Fundamentals of the Universe Question Bank
Course Introduction
Fundamentals of the Universe explores the basic principles and concepts that govern the cosmos, from the smallest subatomic particles to the largest structures in space. This course examines key topics such as the formation of matter, the Big Bang theory, the life cycles of stars, the expansion of the universe, and the role of fundamental forces like gravity and electromagnetism. By integrating observational evidence with theoretical models, students gain an understanding of how the universe originated, evolved, and continues to change, while also discussing current frontiers in cosmology and astrophysics.
Recommended Textbook
Understanding Our Universe 2nd Edition by Stacy Palen
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18 Chapters
1026 Verified Questions
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Page 2
Chapter 1: Thinking Like an Astronomer
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Sample Questions
Q1) The scientific method is a process by which scientists:
A) prove theories to be known facts.
B) gain confidence in theories by failing to prove them wrong.
C) show all theories to be wrong.
D) test the ideas of Aristotle.
Answer: B
Q2) Scientific notation allows us to:
A) write very large and very small numbers in a convenient way.
B) talk about science in an easy way.
C) change easy calculations into hard calculations.
D) explain science to engineers.
Answer: A
Q3) How many nanometers are in a millimeter?
A) 100
B) 1,000
C) 1,000,000
D) 1,000,000,000
Answer: C
Q4) What is the ONLY thing that makes the Sun an exceptional star?
Answer: The fact that it is our star!
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Chapter 2: Patterns in the Skymotions of Earth and the Moon
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Q1) Which of the following is FALSE?
A) Everyone on Earth observes the same phase of the Moon on a given night.
B) The phases of the Moon cycle with a period of approximately 1 month.
C) In some phases, the Moon can be observed during the day.
D) The observed phase of the Moon changes obviously over the course of one night.
Answer: D
Q2) What would be the effect on the seasons if the tilt of Earth's axis were 10° rather than 23.5°?
Answer: If the tilt of Earth's axis were smaller,there would be a less dramatic temperature shift between the seasons because the angle of the Sun's rays would vary less and the length of day/night would be more equal throughout the year.
Q3) During which lunar phase do solar eclipses occur?
A) new
B) first quarter
C) full
D) third quarter
Answer: A
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Page 4
Chapter 3: Laws of Motion
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Sample Questions
Q1) In the absence of air friction,a 0.001-kg piece of paper and a 0.1-kg notebook are dropped from the same height and allowed to fall to the ground.How do their accelerations compare?
A) The accelerations are the same.
B) The notebook's acceleration is 100 times faster than the paper's acceleration.
C) The notebook's acceleration is 1,000 times faster than the paper's acceleration.
D) The paper's acceleration is 100 times faster than the notebook's acceleration.
Answer: A
Q2) Two rocks (call them S and T)are a distance of 50 km from one another.Rock S has 20 times the mass of rock T.Which rock will move faster if the only force involved is their mutual gravitational attraction?
A) rock S
B) Both rocks will move at the same speed.
C) rock T
D) Not enough information is available to answer.
Answer: C
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Chapter 4: Light and Telescopes
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Sample Questions
Q1) If the wavelength of a beam of light were to double,how would that affect its frequency?
A) The frequency would be four times larger.
B) The frequency would be two times larger.
C) The frequency would be two times smaller.
D) The frequency would be four times smaller.
E) There is no relationship between wavelength and frequency.
Q2) Which formula denotes how the speed of light is related to its wavelength and frequency?
A) c = lf
B) c = l/f
C) c = f/l
D) c = 1/lf
Q3) The most important improvement that photography provides over naked-eye observations is:
A) it is possible to observe a larger field of view with photographic plates.
B) the quantum efficiency is higher for photographic plates.
C) the image resolution is much better for photographic plates.
D) it is possible to detect fainter objects with the use of photographic plates.
Q4) How do telescopes advance astronomical science?
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Chapter 5: The Formation of Stars and Planets
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Sample Questions
Q1) According to the conservation of angular momentum,if an ice-skater starts spinning with her arms out wide,then slowly pulls them close to her body,this will cause her to:
A) spin faster.
B) spin slower.
C) maintain a constant rate of spin.
D) fall over.
