Science of the Universe
Final Test Solutions
Course Introduction
The Science of the Universe course explores the fundamental principles governing the cosmos, from the formation of stars and galaxies to the intricate forces shaping the evolution of the universe. Students will investigate key concepts in astronomy, astrophysics, and cosmology, including the origins of matter, the lifecycle of celestial bodies, the nature of black holes, and the expanding universe. Through hands-on activities, observation, and analysis, the course provides insights into how scientific inquiry and technological advancements have deepened our understanding of space, time, and the structure of the universe.
Recommended Textbook
Understanding Our Universe 1st Edition by Stacy Palen
Available Study Resources on Quizplus
18 Chapters
1350 Verified Questions
1350 Flashcards
Source URL: https://quizplus.com/study-set/2885
Page 2
Chapter 1: Our Place in the Universe
Available Study Resources on Quizplus for this Chatper
71 Verified Questions
71 Flashcards
Source URL: https://quizplus.com/quiz/57417
Sample Questions
Q1) There are nearly 100 times more galaxies in the universe as there are stars in the Milky Way.
A)True
B)False
Answer: False
Q2) The distance to the nearest large spiral galaxy,Andromeda,is 2.5 million light-years.How long does it take light to travel from us to Andromeda?
A) 360 years
B) 1.2 thousand years
C) 4.5 billion years
D) 2.5 million years
Answer: D
Q3) If the elements that make up Earth and our bodies were not present in the early universe,where did they come from?
Answer: They were formed by nuclear fusion inside stars.
Q4) Describe the two main aspects of the cosmological principle.
Answer: (1)What we see around us is representative of what the universe is like in general. (2)The physical laws valid on Earth are valid everywhere.
To view all questions and flashcards with answers, click on the resource link above.
3
Chapter 2: Patterns in the Skymotions of Earth
Available Study Resources on Quizplus for this Chatper
92 Verified Questions
92 Flashcards
Source URL: https://quizplus.com/quiz/57418
Sample Questions
Q1) If a star rises on the eastern horizon,it will set on the western horizon 6 hours later.
A)True
B)False
Answer: False
Q2) Saturn has a semimajor axis of 9.6 AU.How long does it take Saturn to orbit once around the Sun?
Answer: Using Kepler's third law P<sup>2</sup> = A<sup>3</sup>,and comparing it to the Earth's orbital period of 1 year and semimajor axis of 1 AU,Saturn's period P is equal to (P/1 yr)<sup>2</sup> = (9.6 AU/1 AU)<sup>3</sup> gives us P = 1 yr × (9.6)<sup>3/2</sup> = 9.6<sup>1.5 </sup>yr = 30 yr.
Q3) When a lunar eclipse occurs,on average more people will witness it as a partial eclipse than as a total eclipse.
A)True
B)False
Answer: True
Q4) On which great celestial circle(s)on the celestial sphere would you find the position of the autumnal equinox?
Answer: On both the celestial equator and the ecliptic planes.
To view all questions and flashcards with answers, click on the resource link above.
Page 4
Chapter 3: Laws of Motion
Available Study Resources on Quizplus for this Chatper
70 Verified Questions
70 Flashcards
Source URL: https://quizplus.com/quiz/57419
Sample Questions
Q1) Which of the following is NOT an example of a satellite of the Earth?
A) The Moon
B) The Hubble Telescope
C) The Sun
D) Communication satellites
Answer: C
Q2) Astronauts feel "weightless" on the Moon.Using Newton's universal law of gravitation,explain why this statement is true or false and why astronauts experience this feeling.
Answer: Because the mass of the Moon is smaller than the mass of Earth,the Moon's gravitational pull on objects is less than that of Earth's.This makes the astronauts weigh less than they do on Earth,but it does not make them weightless.
Q3) Which scientist ended up under house arrest due to his support of the heliocentric model?
A) Galileo Galilei
B) Isaac Newton
C) Johannes Kepler
D) Tycho Brahe
Answer: A
To view all questions and flashcards with answers, click on the resource link above.
Page 5
Chapter 4: Light and Telescopes
Available Study Resources on Quizplus for this Chatper
71 Verified Questions
71 Flashcards
Source URL: https://quizplus.com/quiz/57420
Sample Questions
Q1) How do the wavelength and frequency of red light compare to the wavelength and frequency of blue light?
A) Red light has a longer wavelength and higher frequency than those of blue light.
B) Red light has a longer wavelength and lower frequency than those of blue light.
C) Red light has a shorter wavelength and higher frequency than those of blue light.
D) Red light has a shorter wavelength and lower frequency than those of blue light.
Q2) Moving charges produce magnetic fields.
A)True
B)False
Q3) The energy of a photon is inversely proportional to its wavelength.
