Earth and Space Science
Exam Questions
Course Introduction
Earth and Space Science explores the fundamental processes and systems that shape our planet and the wider universe. The course examines Earth's structure, materials, and dynamic systems, such as plate tectonics, weather, climate, and ocean currents. Students also study the solar system, including the sun, planets, moons, and other celestial bodies, as well as the broader universes origin and evolution. Topics such as Earth's resources, natural hazards, and the impact of human activity are covered, alongside inquiry-driven investigations using scientific methods and technologies to analyze and interpret data related to Earth and space phenomena.
Recommended Textbook
The Essential Cosmic Perspective 6th Edition by Jeffrey O. Bennett
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Chapter 1: Our Place in the Universe
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Sample Questions
Q1) Consider the following statement, and explain whether or not it is sensible: Earth is always precisely 1 AU from the Sun.
Answer: Not sensible: One AU is the average distance between Earth and the Sun.
Q2) In the grapefruit model of the solar system, it would take a few minutes to walk from the Sun to Pluto.
A)True
B)False
Answer: True
Q3) In a ten-billion to one scale model, the Sun and the Earth are about the size of
A) a grape and a grain of sand.
B) a basketball and a grape.
C) a grapefruit and a grain of sand.
D) a grapefruit and a grape.
Answer: C
Q4) The observable universe is the same size today as it was a few billion years ago. A)True
B)False
Answer: False
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3
Chapter 2: Discovering the Universe for Yourself
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Sample Questions
Q1) Which of the following is not a phase of the Moon?
A) first-quarter moon
B) third-quarter moon
C) half moon
D) new moon
E) full moon
Answer: C
Q2) All the following statements are true. Which one explains the reason that there is not a solar eclipse at every new moon?
A) The nodes of the moon's orbit precess with an 18-year period.
B) The orbital plane of the Moon is tilted slightly (by about 5 degrees) to the ecliptic plane.
C) The Moon is only about 1/4 as large as Earth in diameter.
D) The Moon goes through a complete cycle of phases about every 29 1/2 days.
Answer: B
Q3) If you lived on the Moon, you'd see full Earth when we see new moon.
A)True
B)False
Answer: True
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Page 4
Chapter 3: The Science of Astronomy
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Sample Questions
Q1) When did Copernicus live?
A) About 5000 years ago
B) About 2000 years ago
C) About 1000 years ago
D) About 500 years ago
E) About 100 years ago
Answer: D
Q2) Which of the following is the reason for the solar day being longer than a sidereal day?
A) precession of Earth's axis
B) the tilt of Earth's axis
C) the combined effect of the rotation of Earth and its orbit about the Sun
D) Earth year being a non-integer number of Earth days
E) the non-circular orbit of Earth around the Sun
Answer: C
Q3) Columbus was the first person to discover that Earth is round.
A)True
B)False
Answer: False
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Page 5
Chapter 4: Making Sense of the Universe: Understanding
Motion, Energy, and Gravity
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Sample Questions
Q1) Which of the following statements is not one of Newton's Laws of Motion?
A) What goes up must come down.
B) The rate of change of momentum of an object is equal to the net force applied to the object.
C) In the absence of a net force acting upon it, an object moves with constant velocity.
D) For any force, there always is an equal and opposite reaction force.
Q2) Tidal friction caused by Earth's stretching from the Moon's gravity is gradually slowing down the rotation of Earth.
A)True
B)False
Q3) Explain what synchronous rotation is. What is it caused by? Give an example.
Q4) Suppose you are in an elevator that is traveling upward at constant speed. How does your weight compare to your normal weight on the ground?
A) It is the same.
B) It is greater.
C) It is less.
D) You are weightless.
Q5) Give an example in which kinetic energy can be converted to thermal energy.
Page 6
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Chapter 5: Light: the Cosmic Messenger
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Sample Questions
Q1) What is the purpose of interferometry?
A) It allows two or more small telescopes to achieve the angular resolution of a much larger telescope.
B) It allows two or more small telescopes to achieve a larger light-collecting area than they would have independently.
C) It is designed to prevent light pollution from interfering with astronomical observations.
D) It reduces the twinkling of stars caused by atmospheric turbulence.