Q2) When astronomers began searching for extrasolar planets,they were surprised to discover Jupiter-sized planets much closer than 1 AU to their parent stars.Why is this surprising?
A) These planets must have formed at a larger radius where temperatures were cooler and then migrated inward.
B) Jupiter-sized, rocky planets were thought to be uncommon in other solar systems.
C) These planets must be the remnants of failed stars.
D) Earth-like planets must be rarer than Jupiter-sized planets in other solar systems.
Q3) Approximately how massive are nearly all the extrasolar planets that have been discovered thus far,and how is this related to the way in which we detect them?
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Chapter 6: Terrestrial Worlds in the Inner Solar System
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Sample Questions
Q1) Which of the following has the biggest effect on the tidal distortion of the Earth?
A) the rotation of Earth
B) the size of Earth relative to its distance from the Sun and Moon
C) the mass of Earth relative to the mass of the Sun and Moon
D) the orbit of Earth
Q2) Tidal distortion of the Earth is due to:
A) the rotation of the Earth.
B) the size of the Earth relative to its distance from the Sun and Moon.
C) the mass of the Earth relative to the mass of the Sun and Moon.
D) the orbit of the Earth.
Q3) If the Himalaya mountain range is currently 8,000 meters in height and is rising at a rate of 0.5 meter per century because of the convergence of two continental plates,how long did it take to create this mountain range?
A) 1,600 years
B) 160,000 years
C) 1.6 million years
D) 160 million years
Q4) What causes the tides on Earth,and how frequently do high and low tides occur?
Q5) What would be the significance of finding water on other planets?
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Chapter 7: Atmospheres of Venus, earth, and Mars
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Sample Questions
Q1) From what aspect of the rotation of Earth does the Coriolis Effect arise?
A) Locations closer to the poles are moving at a larger speed than locations farther from the poles.
B) Locations closer to the poles are rotating faster than locations farther from the poles.
C) Locations closer to the poles are moving at a slower speed than locations farther from the poles.
D) The 23.5 degree tilt of Earth's rotation axis.
Q2) If water vapor was released from Venus's surface due to tectonic activity into its upper atmosphere,what would most likely happen to it?
A) The water vapor would relieve the greenhouse effect and decrease Venus's surface temperature.
B) Water droplets would condense, rain down, and form lakes on Venus's surface.
C) The water vapor would chemically react with carbon dioxide and form acid rain.
D) Ultraviolet light would break apart the water molecules, and the hydrogen would be lost into space.
Q3) Most of Earth's present-day atmosphere comes from a combination of what three sources?
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Chapter 8: The Giant Planets
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Sample Questions
Q1) Saturn's rings may have originated from:
A) cometary material captured by Saturn's gravity.
B) the destruction of a moon or planetoid from tidal stresses within the Roche limit.
C) material released from Saturn during a collision with a planet-sized object.
D) material released from volcanic activity on Saturn.
Q2) Neptune and Uranus probably took longer to form than Jupiter and Saturn because the solar nebula was ________ at the radius of Neptune and Uranus.
A) rotating faster
B) composed of rockier planetesimals
C) not as dense
D) hotter
Q3) What causes the horizontal bands on Jupiter and Saturn to have different colors? How can they be used to probe different altitudes in their atmospheres?
Q4) What clues do the differences in the masses of the giant planets give about conditions in the early Solar System?
Q5) How can water exist as liquid at temperatures higher than its boiling point?
Q6) How does the discovery of Neptune relate to the discovery of extrasolar planets?
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Page 10
Chapter 9: Small Bodies of the Solar System
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Sample Questions
Q1) Which property of a moon might lead you to hypothesize it was a captured asteroid?
A) It is tidally locked.
B) Its orbital axis is tilted by 10° compared to the planet's rotational axis.
C) It rotates clockwise around the planet when viewed from the planet's north pole.
D) Its surface is very smooth and lacks craters.
Q2) What might cause a moon to be geologically active while its planet is not?
A) The moon may contain more magnetic material than the planet.
B) The moon's rotation is tidally locked to the planet.
C) Heating of the moon by its planet's heat of formation.
D) The moon orbital distance from the planet and/or other moons may cause tidal stresses that can heat its interior.
