PHY 109: Astronomy and Cosmology The Solar System
Fall 2003 Prof. Cote's Website • Astronomy at Rutgers • Department of Physics & Astronomy • Rutgers University
Last updated November 3, 2003
Practice Midterm 2
Note that this exam was based on a different textbook that the one being used this semester, so the emphasis on material may have been slightly different than in our course. Also, we will not be covering the material in precisely the same order.
Click here for the solutions.
1. On which terrestrial world could you experience three sunrises and three sunsets every day?
(a) Mercury(b) Venus
(c) the Moon
(d) Mars
(e) you've got to be kidding - this is obviously impossible!
2. Which of the following best describes rain on Venus?
(a) It doesn't rain on Venus.(b) There is sulfuric acid rain in the atmosphere, but the drops evaporate before hitting the surface.
(c) There is liquid water rain in the atmosphere, but the drops evaporate before hitting the surface.
(d) There is sulfuric acid and liquid water rain that causes erosion on the surface.
(e) It stays mainly on the plain.
3. Which of the following factors could explain a gradual warming trend in a planet's climate?
(a) A decreasing albedo(b) A decreasing amount of greenhouse gasses
(c) A decrease in the brightness of the Sun
(d) A major volcanic eruption that increases the degree of cloudiness on the planet
(e) None of the above
4. Which of the terrestrial worlds has the most substantial atmosphere?
(a) Mercury(b) Venus
(c) Earth
(d) the Moon
(e) Mars
5. Why does Mercury have so many tremendous cliffs?
(a) They were carved in Mercury's early history by running water(b) They were formed by tectonic stresses when the entire planet shrank as its core cooled
(c) They were formed when a series of large impacts hit Mercury, one after the other
(d) They are of volcanic origin, carved by flowing lava
(e) College students on Mercury can't be bothered reading full-length versions of classic novels
6. Why does the Moon have a layer of powdery "soil" on its surface?
(a) Large impacts fractured the lunar lithosphere and produced the powdery soil.(b) The Moon accreted powdery material after a giant impact blasted the Earth.
(c) Volatiles escaping from the Moon's interior bubble upward and make the soil.
(d) The soil is the result of the same processes that make powdery sand on Earth.
(e) It's the result of gradual erosion by micrometeorites striking the Moon.
7. The two terrestrial worlds that have the thinnest lithospheres (compared to their total size) are:
(a) Earth and Moon(b) Moon and Mercury
(c) Mercury and Venus
(d) Earth and Mars
(e) Earth and Venus
8. What are the circumstances under which convection can occur in a substance?
(a) When the substance is subjected to a strong magnetic field(b) When dense material is added to the substance
(c) When the substance is strongly shaken or disturbed by a strong wind
(d) When the substance is strongly heated from beneath
(e) When political parties come together every four years to chose a candidate for president.
9. The cores of the terrestrial planets are made mostly of metals because:
(a) The terrestrial planets are made mostly of metal(b) Radioactive decay of uranium in the cores of the planets created metals there
(c) Metals sank to the center during a time when the interiors were molten throughout
(d) Convection carried metals into the core
(e) Magnetic fields forced the metals to accumulate there
10. On which of the terrestrial bodies would an observer located on the objects equator not experience a series of day/night cycles?
(a) Mercury(b) Venus
(c) the Moon
(d) Mars
(e) None of the above
11. Which of the following is not an advantage of the Hubble Space Telescope?
(a) It has the greatest collecting area of any optical telescope(b) It can observe at wavelengths inaccessible from the ground
(c) Clouds and weather do not affect it
(d) It routinely produces sub-arcsecond resolution images
(e) It is very inexpensive to build and operate.
12. The best imaging device currently available for astronomical observations is
(a) The human eye(b) A CCD (charge coupled device)
(c) A photomultiplier tube
(d) A photographic plate
(e) The Acme spectrograph
13. Which focal position of a reflecting telescope is located just behind a hole in the center of the primary mirror?
(a) The prime focus(b) The Newtonian focus
(c) The Galilean focus
(d) The cassegrain focus
(e) The coude focus
14. What is the main reason for building a new large ground-based telescope?
(a) To collect more light from faint objects(b) To produce sharper, more detailed images
(c) To allow greater image magnification
(d) To permit observations in the X-ray part of the spectrum
(e) To excite "telescope envy" among astronomers
15. You can read your exam paper right now because it:
(a) Emits thermal radiation(b) Emits visible light
(c) Emits infrared light
(d) Reflects visible light
(e) Reflects infrared light
16. Which layer of the Sun do we normally see?
(a) photosphere(b) chromosphere
(c) corona
(d) convection zone
(e) radiation zone
17. Sunspots are cooler than their surroundings. Which physical property is responsible for their low temperature?
(a) low mass density(b) high gas pressure
(c) strong electrical charge
(d) strong magnetic field
(e) rapid rotation
18. Which of the following statements about the sunspot cycle is not true?
(a) The number of sunspots peaks approximately every 11 years.(b) With each subsequent peak in the number of sunspots, the magnetic polarity of the Sun is the reverse of the previous peak.
