of carbon dioxide and methane?
Their concentrations appear to rise and fall together.
Why are Ganymede and Callisto geologically dead, whereas the other two Galilean moons of Jupiter are active?
They are farther from Jupiter.
Why are Ganymede and Callisto geologically dead while the other two Galilean moons of Jupiter are active?
They are farther from Jupiter. All of the Galilean moons are small enough to be unable to generate internal heat on their own. However, because Jupiter is such a massive planet, the tidal interaction between Jupiter and the closer moons heats up their interiors. The farther two moons do not experience such strong tidal forces and so remain inactive.
Why does the angle of the Sun's rays matter in regard to Earth's seasons?
They are more spread out if they strike at an angle.
Kuiper Belt objects (KBOs) are actually comet nuclei. Why do they not display comas and tails?
They are too far from the Sun. Even comets only show tails when they are in the inner Solar System where the heat from the Sun begins to thaw the frozen material of the nucleus. KBOs never come close enough to the Sun for that to happen.
Why don't we see cars as bluer when they approach and redder when they recede?
They are too slow. The Doppler effect will occur whenever an object moves toward or away from an observer, and the greater the relative motion, the more obvious the effect. A car simply does not move fast enough for there to be an observable change in color.
This chapter deals with leftover planetesimals. What became of most of the others?
They became part of larger bodies. Most planetesimals were swept up by larger bodies (like planets).
Why are dwarf planets considered planets despite being smaller than some moons?
They do not orbit a body other than the Sun. A planet, either dwarf or regular variety, must orbit the Sun directly. By contrast, a moon orbits some other body that in turn orbits the Sun. Other properties, such as composition, temperature, and presence of an atmosphere, are not part of the definition of either kind of body.
How did the ancients know the planets were different from the stars?
They saw that the planets move with respect to the stars over the course of many nights. The word "planet" means "wandering star." The planets were so named because the ancients noticed that these bodies moved through the apparently fixed background of the stars.
There is a particle produced in the Sun's nuclear reactions that we can use to directly study what is happening in the interior. Neutrinos are weakly interacting particles, and they have almost no mass and no charge. They are not affected at all by the nuclear strong force. As neutrinos travel through the Sun's dense interior, how will their path change due to the presence of the gravitational, electromagnetic, and nuclear strong forces around them?
They will not change at all. Gravity barely affects particles with almost no mass, the electromagnetic force does not affect particles without charge, and the nuclear strong force that binds subatomic particles inside nuclei has no influence on neutrinos.
Identify the example of tectonic activity in this image of the Moon's surface.
This fault line shows where the surface of the Moon tectonically cracked.
The diagram shown indicates the location of exoplanets orbiting their star. The light green ring represents the habitable zone for that star. Determine whether each of the planets in this system is located in a region that is too hot, too cold, or just right for liquid water to potentially exist on the surface.
Too hot for liquid water: Planets B, C, D, E Too cold for liquid water: Just right for liquid water: Planet F Planet f is the only one of the five planets shown that exists within the star's habitable zone, where liquid water can exist on the surface and therefore where life as we know it may potentially exist. The other planets are all too close to the star, where temperatures would be too high for liquid water to exist. In our Solar System, the only planet that is in the habitable zone is Earth. Exoplanets found within this zone are more likely to have life and are therefore good targets for the search for extraterrestrial life.
Convection and all of the Earths weather happens in what layer of the Earths atmosphere?
Troposphere
Convection in the _________ causes weather on Earth.
Troposphere
Use the graph above to determine the average temperature in degrees Celsius in each layer of the atmosphere. Use only the maximum and minimum values in each layer to calculate the average. Troposphere Average Temp = -20 C Stratosphere Average Temp = -30 C Mesosphere Average Temp = -45 C
Troposphere Average Temp = -20 C Stratosphere Average Temp = -30 C Mesosphere Average Temp = -45 C
According to the object orbits shown on the vertical axis at left of the graph, identify each orbit as either unbound, circular, or elliptical.
Unbound: Orbit 3, Orbit 4 Circular: Orbit 1 Elliptical: Orbit 2 The circular and escape velocities are very specific to the mass of the object being orbited around, and the distance from the center of that object. If we want to put a satellite into space, we can use these values to calculate how fast the satellite needs to go to achieve any of these orbit types.
Neptune's existence was predicted because
Uranus did not seem to obey Newton's laws of motion.
The ___?___ experiment looked for ___?___ to better understand the origins of life.
Urey-Miller experiment ; organic molecules
Do a web search for Solar System objects that have a possibility for life. Which one of these objects has the least chance of harboring life?
Venus
Galileo's precise measurements of the phase and size of a planet over the course of a year was instrumental in the the transition from the geocentric model to the heliocentric model. Which planet was the focus of his measurements of size and phase?
Venus
Which of the following worlds does not show evidence of the current presence of liquid or frozen water?
Venus Venus has water vapor in its atmosphere but no evidence of liquid or solid water.
Venus is hot and Mars is cold primarily because
Venus has a much thicker atmosphere
Venus is hot and Mars is cold primarily because
Venus has a much thicker atmosphere.
The following diagram shows the main components of the Urey-Miller experiment that attempted to replicate how life may have started on Earth. Label each component with the real-world condition it represents.
Volcanic heat --> Oceans --> Lightning --> Clouds The water, of course, represents oceans, which are heated by underwater volcanic activity. The water that forms clouds in the atmosphere is mixed with the varied components of the primitive atmosphere, including ammonia and methane. The sparks represent lightning in this atmosphere, which provided the energy for these chemicals to reorganize themselves into more complex molecules.
The following graph shows the concentrations of carbon dioxide (CO2) and methane (CH4) in Earth's atmosphere for the past few hundred thousand years along with global temperatures. What is the correlation between concentrations of these two chemicals and global temperature?
When concentrations are high global temperatures are high.
Label the positions in the Earth's orbit with the appropriate day in the Northern Hemisphere. In the diagram shown, north is up and south is down. The direction of the Earth's axial tilt is exaggerated.
When the Earth's Northern Hemisphere is tilted most toward the Sun, it is the summer solstice (the first day of summer). When it's tilted farthest from the Sun, it is the winter solstice (the first day of winter). When the equator is tilted toward the Sun, it is an equinox. The vernal equinox (first day of spring) occurs after the winter solstice; the autumnal equinox (first day of fall) occurs after the summer solstice. The Southern Hemisphere experiences the opposite seasons at these positions.