Q2) Emission lines from different ionization states of the same element appear in the same place in the spectrum.
A)True
B)False
Q3) Spectra from neutral atoms compared with spectra from ionized atoms of the same element
A) are the same.
B) are slightly redshifted.
C) are slightly blueshifted.
D) have different sets of spectral lines.
E) have the same sets of spectral lines but different widths for those lines.
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Chapter 6: Formation of Planetary Systems: Our Solar
System and Beyond
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Sample Questions
Q1) Which of the following is not a major pattern of motion in the solar system?
A) Nearly all comets orbit the Sun in same direction and roughly the same plane.
B) Most of the solar system's large moons orbit in their planet's equatorial plane.
C) The Sun and most of the planets rotate in the same direction in which the planets orbit the Sun.
D) All of the planets orbit the Sun in the same direction-counterclockwise as viewed from above Earth's north pole.
Q2) Why did the solar nebula flatten into a disk?
A) The interstellar cloud from which the solar nebula formed was originally somewhat flat.
B) The force of gravity pulled the material downward into a flat disk.
C) As the nebula cooled, the gas and dust settled onto a disk.
D) It flattened as a natural consequence of collisions between particles in the nebula, changing random motions into more orderly ones.
Q3) Briefly describe the modern theory of how our Moon formed.
Q4) Suppose the entire solar nebula had cooled to a very low temperature before the solar wind cleared it away. Do you think Earth would be the same? Why or why not?
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Chapter 7: Earth and the Terrestrial Worlds
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Sample Questions
Q1) All of the statements below are true. Which one gives the primary reason why the surface of Venus today is some 450 C hotter than the surface of Earth?
A) Venus has a much stronger greenhouse effect than Earth.
B) Venus is only about 73% as far from the Sun as Earth.
C) Venus has a much higher reflectivity than Earth.
D) Venus has a higher atmospheric pressure than Earth.
Q2) Erosion is the most important geological process on Venus.
A)True
B)False
Q3) The lithosphere of a planet is the layer that consists of
A) material above the crust.
B) material between the crust and the mantle.
C) the rigid rocky material of the crust and uppermost portion of the mantle.
D) the softer rocky material of the mantle.
E) the lava that comes out of volcanoes.
Q4) Sim-Planet: Make the difference between the night and day temperatures larger.
A) Move the planet closer to the Sun.
B) Increase the greenhouse gas content of the planet's atmosphere.
C) Make the planet rotate more slowly.
D) Increase the tilt of the planet's rotation axis.
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Chapter 8: Jovian Planet Systems
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Sample Questions
Q1) Hydrogen exists as a gas, liquid, and solid within Jupiter.
A)True
B)False
Q2) Which of the above applies to Io?
A)the most volcanically active body in the solar system
B)thought to have a deep, subsurface ocean of liquid water
C)probably a captured Kuiper Belt object
D)the target of the Huygens probe, which landed on its surface.
E)the largest moon in the solar system
Q3) Jupiter's Great Red Spot is a low-pressure storm like a hurricane on Earth.
A)True
B)False
Q4) Overall, Jupiter's composition is most like that of ________.
A) the Sun
B) Earth
C) a comet
D) an asteroid
Q5) If Jupiter were 10 times more massive, it would actually have a smaller radius.
A)True
B)False
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Chapter 9: Asteroids, Comets, and Dwarf Planets:
Nature, Orbits, and Impacts
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Sample Questions
Q1) An icy leftover planetesimal orbiting the Sun is
A) a comet.
B) a meteor.
C) an asteroid.
D) a meteorite.
E) possibly any of the above
Q2) Suppose that large jovian planets had never formed in our solar system. Which of the following would most likely be true?
A) Neither the asteroid belt nor Oort cloud would exist.
B) Earth would have suffered far fewer impacts.
C) There would be a large empty region in our solar system between the orbit of Mars and the Kuiper belt.
D) Earth would orbit much closer to the Sun.
Q3) Why won't Pluto collide with Neptune?
A) Pluto orbits the Sun exactly two times for every three Neptune orbits, which ensures they never come close together.
B) Pluto is always much farther from the Sun than Neptune.
C) Pluto's orbit never comes anywhere close to Neptune's orbit.
