Course Introduction
Physical Science
Pre-Test Questions
Physical Science is an interdisciplinary course that explores the fundamental principles and concepts governing the physical world. Covering topics from both physics and chemistry, the course introduces students to key ideas such as matter and its properties, energy forms and transformations, forces and motion, the structure of atoms, chemical reactions, and the laws that describe physical phenomena. Through a combination of theoretical study and practical experiments, students develop scientific reasoning, critical thinking, and problem-solving skills, preparing them for more advanced studies in science and a deeper understanding of the natural world.
Recommended Textbook
The Essential Cosmic Perspective 6th Edition by Jeffrey O. Bennett
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18 Chapters
2158 Verified Questions
2158 Flashcards
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Page 2
Chapter 1: Our Place in the Universe
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102 Verified Questions
102 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) Our solar system is located in the center of the Milky Way Galaxy.
A)True
B)False
Answer: False
Q2) Suppose we imagine the Sun to be about the size of a grapefruit. How far away are the nearest stars (the three stars of Alpha Centauri)?
A) the length of a football field
B) 2.5 miles
C) 250 miles
D) 2,500 miles
E) 25,000 miles
Answer: D
Q3) Based on observations of the universal expansion, the age of the universe is about ________.
A) 14,000 years
B) 14 million years
C) 14 billion years
D) 14 trillion years
Answer: C
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Page 3
Chapter 2: Discovering the Universe for Yourself
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Sample Questions
Q1) If the Moon is setting at noon, the phase of the Moon must be
A) full.
B) first quarter.
C) third quarter.
D) waning crescent.
E) waxing crescent.
Answer: C
Q2) You observe a full moon rising at sunset. What will you see at midnight?
A) A full moon high in the sky
B) A first quarter moon
C) A waning gibbous moon
D) A third quarter moon
Answer: A
Q3) Suppose you see a photo showing Jupiter half in sunlight and half in shadow (that is, a first quarter Jupiter). This photo might have been taken by ________.
A) the Galileo spacecraft that orbited Jupiter in the 1990s
B) the Hubble Space Telescope (which orbits Earth)
C) the Keck telescope on Mauna Kea, Hawaii
D) the Arecibo radio telescope in Puerto Rico
Answer: A
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Chapter 3: The Science of Astronomy
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Sample Questions
Q1) Which of the following statements expresses what we mean by a scientific theory?
A) An explanation for a physical phenomenon, an explanation that hasn't been tested yet
B) An educated guess
C) A simple model that explains a wide variety of phenomena and that has survived repeated tests
Answer: C
Q2) The Polynesian navigators of the South Pacific found their way primarily by observing the position of Polaris in the night sky.
A)True
B)False
Answer: False
Q3) State Kepler's three laws of planetary motion.
Answer: 1. The orbit of each planet is an ellipse with the Sun at one focus.
2. As a planet moves around its orbit, it sweeps out equal areas in equal times.
3. A planet's period squared is equal to its semimajor axis cubed.
Q4) Scientific theories can never be proved true beyond all doubt.
A)True
B)False
Answer: True
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Chapter 4: Making Sense of the Universe: Understanding
Motion, Energy, and Gravity
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Sample Questions
Q1) Suppose you lived on the Moon. Which of the following would be true?
A) Your weight would be less than your weight on Earth, but your mass would be the same as it is on Earth.
B) Both your weight and your mass would be less than they are on Earth.
C) Your mass would be less than your mass on Earth, but your weight would be the same as it is on Earth.
D) Both your weight and your mass would be the same as they are on Earth.
Q2) Suppose it takes 6 seconds for a watermelon to fall to the ground after being dropped from a tall building. If there were no air resistance, so that the watermelon would fall with the acceleration of gravity, about how fast would it be going when it hit the ground?
Q3) Why is Newton's version of Kepler's third law so useful to astronomers?
A) It can be used to determine the masses of many distant objects.
B) It allows us to calculate distances to distant objects.
C) It tells us that more-distant planets orbit the Sun more slowly.
D) It explains why objects spin faster when they shrink in size.
Q4) Explain what synchronous rotation is. What is it caused by? Give an example.