The figure here shows two stars orbiting their center of mass in a binary system. As the stars orbit each other, a side view of the system would show changing positions of their absorption lines due to their Doppler shift. Match the absorption spectrum to the correct orientation of the stars. Assume that we are viewing the system from the bottom of each figure.
When two stars are moving sideways relative to an observer at the bottom of the figure, there would be no Doppler shift and the lines from the stars would overlap. In the top case the smaller star is moving away, so its smaller absorption line is redshifted (+). Also, since the smaller star moves in a larger orbit it is apparently moving faster, showing a greater amount of shift than the larger star. In the bottom case the situation is reversed, with the small star moving toward the observer so that its absorption line is blueshifted (-).
Telescopes that use lenses to focus light are called refracting telescopes. Bigger is better, but there is a limit to how big a lens can get before gravity distorts its shape and it can no longer focus light properly. Reflecting telescopes use curved mirrors to focus light. Gravity will also distort a mirror's shape if it gets too big. Since light passes through a lens, but bounces off a mirror, there is a fundamental difference in the way these two telescope types are designed. Mirrors are supported at the bottom, while lenses are supported at the sides by the tube surrounding them. Given that gravity pulls downward at every point on the lens or mirror, select the telescope type that can get larger (more massive) and still retain its shape.
While a lens bending downward would not properly focus light, a mirror can be supported so it will not bend.
Label the different areas of the Sun.
While the photosphere is considered the visible surface of the Sun, it is the corona that is on display during a total solar eclipse. Astronomers currently believe that all stars have all of these different parts.
Imagine a planet moving in a perfectly circular orbit around the Sun. Is this planet experiencing acceleration?
Yes. It is changing its direction of motion all the time. A change in direction is one of the possible causes for an acceleration, the other being a change in speed. Acceleration is a change in speed and/or direction. The planet travels at a constant speed, but it is also constantly changing its direction. Thus, there must be a constant acceleration.
Imagine you are walking along a forest path. Which of the following is not an action-reaction pair in this situation?
You push down on Earth; Earth pushes you forward. Action-reaction means that if you push down on the Earth, Earth pushes up on you, but not forward.
A light wave does NOT require
a medium in which to propagate Because light is a wave of electromagnetic energy, it is self-sustaining as it travels through space, so it can travel even in a vacuum. This is different than a wave of sound, which is a compression wave in air. Without air (or some other medium) there can be no sound, so the sound cannot travel through space.
An occultation occurs when
a planet passes between Earth and a star.
The nucleus of a comet is mostly
a porous mix of ice and dust Comet nuclei have been compared to deep-fried ice cream, with an interior made of soft, porous material and a "crunchy" exterior composed of ice. We know from satellite visits to several comets that their interior is made of ices (water and carbon dioxide) mixed with dust and organic material.
According to the data, the global average temperature of the Earth is increasing. Based on the two plots below, what is likely causing this?
a sudden increase in the strength of the greenhouse effect over the past 100-200 years
The average distance of Mars from the Sun is 1.4 AU. How bright is the Sun on Mars compared with its brightness on Earth?
about 2 times fainter The brightness of a source of light, like a star, is inversely proportional to the square of the distance from the source. Recall that the Earth's distance from the Sun is measured as 1.0 AU. For Jupiter, the next planet beyond Mars with an average distance from the Sun of 5.2 AU, the Sun is only about 1/27th as bright as it is on Earth.
A net force must be acting when an object
accelerates, changes direction but not speed, and changes speed but not direction
a
acceleration (m/s^2)
If you wanted to search for faint rings around a giant planet by sending a spacecraft on a flyby, it would be best to make your observations
after the spacecraft passed the planet. A spacecraft on a planetary flyby mission can best search for the presence of faint rings around a giant planet as it looks back on the planet after it has passed by it. From this perspective, any faint rings present would be most visible because they are backlit by sunlight passing through the diffuse material. The faint rings would be especially noticeable when the Sun is directly behind the planet from the perspective of the spacecraft.
Scientists can learn about the interiors of the terrestrial planets from
all of the possible answers are correct: seismic waves. satellite observations of gravitational fields. physical arguments about cooling. satellite observations of magnetic fields.
For a system in which a planet orbits a star, the center of mass is located
along the line between the planet and the star, closer to the star. The center of mass of a planet-star system will always be along the line between the planet and the star, closer to the star because the star is more massive.
For a pair of objects, the center of mass is located...
along the line between the two objects, closer to the more massive object. With a pair of objects, the center of mass will always be located along the line between the two objects. If the objects have the same mass, the center of mass will be directly in between the objects, but if they are not the same mass, the center of mass will be located closer to the larger mass.
The Urey-Miller experiment produced ______ in a laboratory jar.
amino acids The Urey-Miller experiment showed that energy input can create the building blocks of proteins out of commonly-found materials.
Imagine that the binary stars in each of the pictures are observed from a telescope located somewhere below the image. Spectra of both stars are taken, and used to find radial velocities for each, which are graphed as a function of time in the plot (Star 1: pink, outer-most orbit; Star 2: blue, inner-most orbit).
answers from left to rightvertical lines with shorter arrow pointing down, horizontal line with shorter arrow pointing right, the other vertical lines, other horizontal This orbit begins at time t = 0 when Star 1 (outer, pink) has a positive radial velocity and Star 2 (inner, blue) has a negative velocity. This happens when Star 1 is moving away from the observer (up) and Star 2 is moving toward (down) the observer.The next picture in the sequence is when the stars have orbited around counter-clockwise through a quarter of the circle, each having zero radial velocity because their motion with respect to the observer is purely sideways ("transverse"). After another quarter of an orbit, Star 1 is moving toward the observer (negative velocity), and Star 2 is moving away (positive velocity). Finally, after moving another quarter of an orbit, both stars have zero radial velocity. They are moving in opposing direction from the second position. This type of plot can be used to find orbital parameters needed to calculate the masses of the stars.
Saturn's bright rings are located within the Roche limit of Saturn. This supports the theory that these rings.
are formed of moons torn apart by tidal stresses. The Roche limit is the point at which satellites will be disrupted by tidal forces.
The temperature of an object has a specific meaning as it relates to the object's atoms. A high temperature means that the atoms
are moving very fast.
Constellations are groups of stars that
are relatively close to one another in Earth's sky.
The oxygen molecules in Earth's atmosphere
are the result of life.
When we observe a star that is 10 light-years away, we are seeing that star
as it was 10 years ago.
