Survey of the Universe Question Bank
Course Introduction
Survey of the Universe is an introductory course that explores the fundamental concepts and discoveries in astronomy and astrophysics. Students will examine the structure and evolution of the cosmos, including theories about the origin of the universe, the life cycles of stars, the formation of galaxies, and the nature of planets both within and beyond our solar system. Emphasis is placed on observational methods, the interpretation of astronomical data, and the impact of recent breakthroughs in technology and research. This course provides a comprehensive overview for students seeking to understand our universes vastness, complexity, and ongoing mysteries.
Recommended Textbook
Astronomy Preliminary Edition by Adam Frank
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18 Chapters
1261 Verified Questions
1261 Flashcards
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Page 2
Chapter 1: Getting Started: Science, astronomy, and Being Human
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Sample Questions
Q1) Which of the following is comparable to the size of an atom?
A) 10<sup>-6</sup> m
B) 10<sup>-9</sup> m
C) 10<sup>-15</sup> m
D) 10<sup>-21</sup> m
Answer: B
Q2) Arrange the following objects in order of increasing size:
A) atom, dust, single-celled organism, subatomic particle.
B) subatomic particle, dust, atom, single-celled organism.
C) atom, subatomic particle, single-celled organism, dust.
D) subatomic particle, atom, dust, single-celled organism.
Answer: D
Q3) Which of the following is a necessary part of a good scientific theory?
A) well-tested
B) revolutionary
C) mathematical
D) intuitive
Answer: A
Q4) Identify the base,coefficient,and exponent in the number 4.07 × 10 .
Answer: The base is 10,the coefficient is 4.07,and the exponent is 6.
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Chapter 2: A Universe Made, a Universe Discovered
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Sample Questions
Q1) If you know that Mercury is going to be visible,at what time and where in the sky would you look for it?
A) near sunrise, on the eastern horizon
B) near sunset, on the eastern horizon
C) at midnight, high in the sky
D) at midnight, on the western horizon
Answer: A
Q2) You see two balls in the distance.The blue ball is half a degree across and rests half of a football field away.The red ball is one-quarter of a degree across and rests two football fields away.The red ball is ________ as large as the blue ball.
A) one-quarter
B) one-half
C) two times
D) four times
Answer: C
Q3) Describe the nightly motion of a circumpolar star.
Answer: A circumpolar star rotates around the celestial pole without rising or setting; it is visible throughout the night.
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4
Chapter 3: A Universe of Universal Laws
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Sample Questions
Q1) How could Isaac Newton have measured the mass of Jupiter?
Answer: Under the assumption that Jupiter is much more massive than its moons,Newton's modification to Kepler's third law can be rearranged to be M<sub>Jupiter</sub> = 4p² R³/ (GP²).Thus by measuring the orbital radius and period of the orbit of one of Jupiter's moons,Newton could have measured the mass of the planet.
Q2) If you kick a concrete wall hard,your foot will hurt.Explain this in terms of Newton's laws of motion.
Answer: For every force,there is an equal and opposite reaction force: the force exerted by your kick on the wall is also exerted on your foot.
Q3) The orbital periods of planets ________ with their average distance from the Sun. A) decrease B) remain constant C) increase D) vary irregularly
Answer: C
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Chapter 4: A Universe of Universal Laws
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Sample Questions
Q1) How would you use a star's spectrum to measure its temperature?
Q2) The H alpha line of hydrogen produces photons in what part of the electromagnetic spectrum?
A) ultraviolet
B) blue
C) red
D) infrared
Q3) Two light waves have wavelengths of 200 nm and 400 nm,respectively.How are their frequencies related?
A) The wave with a 200 nm wavelength has one-quarter the frequency of the 400 nm wave.
B) The wave with a 200 nm wavelength has one-half the frequency of the 400 nm wave.
C) The wave with a 200 nm wavelength has the same frequency of the 400 nm wave.
D) The wave with a 200 nm wavelength has twice the frequency of the 400 nm wave.
Q4) Which of the following is NOT true of the Bohr model of the atom?
A) Electrons can orbit the nucleus at any radius, as in the solar system.