Q5) The Moon is slowly moving away from Earth. A)True B)False
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Chapter 5: Light: the Cosmic Messenger
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Sample Questions
Q1) Which of the following conditions lead you to see an absorption line spectrum from a cloud of gas in interstellar space?
A) The cloud is cool and lies between you and a hot star.
B) The cloud is extremely hot.
C) The cloud is visible primarily because it reflects light from nearby stars.
D) The cloud is cool and very dense, so that you cannot see any objects that lie behind it.
Q2) Which transition represents an electron that absorbs a photon with 10.2 eV of energy?
Q3) From lowest energy to highest energy, which of the following correctly orders the different categories of electromagnetic radiation?
A) infrared, visible light, ultraviolet, X-rays, gamma rays, radio
B) radio, infrared, visible light, ultraviolet, X-rays, gamma rays
C) visible light, infrared, X-rays, ultraviolet, gamma rays, radio
D) gamma rays, X-rays, visible light, ultraviolet, infrared, radio
E) radio, X-rays, visible light, ultraviolet, infrared, gamma rays
Q4) You are currently emitting electromagnetic waves.
A)True
B)False
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Page 7
Chapter 6: Formation of Planetary Systems: Our Solar
System and Beyond
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174 Verified Questions
174 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) The jovian planets have no solid surface.
A)True
B)False
Q2) Based on our theory of how our own solar system formed, we would expect that other solar systems would be quite common.
A)True
B)False
Q3) Where does nuclear fusion occur in the Sun?
A) on the surface
B) anywhere below the surface
C) in its core
D) just above the visible surface
E) all of the above
Q4) Which planet, other than Earth, has visible water ice on it?
A) Mercury
B) Venus
C) the Moon
D) Mars
E) Jupiter
Q5) Why is it so difficult to make a direct image of a planet around another star?
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Chapter 7: Earth and the Terrestrial Worlds
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Sample Questions
Q1) Which of the following statements do NOT lend support to the idea that carbon dioxide is a cause of global warming?
A) Models of the greenhouse effect successfully predict the actual temperatures of Mars and Venus from their atmospheric carbon dioxide amounts.
B) Models of Earth's climate that include recent increases in carbon dioxide concentration match the observed temperature increases better than those that do not include it.
C) Isotope ratios in atmospheric carbon dioxide show that much of the carbon dioxide in Earth's atmosphere today comes from the burning of fossil fuels.
D) We understand the physical mechanism of the greenhouse effect, by which carbon dioxide increases cause an increase in the planet's temperature.
Q2) Which of the following worlds has the most substantial atmosphere?
A) Mercury
B) Venus
C) the Moon
D) Mars
E) Earth
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Chapter 8: Jovian Planet Systems
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Sample Questions
Q1) Why are Saturn's rings so thin?
A) Saturn's gravity prevents particles from migrating upwards out of the rings.
B) The "gap" moons shepherd the particles and maintain its thin profile.
C) Any particle in the ring with an orbital tilt would collide with other ring particles, flattening its orbit.
D) Solar radiation pressure keeps particles pressed into the rings.
E) The current thinness is a short-lived phenomenon that is special to this time.
Q2) Which of the following is not a piece of evidence supporting the idea that Europa may have a subsurface ocean?
A) Astronomers have detected small lakes of liquid water on Europa's surface.
B) Europa has a magnetic field that appears to respond to Jupiter's magnetic field.
C) Photos of Europa's surface show regions that appear to consist of jumbled icebergs frozen in place.
D) Europa's surface shows very few impact craters.
Q3) Suppose the jovian planet atmospheres were composed 100 percent of hydrogen and helium rather than 98 percent of hydrogen and helium. How would the atmospheres be different in terms of color and weather?
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Chapter 9: Asteroids, Comets, and Dwarf Planets: Their
Nature, Orbits, and Impacts
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Sample Questions
Q1) Why is the Kuiper belt flat but the Oort cloud spherical?
Q2) You are walking on a solid surface. The surface gravity is comfortable, but it is "hot, hot, hot!" Your body is being squeezed in all directions due to the high pressure; its almost like being deep in the ocean. Your life-support belt is corroding. The Sun, barely visible through the haze, is near your meridian. You hope for nightfall (unaware that it would provide no relief), but you already have been stuck on this planet for nearly 72 hours, and the Sun seems not to have moved through the sky (and, if it moved at all, it moved eastward from the meridian).
