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Chapter 18: Life in the Universe
About how old is Earth?
A.
B.
C.
D.
E.
6000 years
One million years
One billion years
5 billion years
14 billion years
Copyright © 2009 Pearson Education, Inc.
Chapter 18: Life in the Universe
How do scientists tell the age of different rocks on Earth?
A. They look at the layering of rocks, which is similar in many places on Earth.
Lower layers were formed first, upper layers afterward.
B. They look at the density of rocks. Density gradually increases as Earth
ages.
C. Some elements gradually change into other elements due to radioactivity.
This rate can be studied in the lab, and then applied to rocks to see how old
they are
D. All of the above.
E. A and C
Copyright © 2009 Pearson Education, Inc.
Chapter 18: Life in the Universe
How do we know Earth’s age?
A.
B.
C.
D.
Radiometric dating of the oldest Earth rocks
Radiometric dating of Moon rocks
Radiometric dating of meteorites
All of the above
Copyright © 2009 Pearson Education, Inc.
Chapter 18: Life in the Universe
When did life begin on Earth?
A.
B.
C.
D.
Thousands of years ago
Millions of year ago
Between 3 and 4 billion years ago
We don’t really know.
Copyright © 2009 Pearson Education, Inc.
Chapter 18: Life in the Universe
How do we know when life first arose on Earth?
A. Counting tree rings
B. Radiometric dating of fossils
C. The age of the rocks in which the fossils are found
(determined from layering and radiometric dating of the
rocks)
D. A and B
Copyright © 2009 Pearson Education, Inc.
Chapter 18: Life in the Universe
Why is it unlikely that life could have arisen
before 3-4 billion years ago?
A. Earth was too hot.
B. Earth was being bombarded by planetesimals that formed the
solar system.
C. Earth may not have had much water yet.
D. All of the above.
Copyright © 2009 Pearson Education, Inc.
Chapter 18: Life in the Universe
How do we know that life evolved from simple to more
complex?
A. Like the evolution of stars, we study the mechanism (DNA and mutation, rather
than fusion, gravity, etc.).
B. We look for clues of various stages (fossils, rather than red giants and white
dwarfs).
C. We make predictions of what should be found, then go look (the scientific
method).
D. All of the above.
E. A and B
Copyright © 2009 Pearson Education, Inc.
Chapter 18: Life in the Universe
All living organisms known today evolved from a
common ancestor that lived long ago.
A. True
B. False
Copyright © 2009 Pearson Education, Inc.
Chapter 18: Life in the Universe
How do we know that all living organisms have
evolved from a common ancestor from long ago?
A. The fossil record shows sequences of organisms of similar appearance that
change with time.
B. DNA shows remarkable similarities among all life forms.
C. DNA is more similar among closely related forms.
D. Not only useful but also useless or “junk” DNA is found to be similar among
different organisms.
E. All of the above.
Copyright © 2009 Pearson Education, Inc.
Chapter 18: Life in the Universe
How does evolution affect people today?
A. It doesn’t–evolution takes a long time.
B. If you get the flu this year you can still get sick next year because
the virus evolves.
C. The AIDS virus mutates quickly, making it hard to fight with drugs.
D. Mutation causes antibiotics to gradually lose their effectiveness
against certain infections.
E. B, C, and D
Copyright © 2009 Pearson Education, Inc.
Chapter 18: Life in the Universe
Do you see a similarity between studying the
evolution of the universe and the evolution of life?
The redshifts of galaxies show the universe is expanding.The Big
Bang theory explains how it happens.
The fossil record shows that life changes over time. Natural
selection theory explains how that works.
A. True
B. False
Copyright © 2009 Pearson Education, Inc.
Chapter 18: Life in the Universe
How did life arise?
A. We don’t know.
B. DNA studies suggest that the first life may have lived in hot
water near volcanic vents.
C. This is an object of scientific study.
D. All of the above.
E. B and C
Copyright © 2009 Pearson Education, Inc.
Chapter 18: Life in the Universe
What suggests there could be life on Mars?
A. Evidence of liquid water, and evidence that there was more
water in the past.
B. Mars has the next best climate than Earth. It is colder than us
but was warmer in the past.
C. Mars has an atmosphere.
D. All of the above.
E. A and C
Copyright © 2009 Pearson Education, Inc.
Chapter 18: Life in the Universe
Is there other intelligent life in the universe?
A. Yes; Earth has already been visited by intelligent beings.
B. No; Earth is unique, and conditions similar to Earth’s cannot be found
elsewhere.
C. We don’t know yet.
Copyright © 2009 Pearson Education, Inc.
Chapter 18: Life in the Universe
In 2020, a spacecraft lands on Europa and melts its way
through the ice into the Europan ocean. It finds numerous
living microbes, along with a few larger organisms that feed
on the microbes.
A. This is likely because biosignatures were already detected on Europa by
the Voyager 2 spacecraft.
B. This could happen because there is evidence for an ocean underneath the
icy surface of Europa and water is a good place to look for life.
C. This is fantasy because it would take more than 20 years for a spacecraft to
reach Saturn using current rocket technology.
D. This is fantasy because the X-ray emission from Saturn has effectively
sterilized all the moons around it.
Copyright © 2009 Pearson Education, Inc.
Chapter 18: Life in the Universe
In 2030, someone discovers a way to build a rocket that
burns coal as its fuel and can travel at half the speed of
light.
A. This is possible because rocket technology is constantly improving.
B. This is possible because new power generators using coal are becoming
increasingly more efficient.
C. This is fantasy because purely chemical burning cannot release enough energy
to achieve such speeds.
D. This is fantasy because Einstein showed that it is impossible to travel faster
than a fraction of the speed of light.
E. This is fantasy because there are no brilliant teenagers anymore.
Copyright © 2009 Pearson Education, Inc.
Chapter 18: Life in the Universe
In the year 2750, we receive a signal from a civilization
around a nearby star telling us that the Voyager 2
spacecraft recently crash-landed on their planet.
A. This is a possible because Voyager 2 was deliberately aimed at
nearby stars as it left the solar system.
B. This is fantasy because astronomers have shown that there are no
other civilizations in the universe.
C. This is fantasy because Voyager 2 will take tens of thousands of
years to reach the nearest stars.
D. This is fantasy because there are no stars within 750 light years of the
Sun.
Copyright © 2009 Pearson Education, Inc.