B) Atomic nuclei consist of protons and neutrons.
C) Electrons can move their orbits by absorbing or emitting light.
D) Electrons travel on circular orbits.
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Chapter 5: The Architecture and Birth of Planetary Systems
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Sample Questions
Q1) How do terrestrial planets form?
Q2) Dust grains form within a protoplanetary disk because:
A) binary accretion begins.
B) the interstellar cloud collapses and heats up.
C) gas accretes onto large protoplanets, clearing out the medium.
D) the disk cools through radiation.
Q3) Pluto is closest in mass to:
A) Ceres.
B) Mercury.
C) Earth's Moon.
D) Eris.
Q4) Meteoroids can come from:
A) comets.
B) the Moon
C) Mars.
D) all of the above.
Q5) How would the outer parts of our Solar System be different if the gaseous portion of the protoplanetary disk remained for longer?
Q6) How did the first exoplanets to be discovered differ from those in our Solar System?
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Chapter 6: Home Base: Earth and Moon
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Sample Questions
Q1) If the amount of ozone in the atmosphere decreased,which of the following would be most likely to occur?
A) Global surface temperatures would increase.
B) Seasonal changes would moderate.
C) The temperature inversion in the stratosphere would moderate.
D) The amount of ultraviolet radiation reaching Earth's surface would decrease.
Q2) The lack of potassium in lunar rocks supported the impact hypothesis because:
A) potassium is rare on asteroids.
B) it indicates the rocks were once at very high temperature.
C) potassium only exists in Earth's core.
D) any pre-existing potassium on the moon would have decayed during impact.
Q3) Why is the Moon's rotation period equal to its orbital period?
Q4) A planet that experiences an increase in its atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration will also likely experience a(n):
A) increase in the thickness of its polar ice caps.
B) decrease in its surface temperature.
C) increase in its magnetic field.
D) decrease in the density of elements lighter than carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.
Q5) Why did Earth lose its primary atmosphere?
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Chapter 7: Sibling Worlds: Mercury, Venus, and Mars
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Sample Questions
Q1) How has Venus's high temperature affected its geology?
Q2) What two reasons are most important in explaining the different atmospheric compositions of Earth and Mars?
Q3) The volcanic rocks on Mars are most similar to those from:
A) Earth's crust.
B) Earth's seafloor.
C) the Lunar highlands.
D) Earth's core.
Q4) Martian "blueberries" provide strong evidence for:
A) liquid water on Mars today.
B) subsurface water on Mars today.
C) liquid water in Mars's past.
D) biologic activity in Mars's past.
Q5) Why did Mars become significantly less habitable about 500 million years after its formation?
Q6) The terrestrial world most similar to Mercury is:
A) Venus.
B) Earth.
C) Earth's Moon.
D) Mars.
Page 9
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Chapter 8: Gas, ice, and Stone: the Outer Planets
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Sample Questions
Q1) Why does Saturn bulge outward at the equator rather than its poles?
Q2) If the Sun appears to be about 32 arcminutes across at Earth,how large does it appear to be at Saturn (with an orbital semimajor axis of 9.5 AU)?
A) 304 arcminutes
B) 11 arcminutes
C) 3.4 arcminutes
D) 0.35 arcminutes
Q3) The Cassini Division is:
A) a result of tidally disrupted comets.
B) maintained through gravitational interactions with moons.
C) driven by magnetic anomalies.
D) evolving significantly over the course of a few decades.
Q4) Why do Uranus's moons have low densities?
Q5) An exoplanet with a spin axis similar to Uranus's transits its star.If the exoplanet had large planetary rings,astronomers who measured the transit's depth might:
A) overestimate the planet's radius.
B) overestimate the planet's orbital semimajor axis.
C) underestimate the planet's mass.
D) underestimate the planet's orbital semimajor axis.
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Chapter 9: Life and the Search for Habitable Worlds
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Sample Questions
Q1) Biologists refer to changes in a population's genetic distribution that result purely through random chance as:
A) natural selection.
B) genetic drift.
C) genetic evolution.
