Physical Science
Chapter Exam Questions
Course Introduction
Physical Science is an introductory course that explores the fundamental concepts and principles underlying the physical world. Covering key topics in physics, chemistry, astronomy, and earth sciences, this course provides a broad overview of matter, energy, motion, forces, and the structure of the universe. Through a combination of theoretical lessons, hands-on experiments, and real-world applications, students gain an understanding of scientific methods, critical thinking, and problem-solving skills essential for scientific inquiry. The course is designed to build a strong foundation for further study in the sciences and to foster an appreciation for the role of physical sciences in everyday life and society.
Recommended Textbook
Foundations of Astronomy 13th Edition by Michael A. Seeds
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Chapter 1: The Scale of the Cosmos
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Q1) The name of the average distance from the Earth to the Sun is one ____________________.
Answer: Astronomical Unit
Q2) Describe the difference between a solar system and a galaxy. Answer: Answer not provided.
Q3) The speed of light is 3.0×10 km/sec,and it takes light 1.3 seconds for light to travel from the Moon to the Earth.Based on this information,what is the distance to the Moon?
A)2.3 kilometres
B)3.9 kilometres
C)230,000 kilometres
D)390,000 kilometres
Answer: D
Q4) A supercluster refers to a large group of stars within the Milky Way. A)True
B)False
Answer: False
Q5) A(n)___________________ is the largest known structure in the universe. Answer: filament
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Chapter 2: User's Guide to the Sky
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Q1) Why does the Gregorian calendar use leap years?
A)because the tropical year is 365 days, 5 hours, adn 49 minutes long
B)because the sidereal year is 365 days, 6 hours, and 9 minutes long
C)becasue the Earth's axis is precessing
D)because the Earth's rotation is slowing down
Answer: B
Q2) The star delta Cephei has a declination of about +58.5 degrees.Which observer will see it above their horizon for the longest fraction of one night?
A)an observer in Valdivia, Chile, at a latitude of 39° S
B)an observer in Windhoek, Namibia, at a latitude of 22.5° S
C)an observer in Zacatecas, Mexico, at a latitude of 22.5° N
D)an observer in Edmonton, Canada, at a latitude of 53.5° N
Answer: D
Q3) What determines the phase of the Moon on a particular night?
A)the speed of the Moon in its orbit
B)the relative positions of the Sun, the Earth, and the Moon
C)how the Earth's shadow hits the moon
D)the distance from the Earth to the Moon
Answer: A
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Chapter 3: The Origin of Modern Astronomy
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Q1) What was the greatest inaccuracy in Copernicus's model of the solar system?
A)that the planets travelled in circular orbits with uniform motion
B)that the planets travelled on epicycles, the centres of which followed orbits around the Sun
C)that the planets travelled in elliptical orbits
D)that the planets were allowed to travel backwards in their orbits
Answer: A
Q2) The Copernican model of the solar system has the planets orbiting the Sun along elliptical paths.
A)True
B)False
Answer: False
Q3) On average,Saturn is 10 AU from the Sun.What is the approximate orbital period of Saturn?
A)10 years
B)32 years
C)1000 years
D)3200 years
Answer: B
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Chapter 4: Astronomical Telescopes and Instruments
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Q1) Which of the following types of light has wavelengths that are shorter than the wavelengths of visible light?
A)gamma rays
B)radio waves
C)infrared radiation
D)microwaves
Q2) What does the word "radiation" mean when used by scientists?
A)invisible forms of light such as X-rays and radio waves
B)the light emitted by black holes and protostars
C)high-energy particles from nuclear reactors
D)anything that spreads out from a central source
Q3) What is the purpose of interferometry?
A)It is used to improve the resolving power of telescopes.
B)It is used to decrease the chromatic aberration of a telescope.
C)It is used to make large X-ray and ultraviolet telescopes.
D)It allows radio telescopes to be within a few hundred feet of each other.
Q4) Reflecting telescopes are no longer popular with astronomers because they are expensive and suffer from chromatic aberration.
A)True
B)False
Page 6
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Chapter 5: Sun Light and Sun Atoms
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Q1) The diagram shows a plot of the temperature of the Sun as a function of distance above the bottom of the photosphere.At what height above the bottom of the photosphere is the temperature of the Sun the coolest?
A)500 km
B)1,000 km
C)2,300 km
D)2,500 km to 4000 km
Q2) What is the process of removing an electron from a stable nucleus called?
A)ionization
B)Doppler broadening
C)collisional broadening
D)a red shift
Q3) What is the Babcock model?
