Complete the following quiz and turn in ONLY the completed answer sheet attached - the quiz includes the readings done to date, up to the chapter on Relativity
1. The light-year is a unit of
a) time
b) distance
c) weight
d) age
2. How many kilometers would a light year be if it was discovered that the speed of light was half as fast as previously thought? Use scientific notation
3.-4. Do not change my numbering this is an essay question worth two multiple choice questions). Explain simply why a scientist must be a materialist. Do you think that's true and can you come up with an exception?
5. Which of the following is a scientific statement or hypothesis?
a) the planet Jupiter is made of pastry cream
b) there are many things in this universe which we will never know about
c) Space is filled with a sort of "dark matter" which we can never detect
d) There are parts of the Universe that will be forever hidden from man
6.-7. All mathematical theories point to a ten or eleven dimensional space, but there are no experiments to prove it - according to our book, should it be accepted as a scientific theory? Yes/No explain
8. The 'Einstein Cross' is the result of
a)Einstein's religious conversion at death
b) the result of a coincidence like any constellation
c) results from gravitational lensing
d) Is the optical phenomenon perceived when traveling near light speed.
9. The galaxy of which our Sun is a member
a) consists of about one hundred billion stars
b) is about 100,000 lt-yrs across
c) is part of the Local Group
d) all of the above
10. The correct arrangement from biggest to smallest (biggest first - do it the other was and you're wrong) is
a) Sun
b) Milky Way
c) Local Supercluster
d) Local Group
e) Earth
(write the correct letters starting with the largest object)
11. All stars (except the circumpolar stars like the Polaris) appear to rise in the east and set in the west True or False
12. Constellations are groups of stars that are physically close to each other in space which are thought to a resemblance to mythic figures True or False
13. You can't see the position of the North Celestial pole from any position south of the equator. (if you're at sea level).
True or False
14. The Zodiac
a) lies on the ecliptic
b) are a group of 12 constellations
c) are all along the path of the sun through the heavens
d) all the above
15. The Sun moving towards the north celestial pole crosses the celestial equator on
a) the first day of autumn
b) the first day of spring
c) the first day of summer
d) the first day of winter
e) Earth day
16. When it is Summer in the Northern hemisphere
a) the earth is at its closest approach to the sun
b) the north pole of the Earth dips towards the Sun
c) the south pole of the Earth dips towards the Sun
d) the Earth's axis is perpendicular to the ecliptic
17. When it is Summer in the northern hemisphere,
a) sunrise is north of due East, and sunset north of due West
b) sunrise is south of due east and sunset north of due West
c) sunrise is north of due east, but sunset is south of due west
d) the Sun rises at due east and sets at due West, as always
18. -19. Why are planets found in constellations of the Zodiac?
20. The moon is 384,000 kilometers from the Earth, and it's period is 27.3 days, which is the (approximately) correct orbital velocity of the moon in kilometer/hour (1 kilometer is 0.6 miles - a little better than half a mile). Assume the Moon's orbit is circular.
a) 368 km/hr
b) 3680 km/hr
c) 36800 km/hr
d) 360000 km/hr
e) can't be determined from the information given (draw it out, what is the relationship between the distance from the earth to the sun and the distance the Earth travels to make one complete revolution (circle) around the sun?)
21.When the planet Saturn appears to us to move in retrograde motion, it will also be near its brightest. True or False
22. How far away from the earth's surface would you have to be if gravity were to pull you with one quarter its strength on the earth?
a) two hundred miles
b) two thousand miles
c) four thousand miles
d) eight thousand miles
23.- 25. Eclipses of the Moon are caused by... (In your own words and as precisely as you can - you won't get any credit for a quote and worse if you quote without quotation marks (plagiarism))
26. Total eclipses of the Sun, reveal its "corona" because the
a) Moon acts like a gravitational lens, magnifying it
b) Sun and moon have about the same apparent angular diameter
c) Sun's atmosphere is affected by the nearness of the moon
d) none of the above
27. The most important celestial events that forced Ptolemy to add "epicycles" to the movement of the "celestial spheres" was
a) the changing of the seasons
b) the retrograde motion of the planets
c) the knowledge that Jupiter's moon don't revolve around the Earth
d) rotation of the Earth
28. If the moon rises at 9:00 PM due East, how many degrees will it be above the eastern horizon at 1:00 AM
a) a little more than 60 degrees
b) a little less than 60 degrees
c) about 40 degrees
d) can't be predicted
29. Major reason(s) that Aristarchus's conjecture that the Earth revolved around the Sun was not accepted by the ancient Greeks was that
a) it contradicted the Bible
b) Aristotle said it didn't and his word was law
c) there was no annular parallax
d) all of the above
30. The reason that Copernicus' predictions about the future locations of the planets was in error was that
a) Copernicus was just no good at math
b) the Sun really did revolve around the Earth
c) the orbits of the planets were not circles
d) they agreed perfectly, Catholic propaganda to the contrary
31. Galileo's observations that the Moon had mountains and the Sun spots was very disquieting to the religious person of his day because
a) this contradicted the supremacy of God
b) the heavens were supposed, by the Church, to be perfect and changeless
c) The Moon was believed to be composed of 'quintessence"
d) This directly contradicted the Bible
32. Galileo invented the telescope True or False
33. Galileo's observation that Venus had "phases" like the Moon
a) was impossible if the Sun and planets revolved around the Earth
b) was still possible if the Sun revolved around the Earth, but Venus revolved around the Sun
c) Was made possible by Galileo's use of the telescope
d) all the above
34. The gravitational force the Moon, (which has one eighth of Earth's mass) exerts on the Earth is
a) exactly one eight of the force the Earth exerts on the Moon
b) is exactly the same as the force the Earth exerts on the Moon
c) is counterbalanced by the much greater force of the Sun on the Earth, which prevents the Earth from falling into the Sun
d) none of the above
35. If the distance of two celestial bodies is made five times as great, the gravitational force between those two bodies is
a) five times as great
b) one fifth as great
c) twenty-five times as great
d) one twenty-fifth as great
e) none of the above
36. If the Earth were to expand to three times its current radius without any change in mass, your weight would
a) increase threefold
b) decrease threefold
c) increase nine fold
d) decrease nine fold
e) none of the above
37. Because the Earth's escape velocity is 11 meter/second, a rocket traveling at a constant 10 meters/second could never leave the Earth
True or False
38. The formula for orbital velocity of a satellite V = sqrt(GM/r) tells us that the further a satellite is from the planet or star it orbits...
a) the faster it goes
b) the slower it goes
c) the velocity is not influenced by the distance to the star or planet
d) the more massive the planet or star, the slower is the orbital velocity if the distance is kept constant.
39. If two spaceships start from a velocity of zero, and one space ship has twice the mass of the other - but both have the same thrust (force) pushing them for the same amount of time...
a) the acceleration of the bigger spaceship will be half as great
b) the final velocity of the bigger spaceship will be half as great
c) the inertia of the bigger one will be twice as great
d) all the above
40.-42. A planet circles our Sun once every thousand years, how far is it from the Sun? (show work)
43. What was the crucial piece of evidence, measurable at any velocity, that lead Einstein to special relativity?
44. What keen observation about gravity lead Einstein to his theory of general relativity?