Download Exam 1 practice questions

Astro 10 practice for exam 1
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1. Phases of the moon
2
1
3
sun
a
8
b
4
d
c
5
7
6
This is the view of the earth, moon and sun as viewed
from above the earth’s north pole. At which position is
the moon during Third Quarter?
2
2. Phases of the Moon
1
3
a
8
b
4
d
c
5
7
6
This is the view of the
earth, moon and sun as
viewed from above the
earth’s north pole. At
which position is the
moon when it appears
like this?
QuickTime™ and a
TIFF (Uncompressed) decompressor
are needed to see this picture.
3. Phases of the moon
At what time wil you see the moon when it is in
this phase?
1.
2.
3.
4.
Just before sunrise
Just after sunset
Around midnight
This phase could be
visible any time
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TIFF (Uncompressed) decompressor
are needed to see this picture.
4. Seasons
Yesterday was the ‘autumnal equinox.’ What is
special about this day?
1. The amount of daylight hours equals the number
of night time hours
2. The earth is furthest from the sun at this point
3. The number of daylight hours will begin to
decrease, until the spring equinox
4. The Sun will rise more and more in the north in the
coming months
5. More than one of the above is true
5. Seasons
Why does it get colder during December, January
and February?
1. The earth is further from the sun than during
the other months of the year
2. The earth’s spin axis is tilted so that the
sunlight is unevenly distributed over the globe
3. There are fewer hours of daylight in the
northern hemisphere during these months
4. 1 and 3 are both correct
5. 2 and 3 are both correct
6. Galileo
Which of the following is true of Galileo?
1. He discovered the laws of planetary motion
2. He discovered that Venus has craters
3. He discovered 4 moons orbiting Jupiter
4. He was able to measure the distances to nearby
stars, showing that they are at great distances from
earth
5. More than one of the above
7. Kepler’s Laws
Which of the following is one of Kepler’s laws of planetary
motion?
1. The time it takes for a planet to orbit the Sun depends on
the mass of the planet
2. The orbits of the planets are circular
3. Planets sweep out equal areas in equal times as they
orbit the Sun
4. The time it takes for a planet to orbit the Sun depends on
the mass of the Sun
5. All of the above are Kepler’s Laws.
8. Newton’s Laws
Which of the following is true according to Newton’s
Laws of Motion?
1. Objects in motion will gradually slow down unless
acted upon by a force
2. Objects going in a circular path at a constant speed
must be experiencing a force
3. A book that is resting on a table is not subject to any
forces at all.
4. If I push a very heavy cart across the room, I must
have exerted a greater force on it, than it did on me.
5. More than one of the above is true
6. All of the above are true
9. Telescopes & observing
Stars appear to twinkle as their light passes through the
atmosphere. “Twinkling” is called “atmospheric seeing”
by astronomers. It happens because
1. Layers of the atmosphere are at different temperatures
and densities, so the light bends as it passes through
them
2. molecules in the atmosphere absorb certain
wavelengths of light
3. The stars are fluctuating in size
4. 1 and 2 are both correct
5. None of the above are correct
10. Gravity
Newton found that any two objects exert a gravitational
force on one another, obeying this equation:
Gm1m2
F
2
d
The Moon is about 400,000 km away from Earth. If the
distance were only 200,000 km, how would the
gravitational force change?
1. It would not change at all
2. It would be half as much
3. It would be twice as much
4. It would be four times as much
5. It would be only 1/4 as much
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