Exam 1
Tuesday, June 11
This is a closed book, closed note exam worth 100 points (15% of your final grade) and which ends promptly at 10:50 AM. There are 20 multiple choice questions worth 2 points each, 15 short answer questions worth 3 points each, and 3 long answer questions worth 5 points each. Put your name and ID number on the test sheet. Please read each question carefully. Good luck!
Multiple Choice (2 points each)
1. The time from one full moon to the next is called the:
A) synodic month
B) sidereal month
C) sidereal day
D) None of the above
2. From Kepler's 1st law the orbit of Mercury would be
A) a circle with the sun in the center
B) a circle with the sun offset from the center
C) an ellipse with the sun at the center
D) an ellipse with the sun at one focus
3. If you were working at the south pole, you would see the sun
A) every day
B) every day but June 22
C) every day but Dec 22
D) only from late September to late March
E) only from late March to late September
4. Precession is the slow wandering of the celestial pole about a circle in the sky. It is caused by:
A) the amount of tilt of the Earth's axis
B) the direction the Earth's axis points
C) the wobbling of the Earth's axis
D) the plane in which the Earth orbits the sun
5. The waxing crescent moon (to make it simple, assume it's an equinox):
A) rises at 6 am, is highest in the sky at noon, and sets at 6 pm
B) rises at 3 am, is highest in the sky at 9 am, and sets at 3 pm
C) rises at 3 pm, is highest in the sky at 9 pm, and sets at 3 am
D) rises at 9 am, is highest in the sky at 3 pm, and sets at 9 pm
E) rises at 9 pm, is highest in the sky at 3 am, and sets at 9 am
6. Why did the Greeks decide that the Earth couldn't go around the sun?
A) They only had aesthetic reasons
B) We don't feel ourselves move
C) They didn't see any stellar parallax
D) They thought the sun was too small for the Earth to go around it
E) They thought the Earth was flat, and therefore unable to move
7. Which planet will never show retrograde motion when viewed from the Earth?
A) Saturn
B) Mars
C) Jupiter
D) Venus
E) Pluto
8. The planets are held in their orbits by
A) their inertia
B) their own gravity
C) their momentum
D) the gravity of the Sun
E) the light from the Sun
9. Astronauts on the Moon looking at the Earth would see each of the following effects except one. Which of the following would NOT happen?
A) The Earth would appear 4 times larger in the Moon's sky than the Moon in the Earth's sky
B) The Earth would appear to rotate
C) The Earth would rise in the east and set in the west
D) The Sun would rise in the east and set in the west
E) The Sun Earth would display the same set of phases the Moon goes through each month
10. Which of Newton's 3 laws of motion apply to a rocket blasting off?
A) Law 1
B) Law 2
C) Law 3
D) All of the above
11. Plate Tectonics is a theory that says that
A) The entire interior of the Earth is made of molten iron, and the continents are rafts of rock floating on this.
B) The Earth's interior is extremely fragmented, and this causes Earthquakes.
C) Geological activities on Earth are caused by the Moon's gravitational pull.
D) The Earth's crust is made of a small number of rigid portions, that move around, causing geological structures.
E) The heat of the Earth mostly comes out in volcanoes.
12. The projections of the Earth's axis on the sky are the
A) celestial equators
B) zenith
C) celestial poles
D) ecliptic
E) nostrils
13. The path of the Sun among the stars is called the
A) celestial equator
B) zenith
C) line of nodes
D) ecliptic
E) none of these
14. Polaris will be the North Star
15. The line separating the lit side from the unlit side of the Moon is termed the lunar
A) period
B) phase
C) epicycle
D) terminator
E) node
16. The retrograde motion of Mars can best be explained as
A) Mars reversing its motion
B) the Earth overtaking and passing Mars
C) the Earth reversing its rotation
D) the stars reversing their motion
E) none of these
17. Today (6/11/96) the moon will rise
A) just before noon
B) just after sunset
C) right before sunrise
D) round midnight
E) mid afternoon
18. Match a description with the astronomer: Johannes Kepler
A) made the first accurate measurements of the Earth's size using a well near Aswan and observations at Alexandria in Egypt.
B) was the first astronomer to use a telescope to observe the phases of Venus.
C) (1546¯1601) was famous for his accurate observations of positions of planets and stars; did not use a telescope.
D) (1571¯1630) was the first to discover that the orbits of the planets were ellipses.
E) (1643¯1727) was the first to successfully find physical laws that explain both terrestrial and celestial motion.
19. Match a description with the astronomer: Isaac Newton
A) made the first accurate measurements of the Earth's size using a well near Aswan and observations at Alexandria in Egypt.
B) was the first astronomer to use a telescope to observe the phases of Venus.
C) (1546¯1601) was famous for his accurate observations of positions of planets and stars; did not use a telescope.
D) (1571¯1630) was the first to discover that the orbits of the planets were ellipses.
E) (1643¯1727) was the first to successfully find physical laws that explain both terrestrial and celestial motion.
20. If there is a total lunar eclipse occurring on Earth, but you are on the moon, you see:
A) The umbra and penumbra moving across the Earth.
B) During the daytime, suddenly all of the stars and planets become visible.
C) In the sky the sun is blocked by the Earth, at first partially and then totally, then partially again.
D) The Earth briefly turns bright red.
Short Answer (3 points each)
21. What layer of the Earth is most like the composition of the Moon?
22. Why are the inner planets made of metal and rock and the outer planets made of ice and frozen gases?
23. Is there a side to the Moon that is always dark--is there a dark side of the Moon?
24. Along what 2 kinds of geologic areas due we experience earthquakes? Describe what happens to the tectonic plates in these regions.
25. What causes body tides?
26. Where did the Earth's atmosphere come from?
27. What is all the stuff that gets blasted out of an impact crater and falls back to the ground called?
28. What is the lunar regolith, and how was it formed? If the moon had an atmosphere, would it have a regolith?
29. How is the soil on the Earth formed?
30. Can astronauts see lightening from space? What is your evidence?
31. What is the greenhouse effect? Name 2 gases responsible for this effect on the Earth. What would happen if these gases were not present in our atmosphere?
32. What famous gravitation experiment did the Apollo astronauts demonstrate when they were on the moon?
33. What is the name of the phenomenon when blue light bounces off air molecules, making the sky blue?
34. When we see a new moon, what phase would the Earth appear to have for an observer on the moon?
35. At what time of day (or night) does:
a) the first quarter moon rise?
b) the full moon rise?
c) the last quarter moon rise?
d) the new moon rise?
Long Answer (5 points each)
36. List the planets in order from the sun outwards. Draw a line, put the sun on the left, and draw and label the planets in their approximate relative distances from the Sun.
37. Draw a picture of the Earth in orbit around the sun at 4 equally spaced locations along its orbit. Draw in the Earth's axis for each of the Earth's, and label them correctly with 'Summer Solstice', 'Autumn Equinox', 'Winter Solstice' and 'Spring Equinox'. Indicate the direction the Earth moves in its orbit around the Sun.
38. Galileo observed 4 things through his telescope that showed that the heavens couldn't be made of perfect objects orbiting the Earth. Describe with words and a drawing one of those observations, and why it was important.
6/19/96