As the universe cooled shortly after the Big Bang, which was the first fundamental force to separate itself out from the others?
Electromagnetism
Gravity
The nuclear force
The strong force
The weak force
The ability for one generation to pass on its characteristics to future generations is known as:
Luck
Mutations
Heredity
Self-replication
Duplication
Which of the following Solar Systems objects is NOT a good candidate for future searches for life?
Mars, because it once had liquid water on the surface
Jupiter's moon Europa, because it appears to have liquid water under its frozen surface
Saturn's moon Titan, because it has an atmosphere containing many organic molecules
Pluto, because a large portion of it is made of water ice.
Saturn's moon Enceladus, because its cryovolcanoes indicate that it has liquid water under the surface
Why was a comet impact 65 million years ago a chance happening that benefited the evolution of humans?
It deposited a significant amount of nitrogen into the Earth's atmosphere
It led to an increase in global UV radiation, which killed off most of the forests and jungles
Mammals got an evolutionary boost
Plant life began to decline
It brought human DNA to Earth
In 1952, chemists Harold Urey and Stanley Miller mixed ammonia, methane, and hydrogen; in a closed container; zapped it with electrical sparks and found that:
They could induce cold fusion to occur
They could not induce any amino acids to form
Single-celled microorganisms had been spontaneously created
They had created many of the amino acids contained in DNA
They created life in a test tube
Why could life not have existed on land any earlier than 475 million years ago?
The temperature was too high
There was too little sunlight
There was too little oxygen in the atmosphere
Earth was covered in erupting volcanoes
There was no land because Earth was covered in water
Which of the following is a likely source of the energy needed to create the first life of Earth?
Land volcanoes
Asteroid impacts
Lightning
Fire
Earthquakes
What do astronomers mean when they say that the Sun makes energy by hydrogen burning?
The Sun is combusting hydrogen in a fire and releasing energy
The Sun is fusing hydrogen into uranium and releasing energy
The Sun is made of mostly hydrogen at very high temperature
The Sun is fusion hydrogen into helium and releasing energy
The Sun is accumulating hydrogen from the solar wind and releasing energy
When two atomic nuclei come together to form a new species of atom, this is called:
Nuclear fission
Nuclear recombination
Nuclear splitting
Nuclear fusion
Ionization
If the core of the Sun were hotter than it is now, how would the Sun's energy production change?
It would produce less energy per second than it does now
It would produce more energy per second than it does now
Its energy production would vary more than it does now
Its energy production would be more stable than it is now
The Sun's energy production would not change.
The energy that fuels the Sun is generated:
Only on its surface
Only in its core
Only in the solar wind
Both in its core and on its surface
By plugging into the wall socket
The detection of solar neutrinos confirms that:
The Sun's core is powered by proton-proton fusion
Energy transport by radiation occurs throughout much of the solar interior
Magnetic fields are responsible for surface activity on the Sun
Convection churns the base of the solar atmosphere
Sunspots are cooler than the rest of the photosphere
Sunspots appear dark because they have _____ then the surrounding gas.
Higher densities
Lower densities
Higher pressures
Lower temperatures
Higher temperatures
Which of the following are created by solar magnetic activity?
Sunspots
Prominences
Coronal mass ejections
Solar flares
All of the above
The darkest part of a sunspots is called the:
Penumbra
Umbra
Granule
Photosphere
Magnetic field
If you observe a maximum number of sunspots right now, how long would you have to wait to see the next solar maximum?
24 hours
6 months
1 year
11 years
22 years
Most asteroids are located between the orbits of:
Earth and Mars
Mars and Jupiter
Jupiter and Saturn
Neptune and Pluto
The Kuiper Belt and the Oort Cloud
The mass of all the known asteroids combined is approximately equal to:
Half the mass of Earth
Three times the mass of Earth
Twice the mass of Mars
The mass of Mars
One-third the mass of the Moon
Most asteroids are closest in shape to:
A potato
A banana
A hot dog
A stick
A baseball
The one orbital characteristic both short- and long-period comets share is:
Mostly prograde orbits
Orbits with completely random tilts
Mostly retrograde orbits
Orbital periods longer than any planet
Highly eccentric orbits
Comet Halley is unique because:
It was the first comet whose return was predicted
It is a member of the Jovian family, but has a retrograde orbit
Its period is less than a human lifetime
It was successfully visited by a spacecraft
It was the brightest comet ever observed by humans
A large meteor shower will often occur once a year because:
Earth typically has one large volcanic eruption every year
The Earth's orbit passes through the Apollo asteroid belt
The comet-keeper has a good calendar
Jupiter routinely disturbs the orbits of asteroids in the Jovian belt
The Earth passes through the debris left behind by a specific comet
In the early universe, when the Solar System had yet to be cleared of the debris out of which it formed, which type of object would have been most likely to deposit water onto Earth's surface?