Q4) What has a negative charge and a mass about 1800 times smaller than a proton?
A)a neutron
B)an electron
C)a molecule
D)a nucleus
Q5) What is the solar wind,and how does it affect objects in the solar system?
Q6) What evidence do we have that the sunspots are magnetic?
Page 7
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Chapter 6: The Family of Stars
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Q1) Most stars on the H-R diagram are on the ___________________.
Q2) What would make parallax easier to measure?
A)the Earth's orbit being larger
B)the stars being farther away
C)the Earth moving faster along its orbit
D)stars moving faster in their orbits
Q3) In a binary system,where will the more massive star be found?
A)at the centre of mass
B)farthest from the centre of mass
C)nearest the centre of mass
D)following the largest orbit
Q4) What is the most reliable way to measure the mass of a star for which the distance is known?
A)Apply the mass-luminosity relation.
B)Measure its orbit around another star.
C)Measure its radius, then compute its volume and multiply by density to get the mass.
D)Apply the mass-temperature relation.
Q5) What measurements are needed to determine the orbital motion of a spectroscopic binary star?
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Chapter 7: The Structure and Formation of Stars
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Q1) ____________________ is the resistance of a gas to the flow of radiation.
Q2) Why do higher mass stars live shorter lives on the main sequence than lower mass stars?
A)Higher mass stars burn through their nuclear fuel faster.
B)Lower mass stars don't get their energy from nuclear fusion like higher mass stars do.
C)Higher mass stars have less hydrogen fuel to burn.
D)Lower mass stars spend a longer time evolving to the main sequence.
Q3) Which of the following is NOT evidence of the existence of an interstellar medium?
A)extinction of light from distant stars
B)very narrow calcium absorption lines in the spectra of O and B stars
C)reddening of more distant stars
D)molecular absorption lines in the spectra of cool stars
Q4) The solar neutrino experiments detected about twice as many neutrinos as theory predicted should be detected.
A)True
B)False
Q5) How does the method of energy generation inside main-sequence stars affect their internal structure?
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Chapter 8: The Deaths of Stars
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Q1) When does a type-II supernova occur?
A)when a white dwarf's mass exceeds the Chandrasekhar-Landau limit
B)when the iron core of a massive star collapses
C)directly following a helium flash
D)when two neutron stars collide
Q2) A nova destroys the star and leaves behind a white dwarf.
A)True
B)False
Q3) A(n)____________________ is formed by the expulsion of the outer layers of a moderate mass star that has a degenerate carbon and oxygen core.
Q4) What is the Schwarzschild radius?
A)the distance between a neutron star's centre and its surface
B)the distance between a black hole and its event horizon
C)the inner boundary of a planetary nebula
D)the point where synchrotron radiation is created around a pulsar
Q5) Where is the singularity of a black hole found?
A)It is found outside the event horizon.
B)It is located within the event horizon.
C)It is located at the Lagrangian point if the black hole is in a binary system.
D)It doesn't exist, since all black holes have a finite size.
Page 10
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Chapter 9: The Milky Way Galaxy
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Q1) Refer to the figure.If you observe the period of a type II Cepheid and mistakenly think it's a type I Cepheid,what incorrect conclusion will you draw?
A)You will measure the wrong period.
B)You will think the Cepheid is farther away than it actually is.
C)You will think the Cepheid is closer than it actually is.
D)You will think the Cepheid is less luminous than it actually is.
Q2) How did Harlow Shapley determine where the centre of the galaxy lies?
A)He plotted the distribution of open clusters.
B)He plotted the distribution of globular clusters.
C)He made star counts in every direction of the galactic disk.
D)He measured the amount of dust obscuration in every direction of the galactic disk.
Q3) ____________________ are groups of 100,000 to 1,000,000 population II stars firmly bound together by gravity.
Q4) Giant molecular cloud complexes are located in spiral arms.
A)True
B)False
Q5) Why does the rotation of our galaxy suggest that it is more massive than previously thought?
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Chapter 10: Galaxies
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Q1) What information about a cluster of galaxies can lensing of background galaxies by the cluster be used to determine?
A)luminosity
B)mass
C)distance
D)diameter
Q2) The Milky Way galaxy is not a radio galaxy;it emits no radio radiation.
A)True
B)False
Q3) Based on statistical studies,what is the most common type of galaxy in the universe expected to be?
A)barred spiral galaxies
B)dwarf elliptical galaxies
C)irregular galaxies
D)giant elliptical galaxies
Q4) The Local Group of galaxies is dominated by the presence of spiral galaxies.
