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Comins DEU 3e Ch 02 Quiz 1 completed
The correct answers are written in bold, italic and underlined.
The most important questions to study for the exam are highlighted.
1. One of the aims of the scientific method is
• to establish a faith system about the behavior of things in nature, in which all people can believe, on the basis of
common sense.
• to reduce the number of theories that explain the behavior of nature.
• to devise the most complex theory that will explain all of the observations of a particular phenomenon, irrespective
of the number of assumptions needed to support the theory.
2. In using the scientific method to investigate a particular
phenomenon, you would normally follow the careful observation of this
phenomenon and analysis of the results by
• the development of a new theory to explain the data without comparison with pre-existing theories.
• a comparison of the results with existing theories; and if no previous theory was found to fit the observations,
you would develop a new theory.
• a statement that, because these results disagree with previous measurements of this phenomenon, your results must
be in error.
3. The concept of the universe adopted by most ancient Greek
philosophers was
• Earth-centered, with the Sun, Moon, planets, and stars orbiting around a stationary Earth.
• stationary, with the fixed Sun, Moon, planets, and stars appearing to move when viewed from a rotating Earth.
• Sun-centered, with the Earth, Moon, planets, and stars orbiting around a stationary Sun.
4. When we watch a planet such as Mars or Jupiter over a period of
several nights, we find that it is moving slowly past the background
stars. What is the normal direction of this motion?
• Toward the west
• Variable, with no preferred direction we would call "normal"
• Toward the east
5. Which of the following planets was known in Greek times?
• Mercury
• Uranus
• Neptune
6. Who is considered to have been the first person to propose that the
Earth and all other planets orbit the Sun?
• A sixteenth-century Polish astronomer named Copernicus
• A seventeenth-century German astronomer named Kepler
• An ancient Greek astronomer named Aristarchus
7. In the heliocentric model of the solar system, the retrograde, or
"backward," westerly motion of a planet against the background stars is
a consequence of
• our view of a Sun-orbiting object from a constantly moving viewpoint, the orbiting Earth.
• our view of the planet from a rotating object, the Earth.
• the speeding up and slowing down of the planet as it moves in an elliptical orbit around the Sun.
8. The most important contribution that Copernicus made to astronomy was
• to develop a mathematical model for a heliocentric cosmology.
• to develop a mathematical model for a geocentric cosmology.
• to show that planetary orbits are ellipses.
9. When a planet is at conjunction, it will
• be at the farthest position from the Sun in the sky, as seen from the Earth.
• rise as the Sun is setting.
• set at the same time as the Sun.
10. When a planet is at superior conjunction,
• the planet is between the Earth and the Sun.
• the Earth is between the Sun and the planet.
• the Sun is between the Earth and the planet.
11. What condition describes the position of greatest elongation for an
inferior planet in our solar system?
• The angle between the Earth-planet line and the planet-Sun line is 90° .
• The angle between the Earth-Sun line and the Earth-planet line is 90°.
• The angle between the Earth-Sun line and the planet-Sun line is 90°.
12. Suppose an astronomer has determined that the planet Neptune is at
opposition. At what time will Neptune be highest in the sky?
• Sunrise or sunset
•
•
Midnight
Noon
13. The true orbital period of a planet around the Sun, compared to the
background stars, is called its
• synodic period.
• sidereal period.
• rotation period.
14. A friend from New York City tells you that she saw Venus high in the
sky at midnight on Christmas Day in 2004. Why do you know that she is
wrong?
• Venus is always too faint to be seen in the winter from the northern hemisphere.
• The orbit of Venus is close to the ecliptic, and therefore it cannot be seen from the latitude of New York City.
• Venus is an inferior planet and always sets before midnight because it remains close to the Sun in our sky.
15. Suppose that on some particular day the straight line from the Sun
to the Earth continues on to pass through Mars and ultimately through
some particular star in the sky. (Drawing a diagram might be helpful.)
One synodic period later, Mars will again be lined up
• with the star and the Sun, but not with the Earth.
• with the Earth and the star, but not with the Sun.
• with the Earth and the Sun, but not with the star.
16. The synodic period for a planet is different from its sidereal
period because
• the Earth (and hence the observer) moves.
• the planet's speed varies as it moves around the Sun in its orbit.
• the planet's orbital distance from the Sun is different from that of the Earth from the Sun.
17. Tycho Brahe's major contribution to the development of modern
astronomy was
• the detailed and precise measurement of the positions of stars and planets in our sky.
• a detailed and successful description of how a star can explode.
• the first telescope observations of the variation of apparent shapes and sizes of planets, particularly Venus and
Mercury.
18. The shape of the Earth's orbit around the Sun is
• elliptical, with the Sun at the center of the ellipse.
•
•
circular, since all orbits of planets have to be circular in order to maintain a constant distance from the Sun.
elliptical, with the Sun at a point known as a focus of the ellipse.
19. Which of the following methods could one use to demonstrate that the
Earth's distance from the Sun varies as a consequence of its elliptical
orbit?
• Measure the variation in the length of the shadow of a vertical pole produced by the Sun at midday throughout the
year
• Measure the time between successive passages of a given star through your zenith
• Measure the angular size of the Sun during the year
20. An object orbiting the Sun with an orbital eccentricity of 0.1 has
an orbit whose shape is
• circular, but with the Sun off-center in the circle.
• a long, narrow ellipse.
• slightly elliptical, but almost circular.