Comets
Asteroids
A Mars-sized protoplanet
A rogue moon
A monsoon
Meteor showers appear as if they are coming from one particular place in the sky because:
That is the direction in which the comet is coming toward us
That is the direction in which the comet is moving away from us
That is the direction toward which Earth is traveling
That is the direction Earth just passed
That is the location in the sky from which the meteors originate
Hydrostatic equilibrium is a balance between:
Heat and centrifugal force
Core temperature and surface temperature
Pressure and gravity
Radiation and heat
Centrifugal force gravity
The majority of the Sun's energy comes from:
Gravitational contraction
Nuclear fission of uranium
Hydrogen fusion
Helium burning
Burning material as in a fire
Jupiter and Saturn are composed primarily of:
Hydrogen
Helium
Water
Ammonia
Carbon
Which planet received the least amount of energy from the Sun?
Jupiter
Earth
Neptune
Saturn
Uranus
Which of these observations would allow you to measure the mass of a planet?
The planet's orbital period
The planet's rotational period
The planet's distance from the Sun
The orbit of one of that planet's moons
The planet's blood pressure
Which of the giant planets was predicted to exist mathematically before it was ever seen through a telescope?
How is the atmosphere of Saturn similar to the atmosphere of Earth?
They are both made of mostly hydrogen and helium
They both create magnetic fields
They both have jet streams and periods of stormy and calm weather
They both rotate in less than 11 hours
They both have a seamless transition between gas and liquid
The Great Red Spot, Jupiter's most prominent storm system, has a diameter that is _____ times the Earth's diameter.
Two
Five
10
50
100
Why aren't all clouds on Jupiter white, like on Earth?
Jupiter's clouds are made of methane
Jupiter's clouds are made of carbon dioxide
There are chemical impurities in the ice crystals in Jupiter's clouds
The Sun is not as bright when views from Jupiter compared to what it looks like from Earth
For the same reason that we see colors in rainbows on Earth
Uranus and Neptune are bluish green in color because they contain large amounts of:
Methane
Water vapor
Hydrocarbons
Oxygen
We refer to some of the inner regions of Jupiter and Saturn as metallic hydrogen because they:
Are as dense as lead
Are solid
Provide support for the upper layers of hydrogen and helium
Efficiently conduct electricity
Are found in the core like iron is found at the core of the Earth
Who first discovered moons around a planet in our Solar System other than the Earth?
Newton
Kepler
Galileo
Huygens
Einstein
Which property of a moon might lead you to believe it was a captured asteroid?
It is tidally locked
Its orbital axis is tilted by 5 degrees compared to the planet's rotational axis
It rotates in the opposite direction than its planet rotates
Its surface is very smooth and lacks craters
It is roughly the size of Earth's moon
Assume that we discover a new moon of Jupiter. It orbits Jupiter at a large distance and in the opposite direction that Jupiter rotates. It is much smaller than than most of Jupiter's other moons and has a density close to that of Earth rocks. Therefore, this moon is most likely:
A regular moon that formed with Jupiter in the early solar system
An irregular moon that is most likely a captured asteroid
An irregular moon that is most likely a captured comet
An irregular moon that is most likely a protoplanet which collided with Jupiter in the early solar system and then was caught in orbit by Jupiter's gravity
More information is needed before any conclusion can be made
Which of the following can be used as an indicator of the age of a moon's surface
Color of the surface
Crater density
Volcanic activity
Radioactive dating
Io has the most volcanic activity in the Solar System because:
It is continually being bombarded with material in Saturn's E ring
It is one of the largest moons and its interior is heated by radioactive decays
Of gravitational friction caused by the moon Enceladus
Its interior is tidally heated as it orbits around Jupiter
The ice on the surface creates a large pressure on the water below
Titan is high-priority candidate for the search for life outside Earth primarily because it has:
Liquid water
A dense atmosphere like Earth's
Warm temperatures
Active volcanoes
Organic material
Which of the following moons do scientists believe most closely represents the primordial Earth, although at a much lower temperature?
Titan
Europa
Callisto
Io
Ganymede
Two years after first being observed, astronomers reported that Saturn's rings vanished. What happened to them?
The old ring system dissipated, and since then a new one has formed
The orbital plane of the rings was seen edge-on, and the rings were too thin to be visible
Most telescopes used hundreds of years ago couldn't adequately resolve the ring system
Astronomers were looking at the wrong planet, leading to the chance discovery of Uranus
They were stolen by the wicked witch of the east
Which of the giant planets does NOT have rings?
All of the giant planets have rings
Extremophiles on Earth have been found:
In the scalding waters of Yellowstone's hot springs
In the bone-dry oxidizing environment of Chile's Atacama Desert
In the Dead Sea
The deep subsurface ice of the Antarctic ice sheet
Pluto has a density that is roughly equal to two times that of:
A feather
Lead
A rock
Air
Why is hydrogen burning the main energy source for main-sequence stars?
Hydrogen is the most common element in stars
Hydrogen nuclei have the smallest positive charge
Hydrogen burning is the most efficient of all fusion or fission reations
Hydrogen can fuse at temperatures lower than other elements
All the above are valid reasons
When astronomers refer to "heavy elements," which elements are they talking about?
All elements
All elements more massive than hydrogen
All elements more massive than helium
All elements more massive than carbon
All elements more massive than iron
