MULTIPLE CHOICE. Choose the one alternative that best completes the statement or answers the question.
1) Where are most of the known asteroids found?
A) between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter
B) in the Kuiper belt
C) in the Oort cloud
D) between the orbits of the jovian planets
E) between the orbits of the terrestrial planets
2) Why did the solar nebula heat up as it collapsed?
A) Nuclear fusion occurring in the core of the protosun produced
energy that heated the nebula.
B) As the cloud shrank, its gravitational potential energy was
converted to kinetic energy and then into thermal energy.
C) Radiation from other nearby stars that had formed earlier
heated the nebula.
D) The shock wave from a nearby supernova heated the gas.
E) Collisions among planetesimals generated friction and heat.
3) According to our theory of solar system formation, why do all
the planets orbit the Sun in the same direction and in nearly the
same plane?
A) The original solar nebula happened to be diskminusshaped by
chance.
B) Any planets that once orbited in the opposite direction or a
different plane were ejected from the solar system.
C) The laws of conservation of energy and conservation of angular
momentum ensure that any rotating, collapsing cloud will end up as
a spinning disk.
D) The Sun formed first, and as it grew in size it spread into a
disk, rather like the way a ball of dough can be flattened into a
pizza by spinning it.
E) Luck explains it, as we would expect that most other solar
systems would not have all their planets orbiting in such a
pattern.
4) The more massive planets in the solar system tend to be less
dense than the lower mass planets.
A) True
B) False
5) As viewed from above the Earth's North Pole, all of the
planets orbit the Sun in the same (counterclockwise) direction.
A) True
B) False
6) Rank the five terrestrial worlds in order of size from
smallest to largest:
A) Mercury, Venus, Earth, Moon, Mars
B) Mercury, Moon, Venus, Earth, Mars
C) Moon, Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars
D) Moon, Mercury, Mars, Venus, Earth
E) Mercury, Moon, Mars, Earth, Venus
7) The core, mantle, and crust of a planet are defined by
differences in their
A) viscosity.
B) temperature.
C) strength.
D) composition.
E) geological activity.
8) The terrestrial planet cores contain mostly metal because
A) the entire planets are made mostly of metal.
B) metals condensed first in the solar nebula and the rocks then
accreted around them.
C) metals sank to the center during a time when the interiors were
molten throughout.
D) radioactivity created metals in the core from the decay of
uranium. E) convection carried the metals to the core.
9) Which of the following best describes convection?
A) It is the process by which rocks sink in water.
B) It is the process in which warm material expands and rises
while cool material contracts and falls.
C) It is the process in which warm material gets even warmer and
cool material gets even cooler.
D) It is the process in which a liquid separates according to
density, such as oil and water separating in a jar.
E) It is the process in which bubbles of gas move upward through a
liquid.
10) The three principal sources of the internal heat of
terrestrial planets are
A) conduction, differentiation, and accretion.
B) accretion, differentiation, and radioactivity.
C) accretion, differentiation, and eruption.
D) convection, differentiation, and eruption.
E) conduction, convection, and eruption.
11) The three principal sources of the internal heat of
terrestrial planets are
A) conduction, differentiation, and accretion.
B) accretion, differentiation, and radioactivity.
C) accretion, differentiation, and eruption.
D) convection, differentiation, and eruption.
E) conduction, convection, and eruption.
12) What are the conditions necessary for a terrestrial planet
to have a strong magnetic field?
A) a molten metallic core only
B) fast rotation only
C) a rocky mantle only
D) both a molten metallic core and reasonably fast rotation
E) both a metal core and a rocky mantle
13) Which of the following does not have a major effect in
shaping planetary surfaces?
A) impact cratering
B) volcanism
C) tectonics
D) erosion
E) magnetism
14) Which of the following describes volcanism?
A) the excavation of bowl-shaped depressions by asteroids or
comets striking a planet's surface
B) the eruption of molten rock from a planet's interior to its
surface
C) the disruption of a planet's surface by internal stresses
D) the wearing down or building up of geological features by wind,
water, ice, and other phenomena of planetary weather
15) A planet is most likely to have tectonic activity if it
has
A) low surface gravity.
B) high surface gravity.
C) low internal temperature.
D) high internal temperature.
E) a dense atmosphere.
16) How have we been able to construct detailed maps of surface
features on Venus?
A) by studying Venus from Earth with powerful telescopes
B) by studying Venus with powerful telescopes on spacecraft that
were sent to orbit Venus
C) by making computer models of geological processes on Venus
D) by using radar from spacecraft that were sent to orbit
Venus
E) by landing spacecraft on the surface for close-up study
17) Which of the following show evidence of ancient river
beds?
A) the Moon
B) Mercury
C) Venus
D) Mars
E) all of the above
18) There is no erosion of surface features on the Moon.
A) True
B) False
19) Which of the following planets has the least substantial
atmosphere? A) Venus
B) Earth
C) Mars
D) Neptune
E) Mercury
20) Why does Venus have such a great difference in temperature
between its "no atmosphere" temperature and its actual
temperature?
A) It has a slow rotation.
B) It is so close to the Sun.
C) It has a large amount of greenhouse gases in its
atmosphere.
