PHY 132 - Practice Quiz Ch. 6-10

Which lists the Jovian Planets in order of increasing distance from the Sun?

Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune

What is Jupiter’s Great Red Spot?

a giant storm, a hurricane

The outer layers of most large jovian moons are made primarily of

Ices.

Why is Io more volcanically active than our Moon?

Io has a different internal heat sources, tidal flexing.

Which moon shows evidence of rainfall and erosion by some liquid substance?

Titan

The asteroid belt lies between the orbits of

Mars and Jupiter

Did a large terrestrial planet ever form in the region of the asteroid belt?

No, because Jupiter prevented one from accreting.

Which objects have the most elliptical and tilted orbits?

Oort cloud comets

Which of the following is not a key pieces of evidence supporting the hypothesis that an impact caused the extinction of the dinosaurs?

Radioactive isotopes found in 65-million-year-old dinosaur bones

What method has detected the most extrasolar planets so far?

Doppler Technique

The Extrasolar planets discovered so far most resemble

Jovian Planets

How many extrasolar planets have been detected?

more than 1000

Which one of the following can the transit method tell us about a planet?

its size

Which method could detect a planet in an orbit that is face-on to Earth?

astrometric technique

How is the planet orbiting 51 Pegasi different from Jupiter?

It’s much closer to its star

Most known extrasolar planets are more massive than Jupiter because

current detection methods are more sensitive to larger planets.

Which detection will the Kepler mission use?

transit method

How much do we know about the composition of extrasolar planets?

we have density information and spectra for a few planets.

What’s the best explanation for the close-in orbits of hot jupiters?

not jupiters formed father out, like Jupiter, but then migrated inward.

Which of these groups of particles has the greatest mass?

four individual protons

Scientists estimate the central temperature of the Sun using

mathematical models of the Sun.

At the center of the Sun, fusion converts hydrogen into

helium and energy

Solar energy leaves the core of the Sun in the form of

photons

Which of these layers of the Sun is coolest?

photosphere

Why do sunspots appear darker than their surroundings?

they are cooler than their surroundings

What do we need to measure in order to determine a star’s luminosity?

apparent brightness and distance

Which of these stars has the coolest surface temperature?

a K star

Which of these stars is the most massive?

a main-sequence A star

Which of these stars has the longest lifetime?

a main-sequence M star

What slows down the contraction of a star-forming cloud when it makes a protostar?

trapping of thermal energy inside the protostar

Which of these stars has the hottest core?

a white main-sequence star

Which of these stars does not have fusion occurring in its core?

a red giant

What happens to a low-mass star after helium fusion begins?

it’s luminosity does down

What would stars be like if hydrogen had the smallest mass per nuclear particle?

Nuclear fusion would not occur in stars of any mass

What would stars be like if carbon had the smallest mass per nuclear particle?

Supernovae would be more common

What would you be most likely to find if you returned to the solar system in 10 billion years?

A white dwarf

In which of the following objects does degeneracy pressure fail to stop gravitational contraction?

the core of a high-mass star

Which of these star clusters is the youngest?

a cluster containing stars of all colors