(c) The rate of nuclear fusion in the Sun peaks about every 11 years.
(d) The cycle is really a cycle of magnetic activity, and variations in the number of sunspots are only one manifestation of the cycle.
(e) The number of solar flares peaks about every 11 years.
19. You are sending a spacecraft to measure the mass of a planet. You will get the best measurement by
(a) taking pictures to determine the radius of the planet and the kind of rock on the surface(b) crashing the spacecraft into the surface
(c) determining the strength of the planet's magnetic field
(d) determining the amount of atmosphere around the planet and its temperature
(e) putting the spacecraft into orbit around the planet
20. Why does the Earth have a tidal bulge on the side of the Earth which is opposite the Moon?
(a) there is another object pulling on the Earth in that direction(b) because of the presence of land masses on Earth and the shape of their shorelines
(c) lunar gravity is weakest there
(d) that is where the Moon's repulsive force is strongest
(e) lunar gravity is strongest there
21. The speed of light is slower in glass than in air. When a beam of light encounters a boundary between air and glass, usually
(a) all of the light is reflected(b) some of the light is reflected and some of it is refracted
(c) the beam of light is not changed in any way
(d) the red light is absorbed and the blue light continues on
(e) the blue light is absorbed and the red light is reflected
22. Which of the following planets is most likely to retain a thick atmosphere?
(a) a planet with a hot atmosphere and weak gravity(b) a planet with a hot atmosphere and strong gravity
(c) a planet with a cool atmosphere and weak gravity
(d) a planet with a cool atmosphere and strong gravity
(e) all planets are equally likely to retain a thick atmosphere
23. You read in the newspaper that Rutgers astronomers are building a telescope for scientific research. Which of the following is NOT likely to describe the site of the telescope?
(a) clear weather(b) good seeing
(c) a dark sky
(d) atmospheric stability
(e) close to sea level
24. The average density of the Earth is 5500 kg/m3, while that of rocks on the surface averages 2400 kg/m
3. This tells us that(a) the composition of the Earth must change with depth(b) the Earth has an aesthenosphere and a lithosphere
(c) the Earth has a strong magnetic field
(d) the Earth's surface is broken into about a dozen moving plates
(e) all low-density material has been outgassed from the Earth's interior
25. Which of the following is NOT likely to occur at a boundary where two crustal plates collide?
(a) earthquakes(b) volcanic activity
(c) the formation of new crust
(d) the formation of mountain ranges
(e) one plate subducted under the other
26. If the Earth were moved closer to the Sun, with all other factors remaining the same, the temperature of the Earth's surface
(a) would be cooler than it is now(b) would be hotter than it is now
(c) would be the same as it is now
(d) would be hotter during the day and cooler at night than it is now
(e) would be influenced more by the greenhouse effect
27. Volcanic outgassing early in the Earth's history
(a) contained very little nitrogen(b) is the main source of the oxygen in the atmosphere today
(c) produced large amounts of hydrogen
(d) was rich in water vapor
(e) contained very little carbon dioxide
28. Why does carbon dioxide (CO2) make up less than 1% of the Earth's atmosphere?
(a) it never was a major constituent of the atmosphere(b) CO2 dissolved in the oceans and then combined with rocks
(c) CO2 was broken down by solar ultraviolet radiation
(d) Earth's gravity is not strong enough to retain CO2 in the atmosphere
(e) most of the CO2 has been incorporated into living plants
29. What is the origin of the Earth's magnetic field?
(a) permanent magnetism left over from the formation of the Earth(b) the flow of ionized gases in the Earth's upper atmosphere
(c) pockets of solar magnetism captured from the solar wind
(d) electrical currents in the Earth's core
(e) charged particles in the Van Allen belts
30. The rotation rate of the planet Venus
(a) was easy to determine because we could observe the rotation of the clouds surrounding the planet.(b) was easy to determine because the atmosphere was thin and we could easily see surface features.
(c) was hard to determine because the clouds obscure our view of the planets surface.
(d) depends on its albedo.
(e) is low because of the planet's very small magnetic field.
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