Q3) What do we mean by a primitive meteorite?
A) A piece of rock that is essentially unchanged since it first condensed and accreted in the solar nebula some 4.6 billion years ago
B) A meteorite that was discovered by primitive people
C) A type of meteorite that is usually made mostly of high-density metals
D) A meteorite that fell to Earth at least 4 billion years ago
Q4) The asteroid belt is located ________.
A) between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter
B) between the orbits of Earth and Mars
C) between the orbits of Jupiter and Saturn
D) beyond the orbit of Neptune
Page 11
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Chapter 10: Our Star
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Sample Questions
Q1) What are the appropriate units for the Sun's luminosity?
A) Watts
B) Joules
C) Newtons
D) Kilograms
Q2) Describe some of the early theories for the Sun's energy source and why they are no longer accepted as viable.
Q3) What two physical processes balance each other to create the condition known as gravitational equilibrium in stars?
A) The strong force and the weak force
B) Gravitational force and outward pressure
C) Gravitational force and surface tension
D) The strong force and the electromagnetic force
Q4) The light radiated from the Sun's surface reaches Earth in about 8 minutes, but the energy of that light was released by fusion in the solar core about ________.
A) few hundred thousand years ago
B) three days ago
C) one hundred years ago
D) one thousand years ago
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Chapter 11: Surveying the Stars
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Sample Questions
Q1) Which of the following statements comparing open and globular star clusters is not true?
A) Open and globular clusters each typically contain a few hundred stars.
B) Open clusters are found only in the disk of the galaxy while globular clusters may be found both in the disk and the halo of the galaxy.
C) Stars in open clusters are relatively young while stars in globular clusters are very old.
D) For both open and globular clusters, we can assume that all the stars in a particular cluster are about the same age.
Q2) Which of the following is the most numerous type of main-sequence star?
A) an O star
B) an A star
C) an F star
D) a G star
E) an M star
Q3) Two stars, Fred and Barney, are of the same size. Fred has spectral type F, while Barney has spectral type B. Which one is more luminous?
Q4) Which group represents stars that are hot and very bright?
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Chapter 12: Star Stuff
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Sample Questions
Q1) All stars that become supernovae will leave behind a neutron star.
A)True
B)False
Q2) The vast majority of stars in a newly formed star cluster are ________.
A) Less massive than the Sun
B) Very high-mass, type O and B stars
C) Red giants
D) About the same mass as our Sun
Q3) Which event marks the beginning of a supernova?
A) The sudden collapse of an iron core into a compact ball of neutrons
B) The onset of helium burning after a helium flash
C) The beginning of neon burning in an extremely massive star
D) The sudden initiation of the CNO cycle
Q4) Helium fusion results in the production of
A) hydrogen.
B) oxygen.
C) carbon.
D) nitrogen.
E) iron.
Q5) Briefly describe how a star forms.
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Chapter 13: Bizarre Stellar Graveyard
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Sample Questions
Q1) Suppose that a white dwarf is gaining mass through accretion in a binary system. What happens if the mass someday reaches the 1.4 solar mass limit?
A) The white dwarf will explode completely as a white dwarf supernova.
B) The white dwarf will collapse in size, becoming a neutron star.
C) The white dwarf will undergo a nova explosion.
D) The white dwarf will collapse to become a black hole.
Q2) Based on current evidence, which of the following statements about gamma ray bursts is true?
A) All those that we have detected occurred in distant galaxies.
B) They come primarily from the Milky Way's central black hole.
C) They occur in the same types of close binary systems that produce X-ray bursts.
D) All gamma ray bursts are produced by supernovae.
Q3) Evidence that Pulsars are Neutron Stars: Suppose a friend of yours insists that pulsars are artificial time-signals constructed by aliens. List and explain all of the observational evidence that pulsars are actually natural phenomena, namely rapidly spinning neutron stars.
Q4) What is the evidence that gamma-ray bursts originate from beyond the Milky Way Galaxy?
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Page 15
Chapter 14: Our Galaxy
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Sample Questions
Q1) Most stars in the Milky Way's halo are ________.
A) very old
B) found inside molecular clouds
C) very young
D) blue or white in color
Q2) What is the thickness of the disk of the Milky Way?