A)True
B)False
Q5) The high ____________________ of quasars reveals to astronomers that they must be very distant.
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Chapter 11: Cosmology in the 21st Century
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Q1) How do we know there was a Big Bang?
Q2) Explain why the principle of homogeneity is an important aspect of the cosmological principle.
Q3) During its early history,matter dominated the universe.
A)True
B)False
Q4) If the density of the universe is equal to the critical density,and H equals 50 km/sec/Mpc,then the true age of the universe is 13.3 billion years.
A)True
B)False
Q5) Why did Einstein say that the cosmological constant was his "biggest blunder"?
A)It made his equations unable to describe the universe.
B)When he introduced it, he didn't know about the expanding universe.
C)When he introduced it, he didn't know about the accelerating universe.
D)When he introduced it, he didn't know about the existence of galaxies.
Q6) The deuterium in distant quasars and in the interstellar medium suggests that the universe is open.
A)True
B)False
Page 13
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Chapter 12: The Origin of the Solar System
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Q1) The description "large somewhat dirty snowball model" fits the physical structure of ____________________.
Q2) The ____________________ planets have larger radii than the ____________________ planets.
Q3) How is the presence of space debris accounted for by solar system models?
A)Space debris is left over material from the early solar system that never formed into a planet.
B)Space debris was formed when another solar system passed through ours.
C)Space debris is material that existed in our region of space before the Sun formed.
D)Space debris was formed when a planet crashed into the Sun.
Q4) The present motions of the planets were inherited from the rotation of the solar nebula.
A)True
B)False
Q5) Where are the satellites discovered by Galileo located?
A)They orbit the terrestrial planets.
B)They orbit the planet Jupiter.
C)They orbit asteroids.
D)They orbit Mars.
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Chapter 13: Comparative Planetology of the Terrestrial
Planets
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Q1) ____________________ is responsible for absorbing ultraviolet radiation in the Earth's upper atmosphere.
Q2) Which of the following planets has the lowest atmospheric pressure?
A)Earth
B)Mars
C)Venus
D)Mercury
Q3) Which of the following is evidence that the Earth went through a process of differentiation?
A)It rotates slowly.
B)Its magnetic field has changed over time.
C)Its average density is higher than the density of the crust.
D)It has a surface that is 75% water.
Q4) Which forms of radiation are able to pass through the ozone layer?
A)ultraviolet, visible light, infrared
B)visible light and infrared only
C)visible light only
D)infrared only
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Q5) What is the importance of the ozone layer in the Earth's atmosphere to life on the surface?
Chapter 14: Comparative Planetology of the Jovian Planets
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Q1) What do the densities of the moons of Jupiter tell us about their origin?
Q2) Which of the following is a feature of Saturn's atmosphere?
A)more distinctive zones and belts than Jupiter's atmosphere
B)free oxygen
C)methane clouds and haze
D)a blue-green colour
Q3) What is the grooved terrain found on Ganymede is believed to indicate?
A)flow channels for liquid water
B)flow channels for liquid methane
C)a system of faults in the crust
D)the peaks of water waves in a large ocean
Q4) What causes the geological activity seen on some of the inner moons of Jupiter?
A)Constant collisions with space debris provide a power source for geological activity.
B)The strong magnetic field of Jupiter heats up the surface of the inner moons.
C)Tidal friction caused by Jupiter's gravity heats up the interiors of the moons.
D)Solar radiation reflected off Jupiter's surface provides a power source for the moons' geological activity.
Q5) What is the significance of the colours of Uranus and Neptune?
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Chapter 15: Life on Other Worlds
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Q1) What are a cell's DNA molecules made of?
A)amino acids
B)proteins
C)sugars, phosphates, and bases
D)fatty acids
Q2) How can we select stars with planets that are likely homes for life?
Q3) If life is to develop on a planet,the planet must lie well inside the inner edge of its star's habitable zone.
A)True
B)False
Q4) What would scientists say is the best reason to disbelieve UFO reports?
A)Interstellar travel requires huge amounts of time and energy
B)There is no evidence that life exists elsewhere in the universe.
C)No scientist has ever seen a UFO.
D)Scientists believe that any alien civilization would be much more advanced than humans.
Q5) What is ALH84001,and why is it significant to discussions of the evolution of life?
Q6) Describe three things that limit travel between stars.
Q7) The Miller experiment succeeded in creating ____________________.
Page 17
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