A)True
B)False
Q4) How does the resolution of a telescope depend on its focal length?
A) The longer the focal length,the better the resolution.
B) The longer the focal length,the worse the resolution.
C) There is no relation between resolution and focal length.
To view all questions and flashcards with answers, click on the resource link above. Page 6
Chapter 5: The Formation of Stars and Planets
Available Study Resources on Quizplus for this Chatper
79 Verified Questions
79 Flashcards
Source URL: https://quizplus.com/quiz/57421
Sample Questions
Q1) The borderline between the most massive planet and the least massive brown dwarf occurs at:
A) 1 Jupiter mass
B) 13 Jupiter masses
C) 42 Jupiter masses
D) 80 Jupiter masses
Q2) In the smaller nebulae,as smaller particles collide and stick together,forming larger particles,their self-gravity prevents them from breaking apart,regardless of the strength of the collision.
A)True
B)False
Q3) Which of the following is NOT a characteristic of the early Solar System,based on current observations?
A) The early Solar System must have been flat.
B) The material from which the planets formed must have been swirling about the Sun in the same direction.
C) The first fragments started out small and grew in size over time.
D) The composition of gases varied between the inner Solar System and the outer Solar System.
To view all questions and flashcards with answers, click on the resource link above.
Page 7
Chapter 6: Terrestrial Worlds in the Inner Solar System
Available Study Resources on Quizplus for this Chatper
91 Verified Questions
91 Flashcards
Source URL: https://quizplus.com/quiz/57422
Sample Questions
Q1) Compared to the dark-colored regions on the surface of the Moon,the light-colored regions are approximately:
A) 1 billion years older
B) 1 billion years younger
C) 1 million years older
D) 1 million years younger
Q2) The Mars rovers named Spirit and Opportunity found evidence in the chemical makeup of the rocks that proves Mars had liquid water on its surface in the past.
A)True
B)False
Q3) Mars has many large shield volcanoes probably because its core is colder than the Earth's core.
A)True
B)False
Q4) What causes the tides on Earth,and how frequently do high and low tides occur?
Q5) Star A emits a continuous spectrum of light that peaks at a wavelength of 450 nm.Star B emits a continuous spectrum of light that peaks at a wavelength of 700 nm.What is the ratio of the temperature of star A to star B if the emissions from both stars follow Wien's law?
To view all questions and flashcards with answers, click on the resource link above. Page 8
Chapter 7: Atmospheres of Venus, Earth, and Mars
Available Study Resources on Quizplus for this Chatper
69 Verified Questions
69 Flashcards
Source URL: https://quizplus.com/quiz/57423
Sample Questions
Q1) The major component of the air we breathe today was deposited on Earth via cometary impacts.
A)True
B)False
Q2) Which of the following factors does NOT directly influence the temperature of a planet?
A) The luminosity of the Sun
B) The distance of the planet from the Sun
C) The albedo of the planet
D) The size of the planet
Q3) The global winds on Earth are the result of a combination of what three things?
Q4) Which of the following contributes most to the large difference in the average daytime and nighttime temperatures on the Moon?
A) The lack of a hydrosphere
B) The lack of a magnetosphere
C) The lack of an atmosphere
D) The lack of geologic activity
Q5) All the terrestrial planets have atmospheres as dense as or denser than Earth's.
A)True
B)False
9
To view all questions and flashcards with answers, click on the resource link above.
Chapter 8: The Giant Planets
Available Study Resources on Quizplus for this Chatper
79 Verified Questions
79 Flashcards
Source URL: https://quizplus.com/quiz/57424
Sample Questions
Q1) The giant planets are made primarily of carbon dioxide and methane.
A)True
B)False
Q2) Define cloud cannibalism.Where is it observed in the Solar System?
Q3) 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
Q4) __________ has the most extreme seasons of any planet in the Solar System.
A) Jupiter
B) Saturn
C) Uranus
D) Neptune
Q5) What clues do the differences in the masses of the giant planets give about conditions in the early Solar System?
Q6) Why do astronomers believe that Saturn has such prominent rings,and does the observed total mass in the ring system support this theory?
Page 10
To view all questions and flashcards with answers, click on the resource link above.
Chapter 9: Small Bodies of the Solar System
Available Study Resources on Quizplus for this Chatper
75 Verified Questions
75 Flashcards
Source URL: https://quizplus.com/quiz/57425
Sample Questions
Q1) The minimum size of a meteoroid that is capable of surviving its passage through the Earth's atmosphere and hitting the ground is about as big as:
A) a car
B) a house
C) a grain of sand
D) your fist
Q2) Suppose we discover a comet whose orbit was very highly eccentric,retrograde,had a very large tilt with respect to the ecliptic plane,and a period of 2,000 years.Where is the most likely place of origin for this comet?