Where on Earth can you stand and, over the course of a year, see the entire sky?
at the equator
The angular resolution of a ground-based telescope is usually set by:
atmospheric seeing
These three images show the same type of star and the peak wavelength of the stars as observed by someone on Earth.If these stars are moving away from Earth, rank them in order from slowest to fastest speed, based on wavelength.
blue - yellow - red If all of the stars are moving away from Earth, then the one with the greatest amount of redshift (that is, the longest wavelength) would be moving the fastest. The one with the least redshift (that is, the shortest wavelength) would be moving the slowest.
If a star is moving towards the earth the spectrum of light observed will appear [shifted].
blue shifted
The bright, colorful "stripes" of a rainbow such as the one shown here follow a particular order. Rank each color of the rainbow by how much energy is carried by its electromagnetic waves, from highest to lowest.
blue, yellow, orange, red A rainbow's stripes always appear in the same order because of the rankings of various properties of each color of light. The higher in frequency a light wave travels, the greater energy it carries. Red has the longest wavelength on the visible spectrum and thus the lowest frequency and the least amount of energy. At the other end of the spectrum, blue has a shorter wavelength, higher frequency, and greater energy.
Hotter stars will appear ___ in the sky while cooler stars will appear ___ in the sky.
blue;red
Imagine that you observe a star/planet system, edge-on. When the planet is moving away from Earth, the light from the star is
blueshifted. As the star continues to orbit the common center of mass, astronomers will measure the periodic variations in redshift and blueshift to help figure out even more about the system!
Light acts like
both a wave and a particle Light acts like both a wave and a particle. The wave model of light is clearly the correct description to use in many instances. However, the particle description of light is also clearly the correct description to use in other instances
The circumference of Earth is 1/7 of a light-second. Therefore,
both if you were traveling at the speed of light, you would travel around Earth 7 times in 1 second and light travels a distance equal to Earth's circumference in 1/7 of a second.
Geologists can determine the actual age of features on a planet by
both radiometric dating of rocks retrieved from the planet and comparing cratering rates on one planet with those on another.
The words weather and climate
both refer to very different timescales and refer to very different-sized scales.
Earth's axial tilt causes the seasons because
both the days are longer in summer and the rays of light strike the ground more directly in summer.
If two objects are tidally locked to each other,
both the tides always stay on the same place on each object and the objects always remain in the same place in each other's sky.
An object in a(n) ______________ orbit in the Solar System will remain in its orbit forever. An object in a(n) ______________ orbit will escape from the Solar System.
bound; unbound
The number of electrons in an atom determines what feature of the atom?
charge
Which requirement for a planet is not met by dwarf planets?
cleared the area of its orbit
An inferior planet is one that is
closer to the Sun than Earth is. An inferior planet is defined as one that is closer to the Sun than the Earth is, which refers specifically to Mercury and Venus. Superior planets, on the other hand, are farther from the Sun than the Earth.
An inferior planet is one that is
closer to the sun than the earth
Upon the discovery of an extrasolar system scientist find the orbital period a planet closest to the star to be 4 days. They discover 2 other planets in the system with the 3 planets having a resonance of 6:3:2. Match the planet with its orbital period.
closest planet to the star = 4 days middle planet = 8 days furthest planet from the star = 12 days
Perihelion is the point in an orbit _______________ the Sun; aphelion is the point in an orbit _______________ the Sun.
closest to; farthest from
Clumps grow into planetesimals by
colliding with other clumps. -This series of colliding with other clumps helped form the planets we see today.
Categorizing moons by geological activity is helpful because
comparing them reveals underlying physical processes.
Place the following spectral types of stars in order from coolest to hottest.
coolest G2 F3 A8 A0 B9 B2 hottest As much of an anachronism as it is today, "Oh Be A Fine Girl/Guy Kiss Me!" remains a simple way to remember the proper order of the spectral types, from hottest to coolest. The spectral types in order, coolest to hottest, are M, K, G, F, A, B, and O. Each type is further divided into subclasses using 9 through 0. In this classification system, the hottest stars are O0 (letter O, number 0) and the coolest are M9.
The high temperature and pressure at the ___?___ of the sun create the conditions for ___?___ to occur which is the source of the sun's energy.
core nuclear fusion
Which way do most objects travel when viewed from far above the North Pole of Earth?
counterclockwise
Examine the figure below, which shows the approximate density of the Earth's layers in g/cm3. If the density of the Moon is 3.34 g/cm3, which layer of the Earth is it most similar to?
crust The Moon's density of 3.34 g/cm3 is closest to the Earth's crust density of 3 g/cm3.
As wavelength increases, the energy of a photon __________ and its frequency __________.
decreases;decreases As the wavelength increases, the frequency of the light decreases since the product of frequency and wavelength is a constant number (the speed of light). Also, since the energy carried by a wave is proportional to the frequency, the energy decreases when frequency decreases.
Cameras that use adaptive optics provide higher spatial-resolution images primarily because
deformable mirrors are used to correct the blurring due to Earth's atmosphere. Turbulence in the atmosphere distorts light as it passes from space to the telescope; adaptive optics are designed to remove these effects.
Differentiation refers to materials that are separated based on their
density Differentiation is the rising and floating of materials based upon the average density of the materials. The average density of oil is less than that of water; that is why oil will float to the top of water.
As shown here, Jupiter has a faint, but complex, ring system. Which of the following mechanisms contribute significantly to the formation of planetary rings?
destruction of a moon by tidal forces Each ring system has its own unique structure and history, but tidal forces play a key role in many. Point to Ponder:In 1994, the comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 collided with Jupiter in perhaps the most spectacular astronomical event of modern times. This collision, however, did not send any new material into Jupiter's ring system. Why not?Shoemaker-Levy 9 was torn apart by Jupiter's gravity before crashing into the surface.
Occultations directly determine a planet's
diameter.
Why do the stars appear to be different colors?
difference in temperature Different spectral lines are formed at different temperatures. Scientists use these absorption lines to directly measure a star's temperature. Depending on their spectral type, or temperature, stars appear to be different colors.
Individual cloud layers in the giant planets have different compositions because
different volatiles freeze out at different temperatures.
Individual cloud layers in the giant planets have different compositions. This happens because
different volatiles freeze out at different temperatures.