Q3) How can moons be more geologically active than planets?
A) Some moons have magnetic fields that are stronger than planets.
B) Some moons have a faster rotation rate than some planets.
C) The tidal stresses experienced by some moons can heat the interior.
D) Moons that are denser than the planets they orbit attract more colliding objects.
Q4) Name three properties of the dwarf planets Pluto and Eris that are similar.
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11
Chapter 10: Measuring the Stars
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Sample Questions
Q1) In the quantum mechanical view of the atom,an electron is best thought of as:
A) a cloud that is centered on the nucleus.
B) a pointlike particle orbiting the nucleus.
C) free to orbit at any distance from the nucleus.
D) All of the above are true.
Q2) 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?
A) Star A is twice as luminous as star B.
B) Star A is four times as luminous as star B.
C) Star B is twice as luminous as star A.
D) Star B is four times as luminous as star B.
Q3) How are atoms excited,and why do they decay?
Q4) How do astronomers use spectra to determine the composition of a star?
Q5) Star A is a red star.Star B is a blue star.Which is hotter?
A) star A
B) star B
C) We also need to know the luminosities of the stars to determine their temperatures.
D) Color is not related to temperature at all.
Q6) How is the unit of length known as a parsec defined?
Page 12
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Chapter 11: Our Star: the Sun
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58 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) The best wavelength to use to observe a solar prominence or flare is:
A) 550 nm, green visible light.
B) 656 nm, a red hydrogen emission line.
C) 16 mm, an ultraviolet emission line.
D) 21 cm, microwave emission.
Q2) When two atomic nuclei come together to form a new species of atom,it is called:
A) nuclear fission.
B) nuclear fusion.
C) nuclear splitting.
D) nuclear recombination.
Q3) If a sunspot appears one-third as bright as the surrounding photosphere,and the average temperature of the photosphere is 5800 K,what is the temperature of the gas in this sunspot?
A) 4100 K
B) 4400 K
C) 5200 K
D) 5500 K
Q4) Explain why the solution to the solar neutrino problem is an excellent example of how observations drive the evolution of science.
Q5) How do periods of strong solar activity affect near-Earth orbiting spacecraft?
Page 13
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Chapter 12: Evolution of Low-Mass Stars
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Sample Questions
Q1) How many times longer does a 1.0-M¤ main-sequence star live compared to a 2.1-M¤ main-sequence star?
Q2) When helium fusion begins in the core of a red giant star,the situation quickly gets out of control because electron-degeneracy pressure does not respond to changes in: A) luminosity.
B) density.
C) gravity.
D) temperature.
Q3) As a main-sequence star burns its core supply of hydrogen,what happens?
A) Helium begins to fuse throughout the core.
B) Helium fuses in a shell surrounding the core.
C) Helium fusion takes place only at the very center of the core, where temperature and pressure are highest.
D) Helium builds up as ash in the core.
Q4) A main-sequence star is unique because:
A) hydrostatic equilibrium exists at all radii.
B) energy transport occurs via convection throughout much of its interior.
C) hydrogen burning occurs in its core.
D) it emits strong surface winds.
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Chapter 13: Evolution of High-Mass Stars
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Sample Questions
Q1) During the main-sequence evolution of a massive star,increasingly heavier elements are fused in the core,giving the core support for:
A) decreasingly shorter times.
B) increasingly longer times.
C) an approximately equal amount of time.
D) approximately 10,000 years.
Q2) Why do large,high-mass main-sequence stars never become red giants?
Q3) Which of the following is NOT a common characteristic of a neutron star?
A) extremely high density
B) enormous magnetic field
C) very short rotation period
D) All of these are common characteristics of a neutron star.
Q4) Black holes that are stellar remnants can be found by searching for:
A) dark regions at the centers of galaxies.
B) variable X-ray sources.
C) extremely luminous infrared objects.
D) objects that emit very faint radio emission.
Q5) What is the difference between the singularity and the event horizon of a black hole?
Q6) What supports a neutron star from collapsing to form a black hole?
Page 15
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Chapter 14: Measuring Galaxies
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Q1) What were the positions taken by Heber Curtis and Harlow Shapley in their "Great Debate," and how were both of them partially correct?