D) It has a high level of volcanic activity.
E) It has no cooling effects from oceans.
21) Which of the following gases absorbs ultraviolet light
best?
A) carbon dioxide
B) nitrogen
C) oxygen
D) hydrogen
E) ozone
22) What is the troposphere?
A) the lowest layer in the atmosphere
B) the part of the atmosphere that absorbs optical light
C) the part of the atmosphere that absorbs ultraviolet
D) the part of the atmosphere that absorbs X-rays
E) the highest layer in the atmosphere
23) Where is most of the water on Mars?
A) in its clouds
B) in its polar caps and subsurface ground ice
C) frozen on the peaks of its tall volcanoes
D) in deep underground deposits
E) distributed evenly throughout its atmosphere
24) Why is Mars red?
A) It is made primarily of red clay.
B) Its surface rocks were rusted by oxygen.
C) Its atmosphere scatters blue light more effectively than red
light. D) Its surface is made of ices that absorb blue light.
E) Its surface is made of ices that absorb red light.
25) Without greenhouse gases, Earth's surface would be frozen
over.
A) True
B) False
26) How much energy does Jupiter emit compared with how much it
receives from the Sun?
A) It emits 10 times as much.
B) It emits twice as much.
C) It emits half as much.
D) It emits 10 percent as much.
E) It emits 1 percent as much.
27) Why is Neptune denser than Saturn?
A) It has a different composition than Saturn, including a higher
proportion of hydrogen compounds and rocks.
B) It has a greater proportion of hydrogen than Saturn.
C) The extra mass of Neptune compresses its interior to a greater
extent than that of Saturn.
D) Its hydrogen is molecular, whereas Saturn's hydrogen is
atomic.
E) It is not denser than Saturn.
28) What is Jupiter's Great Red Spot?
A) the place where reddish particles from Io impact Jupiter's
surface
B) a hurricane that comes and goes on Jupiter
C) a large mountain peak poking up above the clouds
D) a long-lived, high-pressure storm
E) the place where Jupiter's aurora is most visible
29) Why are there no impact craters on the surface of Io?
A) It is too small to have been bombarded by planetesimals in the
early solar system.
B) Jupiter's strong gravity attracted the planetesimals more
strongly than Io and thus none landed on its surface.
C) Io did have impact craters but they have all been buried in
lava flows.
D) Any craters that existed have been eroded through the strong
winds on Io's surface.
E) Io's thick atmosphere obscures the view of the craters.
30) How many jovian moons are larger than the planet Pluto?
A) 1, only Ganymede
B) 2, Callisto and Ganymede
C) 4, all the Galilean moons
D) 6, all the Galilean moons plus Titan and Triton
E) none (no moons are larger than any planet)
31) What is the most abundant gas in Titan's atmosphere? A)
methane
B) nitrogen
C) hydrogen compounds
D) oxygen
E) argon
32) Why do astronomers believe Triton may have been a planet
that was captured by Neptune? A) It orbits Neptune in the opposite
direction of Neptune's rotation.
B) It is too large to have been formed in the jovian nebula that
formed Neptune.
C) It has an atmosphere and a measurable greenhouse effect.
D) It undergoes seasonal changes.
E) It is colder than any other moon or planet.
33) What is a Roche zone?
A) a bright layer of gas on Jupiter
B) the region near a planet where tidal forces would tear apart an
object held together only by gravity
C) the region within a planet's magnetic field where charged
particles accumulate
D) the region surrounding a planet where it may have large
moons
E) a region where gravitational resonances clear a gap in a
planet's rings
34) Hydrogen exists as a gas, liquid, and solid within
Jupiter.
A) True
B) False
35) Jupiter does not have seasons because it has no appreciable
axis tilt.
A) True
B) False
36) What is the hydrosphere?
A) another name for the Earth's oceans
B) the layer of the Earth's atmosphere that contains the most
water vapor
C) another name for the Earth, since it contains so much water
D) a layer of water between the mantle and the crust
E) a name for the liquid and frozen water on Earth's surface
37) How fast do plates move on the Earth?
A) a few centimeters per year
B) a few millimeters per century
C) a few kilometers per century
D) quite fast, but only during earthquakes
E) about 1 mile per hour
38) Ridges in the middle of the ocean are places where
A) one plate slides under another, returning older crust to the
mantle.
B) hot mantle material rises upwardand spreads sideways, pushing
the plates apart.
C) plates push together, creating ocean mountain chains.
D) plates slip sideways relativfe to one another.
39) Why does the burning of fossil fuels increase the greenhouse
effect on Earth?
A) Burning fuel warms the planet.
B) Burning releases carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.
C) Burning depletes the amount of ozone, thereby warming the
planet.
D) Burning produces infrared light, which is then trapped by
existing greenhouse gases.
E) All of the above are true.
40) From where did the molecular oxygen in the Earth's
atmosphere originate? A) photosynthesis from plant life
B) photosynthesis from single-celled organisms
C) outgassing from volcanos
D) atmospheric bombardment
E) oxidation of surface rocks
41) Earth outgassed as much carbon dioxide as Venus, but it is
locked up in the oceans and rocks.
A) True
B) False