The process where denser materials settle at the bottom of a mixture and less dense materials rise to the top is called what?
differentiation
Match the detection method with what scientists are observing to determine the existence of an exoplanet. direct imaging method = radial velocity method = transit method = precision astrometry method = gravitational microlensing method =
direct imaging method = reflection of light from the planet radial velocity method = the doppler shift of the light from the star transit method = a dimming of the brightness of the star precision astrometry method = a wobble of the star relative to the background gravitational microlensing method = an increase in the brightness from the curving of light
A grating is able to spread white light out into a spectrum of colors because of the property of
dispersion
A light-year is a measure of
distance
A light-year is a measure of
distance It is the distance that light travels in one year.
Which is not a reason for the large size of volcanoes on Mars compared to Earth's smaller volcanoes?
distance from the Sun
Suppose a planet is discovered orbiting a star in a highly elliptical orbit. While the planet is close to the star, it moves ______________________ , but while it is far away, it moves ______________________ .
faster; slower
Electrons prefer to be in the lowest ground state energy level and will therefore spontaneously fall back to this state when excited, releasing the excess energy in the form of light emitted in a random direction. Given this, what would observer 2 (who does not see the star through the gas) observe in the spectrum of the cloud of gas in the picture above? Select the appropriate spectrum below.
for the first observer the star light is passing through the gas cloud so the gas atoms will absorb some particular wavelength so from the given spectrum for observer 1 we can see that there is a black line in between of green colour so this indicates that the gas clouds have absorbed that wavelength. Now for observer 2 there is no gas cloud in between star and cloud, so when observer 2 observes the gas cloud he will only found absorption spectrum instead of emission spectrum as for observer 1. so the spectrum will be just opposite to 1 i.e. only green line will be observed with black background.
Imagine two objects moving away from you. Object A is faster than object B. You will observe that the light
from both objects is redshifted. A redshift will occur for any light-emitting object moving away from an observer with a sufficient amount of speed; and a blueshift will occur for any light-emitting object moving toward an observer with a sufficient amount of speed.
You see the Moon rising, just as the Sun is setting. What phase is the Moon in?
full A full Moon occurs when the Sun and the Moon are opposite of each other in the sky. The full Moon rises as the Sun sets, crosses the meridian at midnight, and sets in the morning as the Sun rises.
A spring tide occurs during a _____.
full moon or new moon .
The atmosphere absorbs some light before it can reach a telescope's detector, making objects appear fainter. The exact amount of absorption depends on the wavelength of light being observed, as shown in this graph of the percentage of light that can make it through the atmosphere to the ground. 0% transparency (atmosphere is opaque) means no light gets through, and 100% transparency means all the light gets through. The type of light per wavelength is labeled at the bottom of the figure. Visible light is marked by the rainbow. Based on the above graph, which of these types of light from astronomical sources are not observable from the ground?
gamma ray X-ray ultraviolet at 100 nm infrared at 100 micrometer (10-4 m)
CCD cameras have much higher quantum efficiency than other detectors. As a result, CCD cameras can
generate a signal from fewer photons. CCD cameras are almost linear; that is, for every photon that hits a pixel, an electronic response is created. For example, a high quantum efficiency of 80 percent indicates that 80 percent of the photons successfully created a response from the detector, and could be counted. A poor quantum efficiency of 20 percent indicates that only 20 percent of them could be counted. This means that signals can be detected with very few photons.
The impacts on the moons and rings from resonance come from which fundamental force?
gravity
Identify the element whose emission spectrum is shown in the graph by comparing it to the known spectra of five different elements.
helium The spectrum of helium matches the peaks in the unknown spectrum, with each peak matching a colored line at the same wavelength.
Oort Cloud objects will only pass close to Earth and become comets if their orbits are:
highly elliptical. The orbits need to be highly elliptical to bring the comet inside the orbit of Mars and swing around the Sun.
A thermophile is an organism that lives in extremely ____________ environments.
hot
A thermophile is an organism that lives in extremely ______________ conditions.
hot Thermo- meaning "heat" and -phile meaning "like," so a thermophile lives in high temperature environments. Thermophiles have a larger fraction of saturated fatty acids in their membranes, allowing them to handle higher temperatures.
This NASA image shows the first five planet discoveries of the Kepler mission, as well as all known exoplanets in the universe. Based on their size and orbital distance, the Kepler exoplanets are most likely which kind of planet?
hot Jupiters
Occam's razor states that
if two hypotheses fit the facts equally well, choose the simpler one. This is an important principle scientists use when investigating the universe.
Occam's razor states that
if two hypotheses fit the facts equally well, the simpler one is more likely to apply.
___________, ____________, and ___________ build up structures on the terrestrial planets, whereas ___________ tears them down.
impacts, tectonism, volcanism; erosion
At the densities of the Sun, hydrogen nuclear fusion can occur at temperatures greater than about 10 million degrees Kelvin (K). Based on these graphs of the Sun's pressure, density, and temperature in its interior, where are the nuclear reactions occurring?
in a central region 20% the size of the entire Sun The temperature limit for hydrogen nuclear fusion of 10 million degrees Kelvin occurs at a radius fraction of 0.2 within the Sun, which corresponds to the inner 20%.
If the velocity of a charged particle is perpendicular to the magnetic field, the magnetic force on the particle will cause it to move
in a circle
A meteoroid is found _____________, a meteor is found ____________, and a meteorite is found ________________.
in space; in the atmosphere; on the ground. As they interact with Earth, meteoroids can become both a meteor and a meteorite if the conditions are right.
If the distance between Earth and the Sun were cut in half, the gravitational force between these two objects would:
increase by a factor of 4 The force of gravity follows an inverse square law with distance (d), scaling as d-2. This means that a factor of 2 decrease in distance results in an increase in force of a factor of 22 = 4.
Suppose you are transported to a planet with twice the mass of Earth, but the same radius of Earth. Your weight would __________ by a factor of __________.
increase; 2
The nebular hypothesis describes what happens when a cloud collapses into a star system. Where does the majority of the angular momentum of the original cloud go?
into the orbital angular momentum of planets Calculations show that orbital angular momentum of planets is much higher than the spin angular momentum of the central stars, especially for planets that are very massive and far from the star, such as Jupiter.
How are radius and velocity related in the context of the conservation of angular momentum?
inversely related
In the phrase "theory of evolution," the word theory means that evolution
is a tested and corroborated scientific explanation of natural phenomena.
In the phrase "theory of evolution," the word theory means that evolution
is a well-tested, well-corroborated scientific explanation of natural phenomena.
A planet in the "habitable zone"
is at a distance where liquid water can exist on the surface.