D) none of the above; such changes do not occur.
Q2) Which of the following signals do astronomers search for as part of the hunt for extraterrestrial intelligence?
A) dust scattering
B) X-ray flashes
C) optical lasers
D) gamma-ray bursts
Q3) Which of the following have been shown experimentally to be easy to produce in an environment similar to early Earth?
A) self-replicating molecules
B) proteins
C) amino acids
D) RNA
Q4) Describe the physical structure of a DNA molecule.
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Chapter 10: The Sun As a Star
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Sample Questions
Q1) What is the heliosphere?
Q2) How can heat be transported across a vacuum?
Q3) How does the Sun's rotation differ from Earth's?
Q4) What has provided the best data about the interior of the Sun?
A) helioseismology
B) sunspots
C) the Sun's evolving luminosity
D) solar X-rays
Q5) Approximately how long ago was the solar energy we see today produced by fusion?
A) 8 minutes
B) 30 days
C) 100 years
D) 10<sup>5</sup> years
Q6) Which of the following events have caused extensive power outages on Earth?
A) coronal mass ejections
B) meteor strikes
C) gamma ray bursts
D) supernovae
Page 12
Q7) A sunspot is 16 times fainter than the solar material immediately next to it.If the Sun's surface is normally 5,800 K,how hot is the sunspot?
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Chapter 11: Measuring the Stars: the Main Sequence and Its Meaning
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Sample Questions
Q1) Which of the following must be measured in order to determine a star's proper motion?
A) angular position at multiple times
B) mass
C) redshift or blueshift
D) radius
Q2) Two stars orbit their common center of mass on circular orbits.Star A is four times more massive than star B.How do their orbital periods compare to each other?
A) Star A has a longer orbital period than star B.
B) Star B has a longer orbital period than star A.
C) They are the same.
D) The orbital periods cannot be determined without knowing their initial velocities.
Q3) Which of the following stellar properties does NOT increase as you trace the main sequence from right to left on an HR diagram?
A) fusion rate
B) peak wavelength
C) surface area
D) temperature
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Chapter 12: Nursery of the Stars: the Interstellar Medium and
Star Formation
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Sample Questions
Q1) Which of the following helps support molecular clouds against gravitational collapse?
A) thermal pressure
B) turbulence
C) magnetic fields
D) all of the above
Q2) List the five phases of the interstellar medium in order from coolest to hottest.
Q3) A massive protostar is more luminous than a low-mass protostar because it:
A) undergoes a different set of fusion reactions.
B) has a lower temperature.
C) releases less of its thermal energy.
D) had more potential gravitational energy before it collapsed.
Q4) What factor provides a giant molecular cloud's primary support against gravitational collapse?
Q5) Which regions of a molecular cloud collapse under gravity first?
A) those with the smallest linear size
B) the densest
C) the least massive
D) the most massive
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Chapter 13: To the Graveyard of Stars: the End Points of Stellar Evolution
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Sample Questions
Q1) What are the resulting particles when protons and electrons are forced together in the core of a massive star during the early stages of a supernova?
Q2) The Sun will undergo fusion in its core during which of the following evolutionary phases?
A) main sequence and horizontal branch
B) main sequence and red giant
C) main sequence only
D) main sequence, red giant, horizontal branch, and asymptotic giant branch
Q3) At the tip of the red giant branch,a star is half as hot as it was on the main sequence and 100 times larger.How does its luminosity compare to its value on the main sequence?
A) It is now 10,000 times larger.
B) It is now 600 times larger.
C) It is now 16 times larger.
D) It is now 16 times smaller.
Q4) How is a neutron star supported against its own gravity?
Q5) Suppose that the binding energy per nucleon of oxygen was larger than the binding energy per nucleon of silicon.How would this change stellar evolution?
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Chapter 14: Down the Rabbit Hole: Relativity and Black Holes
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Sample Questions
Q1) Which of the following did Einstein determine to be a constant of nature?
A) the speed of a photon
B) the gravitational force of a proton
C) the mass of a proton
D) Newton's gravitational constant
Q2) What do astronomers believe exists in the center of nearly every galaxy?