A) 100 light years
B) 1,000 light years
C) 10,000 light years
D) 100,000 light years
E) 1,000,000 light years
Q3) Almost all elements heavier than hydrogen and helium were made inside stars.
A)True
B)False
Q4) Red and orange stars are found evenly spread throughout the galactic disk, but blue stars are typically found ________.
A) only in or near star-forming clouds
B) in the halo
C) only in the central bulge
D) also evenly spread throughout the galactic disk
Page 16
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Chapter 15: Galaxies and the Foundation of Modern Cosmology
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Sample Questions
Q1) Where are the X-rays produced that are emitted by quasars and other active galactic nuclei?
A) in the hot gas in an accretion disk around a central black hole
B) in an ionization nebulae of interstellar gas surrounding the accretion disk
C) in dust grains in molecular clouds that encircle the active galactic nucleus
D) in fast-moving jets of electrons that are ejected from the active galactic nucleus
E) all of the above
Q2) If an object doubles its luminosity in 10 hours, how large can the emitting source of light be?
A) about 10 light-years across B) about 10 parsecs across C) about 10 light-hours across D) varies depending on how luminous the object is E) varies depending on how far away the object is
Q3) There are more large spiral galaxies than there are large elliptical galaxies.
A)True
B)False
Q4) Give several observations supporting the idea that the high redshifts of quasars really do imply great distances.
Page 17
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Chapter 16: Dark Matter, Dark Energy, and the Fate of the Universe
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Sample Questions
Q1) What is the primary form of evidence that has led astronomers to conclude that the expansion of the universe is accelerating?
A) Observations of white dwarf supernovae
B) Observations of the speeds of individual galaxies in clusters
C) Measurements of the rotation curve for the universe
D) Measurements of how galaxy speeds away from the Milky Way have increased during the past century
Q2) Briefly describe the four possible expansion patterns (or fates) of the universe.
Q3) Weakly interacting particles (WIMPs) interact with other particles using gravity and the weak nuclear force. They cannot emit or absorb light. Therefore, how does the behavior of hydrogen and helium gas differ from that of WIMPs?
A) Hydrogen and helium gas affects particles that we can see.
B) Hydrogen and helium gas can cool by radiating energy.
C) Hydrogen and helium gas interacts with other forms of matter gravitationally.
Q4) If the universe is accelerating, it will expand forever.
A)True
B)False
Q5) What is the difference between WIMPs and MACHOs?
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Chapter 17: The Beginning of Time
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Sample Questions
Q1) Why is the era of nucleosynthesis so important in determining the chemical composition of the universe?
Q2) How do we determine the conditions that existed in the very early universe?
A) We work backward from current conditions to calculate what temperatures and densities must have been when the observable universe was much smaller in size.
B) We look all the way to the cosmological horizon, where we can see the actual conditions that prevailed all the way back to the first instant of the Big Bang.
C) The conditions in the very early universe must have been much like those found in stars today, so we learn about them by studying stars.
D) We can only guess at the conditions, since we have no way to calculate or observe what they were.
Q3) How many forces operated in the universe during the GUT era?
A) One: a single, symmetric "super force"
B) Two: gravity and the GUT force
C) Two: gravity and the electroweak force
D) Three: gravity, the strong force, and the electroweak force
E) All four of the known forces
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Page 19
Chapter 18: Life in the Universe
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Sample Questions
Q1) Briefly explain the purpose of the equation Number of Civilizations = Np × \( f_{\mathrm{}} \)life × \( f_{\mathrm{}} \)civilization × \( f_{\mathrm{}} \) now.
Q2) Relativistic time-dilation means that astronauts aboard a spaceship traveling close to the speed of light will actually age less than their families left behind on the Earth.
A)True
B)False
Q3) Suppose that Jupiter had never existed, and there was no planet in our solar system between Mars and Saturn. How would we expect this to have affected Earth?
A) Earth would have been hit by many more comet impacts.
B) Earth's orbit would have been unstable, and our planet would have spiraled into the Sun.
C) There would not have been any effect, since Jupiter is in the outer solar system and Earth is in the inner solar system.
D) There would be no water on Earth.
Q4) Briefly explain the Fermi Paradox, namely the paradox of the question "Where are the aliens?"
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Page 20