Astro 10 practice for exam 1. Example of a good answer to essay question.

Astro 10 practice for exam 1

Example of a good answer to essay question

QuickTime™ and aTIFF (Uncompressed) decompressor

are needed to see this picture.

Example of a not-so-good answer to essay q:

QuickTime™ and aTIFF (Uncompressed) decompressor

are needed to see this picture.

Please do better than this:

QuickTime™ and aTIFF (Uncompressed) decompressor

are needed to see this picture.

1. Phases of the moon

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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?

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2. Phases of the Moon1

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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 aTIFF (Uncompressed) decompressor

are needed to see this picture.

3. Phases of the moon

QuickTime™ and aTIFF (Uncompressed) decompressor

are needed to see this picture.

At what time wil you see the moon when it is in this phase?

1. Just before sunrise2. Just after sunset3. Around midnight4. This phase could be

visible any time

4. SeasonsYesterday 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 point3. The number of daylight hours will begin to

decrease, until the spring equinox4. The Sun will rise more and more in the north in the

coming months 5. More than one of the above is true

5. SeasonsWhy 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 correct5. 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 circular3. Planets sweep out equal areas in equal times as they

orbit the Sun4. The time it takes for a planet to orbit the Sun depends on

the mass of the Sun5. All of the above are Kepler’s Laws.

8. Newton’s LawsWhich 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 force2. Objects going in a circular path at a constant speed

must be experiencing a force3. 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 true6. All of the above are true

9. Telescopes & observingStars appear to twinkle as their light passes through the

atmosphere. “Twinkling” is called “atmospheric seeing” by astronomers. It happens because

• Layers of the atmosphere are at different temperatures and densities, so the light bends as it passes through them

• molecules in the atmosphere absorb certain wavelengths of light

• The stars are fluctuating in size• 1 and 2 are both correct• None of the above are correct

10. GravityNewton found that any two objects exert a gravitational force on one another, obeying this equation:

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F =Gm1m2d2

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 all2. It would be half as much3. It would be twice as much4. It would be four times as much5. It would be only 1/4 as much