A) The Kuiper Belt
B) The Oort Cloud
C) The Jovian family
D) Outside the Solar System
Q3) Eris is classified as an asteroid even though its mass is 28 percent larger than Pluto's mass.
A)True
B)False
Q4) Phobos and Deimos,the two moons of Mars,are thought to have a unique origin.What is it?
To view all questions and flashcards with answers, click on the resource link above. Page 11
Chapter 10: Measuring the Stars
Available Study Resources on Quizplus for this Chatper
75 Verified Questions
75 Flashcards
Source URL: https://quizplus.com/quiz/57426
Sample Questions
Q1) A star with the same luminosity as the Sun,but which is twice as hot,must be four times as big.
A)True
B)False
Q2) Two similar stars have the same temperature.If star A is four times brighter than star B then:
A) star B is two times farther away than star A
B) star B is four times farther away than star A
C) star B and Star A lie at the same distance from us
D) it is impossible to determine their relative distances from the information given
Q3) The emission spectrum of a helium atom is identical to that of a carbon atom.
A)True
B)False
Q4) All of the following are useful in determining the masses of stars in a binary system
EXCEPT:
A) the period of the orbits of the two stars
B) the average separation between the two stars
C) the luminosities of the two stars
D) the velocities of the two stars
To view all questions and flashcards with answers, click on the resource link above. Page 12
Chapter 11: Our Star: The Sun
Available Study Resources on Quizplus for this Chatper
71 Verified Questions
71 Flashcards
Source URL: https://quizplus.com/quiz/57427
Sample Questions
Q1) Sunspots appear dark because:
A) they have lower densities
B) they have lower rotation rates
C) they have lower temperatures
D) they are storm systems like those on the Jovian planets
Q2) What are the three ways in which energy could be transported within a star (or to your fingers)? Explain your answer.
Q3) Approximately how long does it take the photons released in nuclear reactions in the core of the Sun to exit the photosphere?
A) 8 minutes
B) 16 hours
C) 1,000 years
D) 100,000 years
Q4) If a sunspot is half as bright as the surrounding photosphere of the Sun,what is the approximate temperature of the gas in the sunspot if the photosphere's average temperature is 5800 K?
Q5) Sunspots generally occur in pairs with opposite polarity.
A)True
B)False
To view all questions and flashcards with answers, click on the resource link above. Page 13
Chapter 12: Evolution of Low-Mass Stars
Available Study Resources on Quizplus for this Chatper
73 Verified Questions
73 Flashcards
Source URL: https://quizplus.com/quiz/57428
Sample Questions
Q1) The Sun eventually could become a nova.
A)True
B)False
Q2) When a star burns hydrogen in a shell,it will never produce as much energy (per unit time)as when it burns hydrogen in the core because the core has a higher temperature.
A)True
B)False
Q3) Why are novae thought to be recurrent?
Q4) What factor is most important in determining a star's position on the main sequence and subsequent evolution?
A) Temperature
B) Pressure
C) Mass
D) Radius
Q5) The more massive a star,the more hydrogen it has to burn,and the longer its main-sequence lifetime will be.
A)True
B)False
Q6) What is "degenerate" in the degenerate core of a white dwarf?
Page 14
To view all questions and flashcards with answers, click on the resource link above.
Chapter 13: Evolution of High-Mass Stars
Available Study Resources on Quizplus for this Chatper
71 Verified Questions
71 Flashcards
Source URL: https://quizplus.com/quiz/57429
Sample Questions
Q1) Name at least two processes that speed the collapse of the core of a dying high-mass star.
Q2) Which has a smaller radius,a 2 M<sub>\(\bigodot\)</sub> neutron star or a 3 M<sub>\(\bigodot\)</sub> neutron star? What supports each of these stars from collapsing to form a black hole?
Q3) If the Earth were to be condensed down in size until it became a black hole,its Schwarzschild radius would be:
A) 1 cm
B) 1 m
C) 1 km
D) 10 km
Q4) A neutron star contains a mass of up to 3 M<sub>\(\bigodot\)</sub> in a sphere with a diameter approximately the size of:
A) an atomic nucleus
B) a school bus
C) a city
D) the Earth
Q5) What are some ways that finding a Cepheid variable star is significant?
Q6) Why do large,high-mass main-sequence stars never become red giants?
Page 15
To view all questions and flashcards with answers, click on the resource link above.
Chapter 14: The Expansion of Space
Available Study Resources on Quizplus for this Chatper
71 Verified Questions
71 Flashcards
Source URL: https://quizplus.com/quiz/57430
Sample Questions
Q1) The current temperature of the cosmic microwave background radiation is 17 K.