Copernicus's model of the Solar System was superior to Ptolemy's because
it had a mathematical basis and computed the spacing of the planets.
Polaris, the North Star, is unique because
it is the only star in the sky that doesn't move throughout the night
A "hot Jupiter" gets its name from the fact that
it orbits very close to its central star
The nebular theory states that star systems form by the gravitational collapse of a cloud of gas and dust that, to match observations, must flatten into a disk within which planets can form. Why would this flattening occur? Consider the law of conservation of angular momentum, which states that a quantity related to the size of an object (its moment of inertia) times the speed of rotation (angular speed) has to remain the same at all times as long as no outside forces act on that object. Based on this law, if a collapsing cloud is isolated in space with no external forces, what must happen to it as its size decreases?
it will spin faster To conserve angular momentum, a collapsing cloud must spin faster. This has implications for its ability to continue its collapse.
Io has the most volcanic activity in the Solar System because
its interior is tidally heated as it orbits around Jupiter.
Label the four general luminosity classes of stars on the H-R diagram.
left to right = white dwarfs, main sequence, supergiants, giants The main sequence is named such because it includes most stars, which fall in a range from cool, small, and low luminosity, to hot, large, and high luminosity. Stars which are reaching the end of their lives evolve to other places in the diagram, alternately swelling in size and becoming more luminous giants or supergiants, and eventually shrinking to become hot, small, and low-luminosity white dwarfs.
When an object is farther away, it appears to move _____ against the background than a closer object.
less An object will move less when at a farther distance because the angle it makes with your eyes is longer and skinnier.
Scientists look for water to indicate places where life might exist because
life on earth depends on it
Refraction
light changing speed and bending as it enters a new medium. Refraction occurs when light speeds up or slows down as it enters a new medium.
What appears to be a requirement for life on Earth and therefore we look for it on other planets or even moons when looking for possible life?
liquid water
In Figure 5.14, the red photons come from the transition from E3 to E2 . Those photons will have the ______________ wave- lengths because they have the ______________energy compared with that of the other photons.
longest; least
Sunspots, flares, prominences, and coronal mass ejections are all caused by
magnetic activity on the Sun.
Which property of the sun are sun spots and solar flare events tied to?
magnetic field lines
The connection between gravity and orbits enables astronomers to measure the ______________ of stars and planets.
masses
A chunk of iron weighing a few kilograms flies into the inner Solar System, is captured by Earth's gravity, enters the atmosphere burning brightly, and lands on solid ground. Three different names apply to the different stages of its journey. Place them in order from first to last.
meteoroid - meteor - meteorite
Based on our current data about exoplanets the most common planet type in our universe is likely.
mini neptunes or super earths
When observed from two widely separated locations, an object appears to move _____ against the background than when observed from two locations near one another.
more The greater the change in your location is, the larger the baseline of the triangle connecting you to the object is.
Planets in the outer Solar System have more moons than those in the inner Solar System because
more debris was present around the outer planets when they were forming.
As a blackbody becomes hotter, it also becomes ______________ and ______________.
more luminous; bluer
What is the source of the magnetic field generated by the Earth?
moving charged particles in the liquid core The magnetic field is generated by electric currents due to the motion of convection currents of molten iron in the Earth's outer core: these convection currents are caused by heat escaping from the core, a natural process called a geodynamo.
Imagine that a star-forming cloud collapses but retains all of its mass in a single blob. In order to conserve angular momentum, the cloud
must spin faster.
Label the stars by their relative surface temperature, based on the habitable zones shown in green.
narrowest = low temperature widest = high temperature medium sized = mid range temperature Planets must be farther away from hotter stars and closer to cooler stars to be just the right temperature for liquid water to exist on the surface. Earth is the only planet comfortably within the habitable zone of our star today, but in the past, when the Sun was cooler, Venus was too. The Sun continues to get hotter: in the future, the habitable zone will be beyond Earth's orbit.
The planets in the inner part of the Solar System are made primarily of refractory materials; the planets in the outer Solar System are made primarily of volatiles. That difference occurs because
no volatiles were in the inner part of the accretion disk.
The ____________ of greenhouse gas molecules affects the temperature of an atmosphere.
number
An empirical science is one based on
observed data
As two objects orbit one another, they are always...
on opposite sides of the center of mass, traveling in opposite directions in space. The center of mass must remain stationary between the two objects. This can only happen when the objects always remain on opposite sides of the center of mass, even when in motion.
Galileo observed that Venus had phases that correlated with the size of its image in his telescope. From that information, you may conclude that Venus
orbits the Sun
The Drake equation enables astronomers to
organize their thoughts about probabilities.
Which stars we see at night depends on
our location on Earth, Earth's location in its orbit, and the time of the observation
In radioactive decay a _______ atom decays in to a ______ atom due to a change in the number of protons and neutrons in the atom.
parent, daughter
Suppose an earthquake occurs on an imaginary planet. Scientists on the other side of the planet detect primary waves but not secondary waves after the quake. That suggests that
part of the planet's interior is liquid.
The structure of the Sun is determined by not only the balance between the forces due to ______________ and gravity but also the balance between energy generation and energy ______________.
pressure; loss
The structure of the Sun is determined by both the balance between the forces due to _______ and gravity and the balance between energy generation and energy _______.
pressure; loss The first statement is hydrostatic equilibrium, and the second is energy equilibrium. Both conditions are necessary for a star.
As energy moves out from the Sun's core toward its surface, it first travels by _______, then by _______, and then by _______.
radiation; convection; radiation As energy moves out from the Sun's core toward its surface, it first travels by radiation, then by convection, and then by radiation.
Which of the following can be observed from Earth's surface?
radio waves visible light
Rank the following in order of decreasing wavelength.
radio waves, infrared, visible, ultraviolet, and then gamma rays.
Earth's interior is heated by
radioactive decay and tidal effects
Earth's interior is heated by:
radioactive decay and tidal effects
The following graph shows multiple transit events recorded while observing a star. The colored arrows indicate transits caused by three different planets. Rank the orbital periods of these planets, from shortest to longest.
red --.> blue --> purple The red planet has the most frequent transits, which means the planet orbits its star with the shortest period. The purple planet has the least frequent transits, meaning it orbits its star with the longest period.
Chromatic aberration occurs when white light passes through a lens and the colors of light separate and refract at different amounts. The provided figure depicts chromatic aberration, but with the colors removed for the sake of the question.
refracts most to least: blue, green, red Red light has the longest wavelength and thus refracts the least. Blue light has the shortest wavelength and refracts the most.