Q2) Which of the following galaxies can be found with a bar-like structure in them?
A) spiral
B) elliptical
C) irregular
D) all of the above
Q3) What did Edwin Hubble study in the Andromeda Galaxy that proved it was an individual galaxy and not part of our own Milky Way?
A) Cepheid stars
B) Type Ia supernovae
C) globular clusters
D) red giant stars
Q4) According to Hubble's law,as the distance of a galaxy ________ its ________ increases.
A) increases; luminosity
B) increases; recessional velocity
C) decreases; luminosity
D) decreases; recessional velocity
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Chapter 15: Our Galaxy: the Milky Way
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Q1) Most of the mass in our galaxy is in the form of:
A) stars
B) gas
C) dust
D) dark matter
Q2) Where are the most metal-rich stars found in the Milky Way?
A) in the disk near the Sun
B) at the center
C) in the halo
D) in globular clusters
Q3) Which of the following statements about the history of the Milky Way is correct?
A) The Milky Way was much larger in the past.
B) The Milky Way evolved from smaller clumps of stars.
C) The Milky Way has not evolved.
D) The Milky Way is expanding.
Q4) Describe the differences between the ages and chemical abundances of globular and open star clusters.
Q5) Sketch an edge-on view of the Milky Way.Label the locations of the bulge,disk,and halo.
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Chapter 16: The Evolution of the Universe
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Q1) Why is the universe made up of matter as opposed to antimatter?
Q2) Whether or not parallel universes exist is hard to determine because: A) our universe is so big. B) the parallel universes cannot communicate with each other. C) the other universes do not emit any light. D) parallel universes destroy each other if they come into contact.
Q3) Why does the sum of Wm ss and WL determine the shape of our universe?
Q4) Explain why astronomers cannot accurately model the exact history of the universe in the first few fractions of a second after the Big Bang.
Q5) By the time the universe was a few minutes old,the majority of the normal matter in the universe was hydrogen,and the remainder was mostly ________.
A) helium
B) neutrons
C) neutrinos
D) protons
Q6) Assuming the Hubble constant is equal to 72 km/s/Mpc,estimate the age of the universe (or Hubble time).Note that 1 Mpc = 3.1 × 10¹ km,and 1 year = 3.17 × 10 seconds.
Q7) What is the "flatness problem" in cosmology?
Page 18
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Chapter 17: Formation of Structure
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Q1) Which is NOT an ingredient needed to build a cosmological simulation of large-scale structure formation?
A) the spectrum of density fluctuations that quantum mechanics imprints on the early universe
B) the density of dark matter and luminous matter in the universe
C) the grand unified theory
D) the density of dark energy in the universe
Q2) The fact that we do not observe any stars with chemical compositions matching our predictions for the very first generation of stars implies:
A) our ideas of what the first stars were like are incorrect.
B) our technology is not accurate enough to detect the light of the first stars.
C) the first stars died quickly, which implies a high mass.
D) the first stars died quickly, which implies a low mass.
Q3) Structure formation in our universe:
A) proceeds from the top down.
B) proceeds from the bottom and moves up.
C) begins on all spatial scales at the same time.
D) begins after clusters form.
Q4) Describe the large-scale structure of the universe.
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Chapter 18: Life in the Universe
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Q1) Given the following information,what would be the number of intelligent civilizations in our galaxy? If all stars formed planets; each planet has an 0.1 percent chance of supporting life; every time conditions are right,life develops; and only 0.001 percent of the time,intelligent life develops surviving indefinitely.
Q2) All of the following events will likely occur in the future.Which would require that humanity leaves the Solar System to survive?
A) asteroid or cometary impact on Earth
B) continuation of global climate change on Earth
C) evolution of the Sun into a red giant
D) overuse of natural resources on Earth
Q3) If we model the age of the universe as a single day,at what time would the earliest traces of humanity appear on Earth?
A) 11:00:00 P.M.
B) 11:35:00 P.M.
C) 11:53:10 P.M.
D) 11:59:25 P.M.
Q4) Explain the roles of mutations and heredity in biological evolution.
Q5) What are the four main chemicals that make up all living organisms on Earth?
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