D) Actually, a collision of the two is inevitable within the next billion years.
Page 11
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Chapter 10: Our Star
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Sample Questions
Q1) Which of the following statements about the Sun is an inference from a model, not an observation?
A) The Sun emits neutrinos.
B) The convection zone is cooler than the radiation zone.
C) The photosphere emits visible light.
D) The corona is hotter than the photosphere.
Q2) Sunspots are cooler than the surrounding gas in the photosphere because
A) they are regions where convection carries cooler material downward.
B) strong magnetic fields slow convection and prevent hot plasma from entering the region.
C) magnetic fields trap ionized gases that absorb light.
D) there is less fusion occurring there.
E) magnetic fields lift material from the sunspot and quickly cool the material.
Q3) The corona and chromosphere are hotter than the photosphere.
A)True
B)False
Q4) Briefly explain why sunspots are cooler than surrounding regions of the Sun, and why they look dark in photos.
Q5) Briefly explain how the Sun became hot enough for nuclear fusion.
Q6) Describe two general ways we learn about the Sun's interior.
Page 12
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Chapter 11: Surveying the Stars
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Sample Questions
Q1) The sketch above shows groups of stars on the H-R diagram, labeled (a) through (e); note that (a) represents the entire main sequence while (c) and (d) represent only small parts of the main sequence. Which group represents stars fusing hydrogen in their cores?
A) a
B) b
C) c
D) d
E) e
Q2) Which group represents stars of the smallest radii?
Q3) On a Hertzsprung-Russell diagram, where would you find stars that are cool and dim?
A) upper right
B) lower right
C) upper left
D) lower left
Q4) Spectral type, surface temperature, and color all describe the same basic characteristic of a star.
A)True
B)False
Page 13
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Chapter 12: Star Stuff
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Sample Questions
Q1) Where would a brown dwarf be located on an H-R diagram?
A) Below and to the right of the lowest part of the main sequence
B) Above and to the left of the highest part of the main sequence
C) In the upper right corner of the H-R diagram
D) In the lower left corner of the H-R diagram
Q2) The interstellar clouds called molecular clouds are ________.
A) the cool clouds in which stars form
B) the clouds in which elements such as carbon, nitrogen, and oxygen are made
C) clouds that are made mostly of complex molecules such as carbon dioxide and sulfur dioxide
D) the hot clouds of gas expelled by dying stars
Q3) All stars that become supernovae will leave behind a neutron star.
A)True
B)False
Q4) Which method of energy generation is used by the Sun today?
A)H fusion by the proton-proton chain
B)H fusion by the CNO cycle
C)helium fusion
D)matter-antimatter annihilation
E)gravitational contraction
Page 14
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Chapter 13: Bizarre Stellar Graveyard
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Sample Questions
Q1) Which of the following statements about gamma ray bursts is not true?
A) Based on their distribution in the sky, we can rule out a connection between gamma ray bursts and X-ray binaries in the Milky Way Galaxy.
B) Gamma ray bursts are among the most luminous events that ever occur in the universe.
C) The events responsible for gamma ray bursts apparently produce only gamma rays, and no other light that we can hope to detect.
D) Gamma ray bursts were originally discovered by satellites designed to look for signs of nuclear bomb tests on Earth.
Q2) Order the following objects in increasing size (radius):
A) Jupiter, white dwarf, neutron star, Sun
B) neutron star, white dwarf, Jupiter, Sun
C) Jupiter, white dwarf, Sun, neutron star
D) neutron star, Jupiter, white dwarf, Sun
Q3) The Crab Pulsar is pulsing in visible light 30 times per second. Why?
A) It's a mystery: no one really knows.
B) It is eclipsed by a companion 30 times per second.
C) It rotates 30 times per second.
D) A jet ejects energy and particles from a hot spot 30 times per second.
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Page 15
Chapter 14: Our Galaxy
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Sample Questions
Q1) How does the interstellar medium obscure our view of most of the galaxy?
A) Hydrogen gas produces so much visible light that the interstellar medium is opaque, blocking our view of anything beyond it.
B) Dust reflects most light from distant regions of the galaxy back towards the source.
C) Molecules in the interstellar medium absorb all wavelengths of light.