"All scientific knowledge is provisional." In that context, provisional means
relative
The part of the human eye that acts as the detector is the
retina
The search for life elsewhere in the Solar System is carried out primarily by
robotic spacecraft.
List the layers of the interior structure of Jupiter moving from the center to the surface.
rock ices metallic hydrogen molecular hydrogen
Because angular momentum is conserved, an ice-skater who throws her arms out will
rotate more slowly
Since angular momentum is conserved, an ice-skater who throws her arms out will
rotate more slowly.
Match the type of volcano with its shape: shield volcano composite volcano
shield volcano = wide base, shallow sides composite volcano = small base, steep sides
Aside from their periods, short- and long-period comets differ because short-period comets
short-period comets orbit prograde, while long-period comets orbit in either sense Short-period comets tend to have prograde orbits within the plane of the planets, while long-period comets have random orbital orientations.
Based on the information above, which of the following properties of a planet is most important in determining its level of recent geological activity?
size The smaller planets have the most crater counts per area, which means that their surfaces are geologically older than the larger planets.
When light enters a medium from space it
slows down The speed of light depends on the medium it is traveling through. Light travels fastest in a vacuum and slows down when it reaches a different medium, such as air or water. Generally speaking, the more dense the medium is, the slower light travels through it
Rank the parts of a comet by size, from smallest to largest.
smallest Nucleus coma tail From smallest to largest: nucleus (the icy planetesimal that is the core), the coma (the nearly spherical cloud of gas and dust that immediately surrounds the nucleus), and the tails (both dust and ion tails as the comet is relatively near the Sun).
If Earth shrank to a smaller radius but kept the same mass, the gravitational force between Earth and the Moon would? If Earth shrank to a smaller radius but kept the same mass, the weight of each person on Earth would?
stay the same The net force of gravity between two objects does not depend on their size, only the distance between their centers. As long as the center of mass of the Earth does not shift, the gravitational force would remain the same between it and the Moon. increase Being closer to the center of the Earth would cause the gravitational force on us to increase, as it is inversely proportional to distance (d) from the center of mass of the object (force scales as 1/d2). This would make the acceleration due to gravity larger and therefore increase our weight.
Volcanoes on Enceladus affect the E Ring of Saturn by
supplying ring particles. Because the volcanic emissions from Saturn's moon Enceladus are constantly supplying icy particles to the E ring by replacing those that drift away, the E ring will survive for as long as Enceladus remains geologically active.
Based on this, what basic property of a star determines its color (and thus its spectral type)?
temperature
What intrinsic property of a star is used to determine its spectral classification.
temperature All properties of matter are considered intrinsic or extrinsic properties.
Energy is produced primarily in the center of the Sun because
that's where neutrinos are created.
Scientists propose an early period of heavy bombardment in the Solar System because
the Moon is heavily cratered.
The primary factor in Earth's tides is
the Moon's gravity. Even though the Moon is much less massive than the Sun, its close proximity compared to the Sun makes it the primary factor for Earth's tides. Tangentially, the scientific community believes that tides in Earth's oceans may have contributed to the formation of RNA and DNA. If it wasn't for the Moon and its resulting tides, life on Earth might have taken a different evolutionary course, and you wouldn't be here to answer these questions!
Spring tides occur only when
the Moon's phase is new or full.
On the summer solstice in June, the Sun will be directly above _________________ and all locations north of _________________ will experience daylight all day.
the Tropic of Cancer; the Arctic Circle
If a planet is in thermal equilibrium,
the amount of energy leaving equals the amount of energy arriving.
"We are stardust" means that
the atoms in our bodies have passed through (and in many cases formed in) stars
electromagnetic spectrum
the complete range of electromagnetic waves placed in order of increasing frequency
Observations of excited gas in the lab show that every element, molecule, and ion has its own unique set of possible electron energy levels, as shown in the emission spectra below. Based on this fact, what can we find from the wavelengths of absorption lines seen in the spectrum of a star?
the composition of any gas between the light-emitting "surface" of the star and the observer
The orbits need to be highly elliptical to bring the comet inside the orbit of Mars and swing around the Sun.
the current climate of Mars. Most meteorites come from sources that are themselves quite ancient, such as asteroids and comets. These bodies represent debris left over from the formation of the Solar System, and meteorites can thus tell us what those early times were like. While some meteorites do in fact originate from Mars, they would not have left its surface recently. Martian meteorites can thus tell us only about the history of Mars. We must rely on other methods of telling the current climate of the planet.
What is the reason the weather is warmer during summer in the northern hemisphere?
the days are longer and the sunlight is more direct
The source material for a meteor shower is usually ___?___. The name of a meteor shower comes from ___?___.
the debris left behind by a comet. the constellation closest to the radiant.
The concept of disk instability was developed to solve the problem that
the early solar nebula probably dispersed too soon to form Jupiter.
Zonal winds on the giant planets are stronger than those on the terrestrial planets because
the giant planets rotate faster.
Self-gravity is
the gravitational interaction of all the parts of a body.
Unlike the giant planets, the terrestrial planets formed when
the inner Solar System was hotter than the outer Solar System.
Choose all that apply. CCD cameras are better astronomical detectors than the human eye because
the integration time can be longer. they can observe at wavelengths beyond the visible. their quantum efficiency is higher. CCD cameras are more sensitive than the eye to light, detecting as much as 90% of the photons striking it compared to only about 10% for the eye. A camera can also be left open for a long time and record all the photons that strike it during that time, whereas the eye has a fixed exposure time of about a tenth of a second. Also the human eye sees only a tiny range of wavelengths compared to the vast possibilities of the entire EM spectrum that astronomers want to investigate.
Scientists know the history of Earth's magnetic field because
the magnetic field freezes into rocks, and plate tectonics spreads the rocks out. Magnetic-field lines are frozen into rocks, which we can study to discover how the Earth's magnetic fields have changed over time.
Deep in the interiors of the giant planets, water is still a liquid even though the temperatures are tens of thousands of degrees above the boiling point of water. This can happen because
the pressure inside the giant planets is so high.
Compared with your would be mass on Earth, your mass on the Moon would be
the same—mass doesn't change.
The story of the F Ring of Saturn is an example of
the self-correcting nature of science
Which of the following factors does not directly influence the temperature of a planet?
the size of the planet
The solar wind pushes on the magnetosphere of Earth, changing its shape, because
the solar wind contains charged particles.
