Download Quiz # 6

Introductory Astronomy
Fall 2002
Quiz # 6
Name________________________
1. Ozone in the stratosphere performs one important task that is protective to life on Earth.
What is this?
A) It absorbs the solar wind as it streams into Earth, thereby protecting life from these
dangerous ionizing radiations.
B) It absorbs much of the dangerous solar ultraviolet light.
C) It acts as a disinfectant, killing dangerous viruses and bacteria that drift in all the
time from space before they can reach Earth.
D) It absorbs infrared radiation, thereby providing us with a comfortable atmospheric
temperature on the surface of Earth.
2. In which layer of the Earth's atmosphere does all of the weather occur?
A) The stratosphere.
B) The mesosphere.
C) The thermosphere.
D) The troposphere.
3. Which fact first gave Alfred Wegener the idea that continents have drifted and are still
drifting over the Earth's surface?
A) The ocean floors were much younger than the continents, indicating that they were
still being formed.
B) The shapes of the east coasts of North and South America fitted nicely against those
of the west coasts of Europe and Africa.
C) A system of mountains and faults running up the middle of the Atlantic sea floor
that showed evidence that the crust was spreading apart from there.
D) Volcanoes and earthquakes were localized into a well-defined “ring of fire” around
the Pacific Ocean and other areas.
4. The motions of large portions of the Earth's surface, the “plates,” are caused by
A) pressure variations in the Earth's atmosphere, both daily and seasonal.
B) tidal flow in oceanic waters.
C) flexing of the Earth's surface due to solar heating and night-time cooling.
D) convective flow of material in the Earth's interior.
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5. The process by which heavier materials sank into the centers of terrestrial planets while
lighter material rose to the surfaces early in the history of these planets is known as
A) hot-spot volcanism.
B) planetary differentiation.
C) seafloor spreading.
D) subduction.
Bonus. What is the basic structure of the Earth's interior?
A) Solid iron inner core, molten iron outer core, rocky mantle, lighter rocky crust.
B) Molten iron inner core, molten rocky outer core, solid rocky mantle, lighter rocky
crust.
C) Molten iron core, molten rocky mantle, solid rocky crust.
D) Molten iron inner core, solid iron outer core, rocky mantle, lighter rocky crust.
I pledge that I have neither given nor received any unauthorized aid on this assignment.
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Answer Key
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
B
D
B
D
B
A
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