D) The small mixture of dust grains in the interstellar medium absorbs visible light.
E) all of the above
Q2) Approximately how long does it take the Sun to orbit the center of the Milky Way Galaxy?
A) 23,000 years
B) 230,000 years
C) 2.3 million years
D) 230 million years
E) 23 billion years
Q3) Which star is older?
A) An A star in the globular cluster M13
B) Both stars (the A and M star) are the same age.
C) An M star in the globular cluster M13
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Chapter 15: Galaxies and the Foundation of Modern Cosmology
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Sample Questions
Q1) Compared to spiral galaxies, elliptical galaxies are
A) redder and rounder.
B) redder and flattened.
C) bluer and rounder.
D) bluer and flattened.
E) always much smaller.
Q2) How are the jets produced by radio galaxies similar to those produced by protostars?
Q3) List at least three qualities that make an astronomical object a good standard candle.
Q4) Although the entire universe may be much larger than our observable universe, we can see only within our observable universe. The "boundary" of our observable universe is called ________.
A) the cosmological horizon
B) the Big Bang
C) the lookback time
D) the Hubble Deep Field
Q5) How does a starburst end? What might happen to the galaxy afterwards?
Page 17
Q6) Explain how we can estimate that there are about 50-100 billion galaxies in the observable universe.
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Page 18
Chapter 16: Dark Matter, Dark Energy, and the Fate of the Universe
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Q1) Which hypothetical universe has a older age, all other things being equal?
A) The one with more dark energy.
B) Dark energy doesn't affect the inferred age of the universe.
C) The one with less dark energy
Q2) Which of the following best summarizes what we mean by dark energy?
A) It is a name given to whatever is causing the expansion of the universe to accelerate with time.
B) It is the energy contained in dark matter.
C) It is the energy of black holes.
D) It is a type of energy that is associated with the "dark side" of The Force that rules the cosmos.
Q3) MACHOs (massive compact halo objects) have been searched for using the technique of gravitational lensing, but, to date, none have been found.
A)True
B)False
Q4) The visible parts of galaxies contribute about 10 percent of the critical density of the universe.
A)True
B)False
Page 19
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Chapter 17: The Beginning of Time
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Sample Questions
Q1) Which of the following statements about the cosmic background radiation is not true?
A) It has a temperature of about 3 degrees K above absolute zero.
B) It is the result of a mixture of radiation from many independent sources, such as stars and galaxies that formed within the first billion years of the Big Bang.
C) It had a much higher temperature in the past.
D) It was discovered by Penzias and Wilson in the mid 1960s.
E) It appears essentially the same in all directions (it is isotropic).
Q2) The more baryons there are in the universe (a higher density of baryonic matter), the lower the ratio of deuterium to hydrogen is. Therefore, if Harry measures a higher ratio of deuterium to hydrogen than Sally, Harry infers
A) the same density of baryons as Sally.
B) a lower density of baryons than Sally.
C) a higher density of baryons than Sally.
Q3) Which of the following statements cannot be tested by science today?
A) Prior to the Planck time, our universe sprouted from another universe.
B) Our universe is flat.
C) The universe is 14 billion years old.
D) The expansion of the universe is now accelerating.
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Page 20
Chapter 18: Life in the Universe
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Q1) Generalizing from a Single Example: Many would argue that our concept of life and intelligence is severely limited by the fact that we have only the "single example" of the Earth. Do you agree with this view (address the questions of life and intelligence separately)? To what extent do you feel that the search for extraterrestrial life is biased by the example of life on the Earth? Does the search for extraterrestrial intelligent life suffer more or less from the same bias?
Q2) Based on DNA studies, it seems that all life on Earth ________. A) shares a common ancestor B) belongs to one of just two kingdoms: plants and animals C) arose from one of five distinct ancestors that lived about two billion years ago D) requires oxygen to survive
Q3) The Kepler mission, scheduled for launch in 2009, will search for Earth-like planets by looking for the dip in the brightness of a star as a (potential) planet transits across it. Why will this technique actually miss the vast majority of planets around the stars it observes?
Q4) Why might the presence of a giant planet be both good and bad for life on a terrestrial planet in another solar system?
Q5) What is the evidence that suggests planetary systems are common in the universe?
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