Planets with high eccentricity may be unlikely candidates for life because
the temperature varies too much.
The terrestrial planets and the giant planets have different compositions because
the terrestrial planets formed closer to the Sun.
The differences in the climates of Venus, Earth, and Mars are caused primarily by
the thickness of their atmospheres.
Geologists can find the relative ages of impact craters on a world because
the top layer of impact craters is the youngest. Younger craters always lie on top of older ones.
Less massive molecules tend to escape from an atmosphere more often than more massive molecules because
they are moving faster.
Less massive molecules tend to escape from an atmosphere more often than more massive ones because
they are moving faster.
Spacecraft are the most effective way to study planets in our Solar System because
they can collect more information than is available just from images.
Congress tasked NASA with searching for near-Earth objects because
they might impact Earth, as others have in the past. These near-Earth objects can release energy equivalent to 2000 times the atomic bomb dropped over Hiroshima
Improved resolution is helpful to astronomers because
they often want to look in detail at small features of an object. they often want to look at very distant objects. they often want to look at many objects close together.
When viewing Venus through a visible light telescope it appears shades of yellow due to thick sulfuric acid clouds in the atmosphere . In contrast when looking at Mars through a visible light telescope it appears red due to oxidized iron or rust that makes up the surface.
thick sulfuric acid clouds in the atmosphere, oxidized iron or rust that makes up the surface
If you see the Moon on the meridian at sunrise, the phase of the Moon is
third quarter.
Order the three bars in order of lowest to highest melting point of the materials. Lowest melting point, Intermediate melting, point, and Highest melting point
top to bottom: C - Highest melting point B - Intermediate melting point A - Lowest melting point Highly volatile materials, such as methane and carbon dioxide, have very low melting points and can exist as solids only where it is very cold. Refractory materials, such as rocks and metals, have very high melting points and can exist as solids at very high temperatures, even very near a star.
Imagine that you observe a star-planet system, edge-on. When the planet is moving away from Earth, in which direction is the star moving?
toward Earth The best observations of these motions occur when the system is edge-on. If the system is face-on (so we have a sort of "top view" of the system), none of these motions could be observed, and the planet might very well go undetected.
Given the resonance of the planets around the star Kepler 223 of 8:6:4:3 how much faster does the second planet out from the star orbit compared to the planet furthest from the star?
twice as fast
Astronomers use two points in Earth's orbit to get the best possible parallax measurement. Even better measurements would be possible with observations from
two points in the orbit of Mars, separated by half a Martian year. Mars has a larger orbit than Earth, so observations made from opposite sides of its orbit would give a larger parallax angle.
The ozone layer protects life on Earth from
ultraviolet radiation.
The stratospheric ozone layer protects life on Earth from
ultraviolet radiation.
An object in a(n) __________ orbit in the Solar System will remain in its orbit forever. An object in a(n) __________ orbit will escape from the Solar System.
unbound;bound As the name implies, bound orbits are bound forever to the object being orbited (barring some outside change). Both circular and elliptical orbits are examples of bound orbits.Unbound orbits are not bound to the object being orbited, and the object will only pass by it one time before escaping. Parabolic and hyperbolic orbits are examples of unbound orbits.
In the proton-proton chain, four hydrogen nuclei are converted to a helium nucleus. That does not happen spontaneously on Earth because the process requires
very high temperatures and densities.
In the proton-proton chain, four hydrogen nuclei are converted to a helium nucleus. This does not happen spontaneously on Earth because the process requires
very high temperatures and pressures. Fusion requires temperatures of millions of degrees, which rarely happens on Earth except in specialized labs.
Under what lighting conditions are the tiny dust particles found in some planetary rings best observed?
viewed from the shadowed side of the planet, looking toward the Sun
Under what lighting conditions are the tiny dust particles, found in some planetary rings, best observed?
viewed from the shadowed side of the planet, looking toward the Sun
The greenhouse effect on Earth is caused by the ability of visible light from the sun to easily pass through our atmosphere while infrared light emitted from the planet is reflected back to the surface.
visible, infrared
If a moon revolves opposite to a planet's rotation, it probably
was captured after the planet formed Moons are expected to form out of the same material as the host planet, thus a retrograde moon is likely to have been captured.
If a moon revolves opposite to its planet's rotation, it probably
was captured after the planet formed.
Comets, asteroids, and meteoroids may be responsible for delivering a significant fraction of the current supply of_______________ to Earth.
water
The fact that no alien civilizations have yet been detected indicates that
we don't know enough yet to draw any conclusions.
Understanding in science means that
we have accumulated lots of facts.we can connect facts through an underlying idea.
A hypothetical planet has just two moons. The inner moon completes two orbits in the time it takes the outer moon to complete one. Imagine both are regular moons, meaning they orbit in the direction of the planet's rotation. How many times will the moons experience a "close approach" per complete orbit of the outer moon?
1 time The inner planet is revolving around the star twice as fast, so the only time they will line up is at the start of the sequence. For regular motion, the only close approach is the initial frame. A close approach happens when the inner moon laps the outer, and this doesn't happen until the outer moon has completed its orbit.
Venus has about 80 percent of Earth's mass and about 95 percent of Earth's radius. Your weight on Venus will be
10 percent less than on Earth.
The heat from a fire you feel on your skin is carried by infrared light. If a photon of infrared light has a wavelength of 8x10^-7 m, what is the energy carried by that single photon? Recall h=6.63x10^-34 Js and the speed of light c=3x10^8 m/s.
2.5x10^-19 J
At the dentist an x-ray of your teeth is taken. The energy of one photon in the beam of x-rays is 8x10^-17 J. What is the wavelength of the photon? Recall h=6.63x10^-34 Js and c=3x10^8 m/s
2.5x10^-9 m
How many parsecs are in 7,500 light-years?
2299.45487 = 2300 pc 7,500 ly divided by 3.26 ly/pc is 2,301 pc. This is the distance to the Cepheid variable scientists were using to demonstrate the new measurement technique discussed in this Reading Astronomy News article.
As a 60kg person walks they apply a 20N force to the surface of the Earth. Recalling that the mass of the Earth is 6x1024kg, what is the magnitude of the acceleration the Earth experiences from the person walking?
3.3x10^-24 m/s^2
The Earths moon orbits at a speed of 1 km/s. If it were to collide with Earth at this speed what would the impact energy be? The mass of the moon is 7.3x1022 kg.
3.7x1028 J
What is the rounded value of the speed of light that we will use for this course?