A)True
B)False
Q2) The spectra of most galaxies tell us that:
A) most galaxies appear to be moving away from us
B) their light comes predominantly from objects other than stars
C) most galaxies contain clouds of gas that are absorbing their favorite wavelengths
D) galaxies in the past rotated at a faster rate than they do today
Q3) Which of the following was NOT created as a result of Big Bang nucleosynthesis?
A) Helium
B) Lithium
C) Carbon
D) Deuterium
Q4) 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
To view all questions and flashcards with answers, click on the resource link above. Page 16
Chapter 15: The Realm of the Galaxies
Available Study Resources on Quizplus for this Chatper
71 Verified Questions
71 Flashcards
Source URL: https://quizplus.com/quiz/57431
Sample Questions
Q1) If the rotational speed of the gas in the disk of a spiral galaxy is 200 km/s at a distance of 80,000 light-years from its center,then what is the mass enclosed within this radius?
A) 7.5 billion M<sub>\(\odot\) </sub>
B) 18 billion M<sub>\(\odot\) </sub>
C) 70 billion M<sub>\(\odot\) </sub>
D) 230 billion M<sub>\(\odot\) </sub>
Q2) Give three examples of types of active galactic nuclei and give one reason why each is unique.
Q3) Long-lasting spiral density waves occur in the disk of a spiral galaxy when:
A) the spiral merges with another galaxy
B) the galaxy is too close
C) the galaxy's disk is regularly disturbed
D) none of the above
Q4) What is a rotation curve,and what can it tell us about a galaxy?
Q5) What makes up the majority of the mass of an individual spiral galaxy?
A) A central supermassive black hole
B) Dark matter
C) Massive O- and B-type stars
D) Cold molecular gas clouds
Page 17
To view all questions and flashcards with answers, click on the resource link above.
Chapter 16: Our Galaxy: The Milky Way
Available Study Resources on Quizplus for this Chatper
80 Verified Questions
80 Flashcards
Source URL: https://quizplus.com/quiz/57432
Sample Questions
Q1) Globular clusters have much higher stellar densities than the local solar neighborhood.
A)True
B)False
Q2) What type of standard candle is used to determine distances to globular clusters?
A) RR Lyrae stars
B) Cepheid variable stars
C) T Tauri stars
D) Type Ia supernovae
Q3) A typical molecular cloud has a temperature of approximately:
A) 0.3 K
B) 10 K
C) 300 K
D) 1000 K
Q4) If you wanted to study the properties of nearby stars that were some of the first stars to form in the Milky Way,but were NOT members of a globular cluster,how could you go about finding them?
Q5) Why can the observed chemical abundance of a star tell you something about its age?
To view all questions and flashcards with answers, click on the resource link above. Page 18
Chapter 17: Modern Cosmology and the Origin of Structure
Available Study Resources on Quizplus for this Chatper
100 Verified Questions
100 Flashcards
Source URL: https://quizplus.com/quiz/57433
Sample Questions
Q1) Describe the four fundamental forces of nature by listing their names and describing what effect each force has on objects in the universe.
Q2) What would the universe be like if there were complete symmetry between matter and antimatter?
A) It would look similar to our universe,but half of it would be composed of antimatter. B) We would observe two universes,one an antimatter reflection of the other.
C) There would be no universe because all of the matter and antimatter would have been annihilated.
D) There would be a universe,but it would be completely composed of energy.
Q3) Due to the fact that we live in a universe with an accelerating expansion rate,the actual age of the universe is __________ the Hubble time.
A) larger than B) smaller than C) the same as D) independent of
Q4) Describe the large-scale structure of the universe.
Q5) How do astronomers explain the formation of elliptical galaxies?
To view all questions and flashcards with answers, click on the resource link above.
Page 19
Chapter 18: Life in the Universe
Available Study Resources on Quizplus for this Chatper
41 Verified Questions
41 Flashcards
Source URL: https://quizplus.com/quiz/57434
Sample Questions
Q1) If the entire history of the Earth were scaled to fit into one day,what time of day would microorganisms first form,oxygen start becoming a significant component of the atmosphere,and humans split off from their genetic ancestors?
Q2) Why is a cold star not a good candidate to find life?
A) Just because the star is too cold.
B) Because the habitable zone is very narrow.
C) Because its lifetime is too long for life to evolve.
D) Because the elements that are around cold stars do not lead to evolution.
Q3) If the most pessimistic assumptions in the Drake equation were true,we would:
A) have to wait for approximately 60 million years to get a message back from the nearest intelligent life
B) have to wait for approximately 400 years to get a message back from the nearest intelligent life
C) be the only intelligent life in the universe
D) need to concentrate on the Andromeda galaxy when searching for intelligent life
Q4) Some forms of life on Earth are silicon-based.
A)True
B)False
To view all questions and flashcards with answers, click on the resource link above.
Page 20