A) a gamma-ray burst
B) a massive dust cloud
C) a star-forming region
D) a black hole
Q3) Why is quantum mechanics necessary for resolving the puzzle of a black hole's singularity?
A) It implies that space is granular on the smallest scales.
B) It is necessary for very massive systems.
C) It is necessary to explain the gravitational redshift.
D) It is a necessary component of stellar collapse.
Q4) How do matter-energy and space-time affect each other,according to general relativity?
Page 16
Q5) How would Earth's orbit change if the Sun suddenly collapsed into a black hole (with the same mass as it currently has)?
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Chapter
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Q1) What happened to most of the stars of small galaxies that collided with the Milky Way?
A) They collided with stars in the Milky Way, destroying themselves.
B) They were incorporated into the Milky Way's disk.
C) They were incorporated into the black hole at the center of the Milky Way.
D) They were incorporated into the Milky Way's stellar halo.
Q2) How does the density of stars (measured in stars per cubic parsec)in the Milky Way's bulge compare to that in the Sun's neighborhood?
A) The Sun's neighborhood is 10 times denser.
B) The bulge is 10 times denser.
C) The Sun's neighborhood is 104 times denser.
D) The bulge is 104 times denser.
Q3) Why is the metallicity of Population I stars greater than that of Population II stars?
Q4) Which component of the Milky Way has the most stars?
A) disk
B) bar
C) bulge
D) halo
Q5) What are the three major components of the Milky Way galaxy?
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Chapter 16: A Universe of Galaxies
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Sample Questions
Q1) What is "spectroscopic parallax"?
A) using stellar spectra to measure distances
B) using the apparent angular motion of stars to measure distances
C) using the redshifts of galaxy absorption lines to measure distances
D) using the apparent angular motion of galaxies to measure distances
Q2) What fraction of galaxies have black holes at their centers?
A) 0.1 percent
B) 1 percent
C) 10 percent
D) 100 percent
Q3) Which galactic phenomenon is triggered by the same process as spiral structure?
A) galactic bars
B) globular clusters
C) tidal streams
D) the formation of spirals from ellipticals
Q4) What does the M-sigma relation demonstrate about black holes?
A) They result from massive stars' deaths.
B) That black holes and galaxies grow together.
C) They grow primarily through accretion.
D) That black holes form the majority of mass within galactic bulges.
Page 18
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Chapter 17: The Cosmic Web: the Large-Scale Structure of the Universe
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Sample Questions
Q1) What is the minimum scale on which the Universe becomes homogeneous?
A) 1 Mpc
B) 10 Mpc
C) 100 Mpc
D) The Universe is not homogeneous on any scale.
Q2) A region 1 Mpc across contains a total mass of 10¹³ MS n.What kind of object is this most likely to be?
A) a spiral galaxy
B) an elliptical galaxy
C) a galaxy group
D) a galaxy cluster
Q3) Imagine that an astronomer in an alternate universe observes all galaxies to be blueshifted relative to the Milky Way.Which of the following would this imply?
A) The Big Bang happened in the recent past.
B) Space is contracting.
C) The Milky Way is the center of the universe.
D) Galaxies do not rotate
Q4) Why do astronomers refer to the Dark Ages as "dark"?
Q5) Why were quasars most common 10 billion years ago?
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Chapter 18: Cosmology
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Q1) How does the Universe's expansion during the inflationary era differ from that in the classic Big Bang model?
A) During inflation, the curvature of the Universe changes.
B) During inflation, regions initially outside of causal contact are allowed to interact with each other.
C) During inflation, Hubble's law is violated.
D) During inflation, expansion makes the density closer to the critical value.
Q2) What is goal of cosmology?
Q3) Which of the following presents the best motivation for inflation?
A) the density of the Universe today
B) the formation of baryons in the Universe
C) the size of the observable Universe
D) the apparent recession velocity at large distances, which exceeds the speed of light
Q4) The Universe's geometry is determined by its:
A) size.
B) age.
C) density of matter-energy.
D) homogeneity.
Q5) What are the three most important observational pillars for the Big Bang model?
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