3x10^8 m/s
If the Moon were 2 times closer to Earth than it is now, the gravitational force between Earth and the Moon would be
4 times stronger.
This radio message was beamed toward globular star cluster M13 in the year 1974, for a total broadcast of less than three minutes. Assume M13 is exactly 25,000 light-years away from us. If life within the globular cluster received our message and immediately sent back a response, in what year would we receive it?
51974 It will take 50,000 years for radio light waves to travel the 25,000 light-years to M13 and back.
If you start from rest and accelerate at 10 mph/s and end up traveling at 60 mph, how long did it take?
6 seconds
In the following diagram, which shaded area is where the planet traveled at the slowest speed? Note: The three areas are the same size. Slowest speed traveled
According to Kepler's third law, if the areas are the same size, then they took the same amount of time to make. However, because area A is closer to the Sun, the gravitational attraction to the Sun causes it to move faster. Since it is traveling faster, then in this amount of time the planet must travel farther.
Moving from the core to the surface of the sun list the method of energy transport in order. CORE---- SPACE----
CORE ----- radiation convection radiation SPACE-----
During a lunar eclipse
Earth's shadow falls on the moon
Match the planet with the feature is had from an extreme impact late in its formation. Earth:
Has a large moon relative to its size
Rank the types of radiation in order of their energy, from least to greatest.
Light of greater energy has a shorter wavelength. Therefore, the order from least to greatest energy is the same as the order of longest to shortest wavelength: radio waves, infrared, red visible light, blue visible light, X-rays, and gamma rays. "Really Make It Visible, Use X-ray Glasses"
Match the type of star with its location on the H-R diagram. Red Giant = Main Sequence = White Dwarf =
Red Giant = top right Main Sequence = Diagonal line top left to bottom right White Dwarf = bottom left
CH 14
SMARTWORK
As seen from Earth, identify the constellation that would be behind the Sun in November.
Scorpius From the perspective of an observer on Earth, the constellation behind the Sun in November is Scorpius; it is aligned with the Sun and Earth.
When a boat moves through the water, the waves in front of the boat bunch up, while the waves behind the boat spread out. This is an example of
The Doppler Effect If you were behind the boat would you experience a "redshift" or "blueshift" in the waves?
Why does a solar eclipse move across the surface of the Earth?
The Moon's motion from west to east, with respect to the stars, causes the Moon's shadow to move from west to east. The Moon's motion from west to east, with respect to the stars, causes the path of totality to move from west to east. It should be noted that the Earth's rotation would cause the Moon's shadow to move from east to west, which is not observed; the Earth's revolution, which appears as the Sun moving from west to east against the background stars, would cause the Moon's shadow to move from east to west as well.
Earth's average temperature varies periodically over time as shown in the graph below. Ice ages occur when the temperature is much colder than normal (at a minimum).Drag the labels to the locations in the graph where ice ages have occurred in the past in increasing number order from the oldest ice age to the newest one.
The ice ages are the lowest points on the graph.
Celestial motions over time periods longer than a day are less obvious. Say you went out at exactly the same time each night and looked at the sky, noting the position of a specific set of stars at that time with respect to reference objects on Earth, such as trees and buildings. The following figure shows how the stars would change position. Based on this figure, what is the most correct conclusion?
The stars appear to move westward from one night to the next.
The position of the larger member of a binary system is shown here, along with the orbital path of the second. Locate the companion star based on the current position of the larger star. Companion star
The stars must always be on opposite sides of their orbits, which have their center of mass at the focal point.
How would you explain the difference in cratering between these two pictures?
The surface on the right has experienced more recent volcanism or erosion than the surface to the left.
When an electron moves from a higher energy level in an atom to a lower energy level,
a photon is emitted.
When an electron moves from a low energy level to a high energy level a photon is
absorbed
If we wanted to increase a satellite's altitude above Earth and keep it in a stable orbit, we also would need to
decrease its orbital speed.
Where on earth are none of the stars you see in the sky circumpolar stars?
equator
When Earth catches up to a slower-moving outer planet and passes it in its orbit, the outer planet
exhibits retrograde motion.
Gravitational interactions with moons produce
fine structure within rings the narrow gaps and oscillating edges seen in rings are due to the gravitational effects of small moons.
From the top down list the categories of electromagnetic waves from highest energy to lowest energy
gamma;visible;radio
What could have caused the planets to migrate through the Solar System?
gravitational pull from other planets
Arrays of radio telescopes can produce much better resolution than single-dish telescopes because they work based on the principle of
interference. Eventually arrays of radio telescopes will be built in space and will produce incredible resolutions because of their very large effective diameters.
The brightness of an object decreases with increasing distance from the object according to what?
inverse square law
If you went to Mars, your weight would be?
lower because Mars has lower mass and a smaller radius that together produce a lower gravitational force Your weight is defined as the gravitational force acting on you. Plugging the mass and radius of Mars into Newton's universal law of gravitation shows that the gravitational force on Mars is smaller than that on Earth, so you would weigh less there.
If you went to Mars, your weight would be
lower because the lower mass and smaller radius of Mars combine to a lower surface gravity.
wavelength
m, meters
c, the speed of light
m/s
m
mass (kg)
Suppose an earthquake occurs on an imaginary planet. Scientists on the other side of the planet detect primary waves but not secondary waves after the quake occurs. This observation suggests that
part of the planet's interior is liquid Secondary waves cannot travel through liquids; the seismic observation thus suggests that at least part of the interior is liquid.
The Sun is part of
solar system < Milky Way Galaxy < universe
Galileo observed that Jupiter has moons. From that information, you may conclude that
some things do not orbit Earth.
Imagine that a star-forming cloud collapses but retains all of its mass in a single blob. In order to conserve angular momentum, the cloud must
spin faster. When a rotating system grows more compact, the rate of rotation must increase to make up for the decrease in distance from the center.
If I were to travel from the Earth to the Moon my mass would ___ and my weight would ____ .
stay the same; decrease
Scientists determine the geological history of the moons of the outer planets from
surface features.
If you use the same force to push on two different cars, which will have the bigger acceleration?
the less massive one (car) Think of a small car versus a large car with the same-sized engine. The smaller car will be much peppier when accelerating! The relation F = ma tells us that if the force remains the same, then a smaller mass must have a larger acceleration.
Sunspots change in number and location during the solar cycle. This phenomenon is connected to
the magnetic field of the Sun. Sunspots are a magnetic phenomenon.