Ast ch 4-5 practice Test Multiple Choice

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1 Ast ch 4-5 practice Test Multiple Choice 1. The distance from Alexandria to Syene is about 500 miles. On the summer solstice the sun is directly overhead at noon in Syene. At Alexandria on the summer solstice, the sun is 1/50th of the circumference of the sky (about 7 ) south of the zenith. Based on this information, what is the circumference of Earth? a. 25,000 miles b. 10 miles c miles d miles e miles 2. The book "De Revolutionibus Orbium Coelestium" a. describes how Galileo's observations and Kepler's calculations proved the Copernican theory. b. describes the construction of Galileo's telescope and his observations. c. is a dialog written to convince the general public of the merits of the Copernican theory. d. first described the Copernican theory. e. describes the Tychonian theory. 3. The Copernican system was no more accurate than the Ptolemaic system in predicting the positions of the planets because a. the Copernican system used the old value for the radius of Earth. b. Copernicus had been unable to detect parallax. c. the Copernican system included uniform circular motion. d. in the Copernican system only Mercury and Venus orbit the sun, all other planets orbited Earth. e. Copernicus used inaccurate data from Ptolemy's system. 4. A is a commonly accepted set of scientific ideas and assumptions. a. theory b. paradigm c. hypothesis d. natural law e. model 5. A is a single conjecture that can be tested. a. hypothesis b. paradigm c. natural law d. model e. theory 6. Saturn is on average 10 AU from the sun. What is the approximate orbital period of Saturn? a. 10 years b. 32 years c. 100 years d years e. 1,000,000 years

2 7. An apparent westward motion of a planet in the sky compared to the background stars (as viewed from the Earth) when observed on successive nights is referred to as a. epicycle b. retrograde motion c. prograde motion d. heliocentric motion e. deferent 8. According to Aristotle an object with no forces in it will a. move faster and faster. b. stop moving eventually. c. move at a constant speed forever. 9. According to Galileo, the acceleration of a freely falling object due to gravity is the larger the mass of the object. a. larger b. smaller c. always the same 10. Galileo found that a. falling objects fall at a constant speed. b. heavy and light objects fall at the same rate. c. heavy objects fall faster than lighter objects. d. the moon's orbit is elliptical. e. only objects made of earth and water fell to the ground. 11. Gravity obeys the inverse square law. This statement implies that the gravitational force of one body on another will be apart. a. two times stronger at 2 meters than at 6 meters b. three times stronger at 2 meters than at 6 meters c. six times weaker at 2 meters than at 6 meters d. nine times stronger at 2 meters than at 6 meters e. The brightness of the force will not change with distance between the two bodies. 12. The circular velocity of a satellite orbiting Earth is given by. In this equation, a. M represents the mass of the satellite, and r is its radius. b. M represents the mass of Earth and r the radius of Earth. c. M represents the mass of the satellite and r the distance from Earth to the satellite. d. M represents the mass of Earth and r the distance from Earth to the satellite. e. M represents the mass of the satellite and r the distance from Earth's surface to the satellite. 13. A(n) orbit is one where the orbiting object is always above the same location on Earth's surface. a. elliptical b. geosynchronous c. closed d. hyperbolic e. parabolic 14. The radius of Earth is 6378 km. The force of gravity on a 1 kg ball at Earth's surface is 9.8 kg m s 2. What is the force of gravity on this same ball when the ball is located 12,756 km from Earth's center?

3 G = N m 2 kg 2 a kg m s 2 b kg m s 2 c. 4.9 kg m s 2 d kg m s 2 e. 9.8 kg m s What is the circular velocity of an object orbiting Earth at a distance of 100,000 km from Earth's center? G = N m 2 kg 2 a. 2 m/s b. 20 m/s c. 200 m/s d m/s e. 20,000 m/s 16. One of the first tests of the general theory of relativity was a. the description of the orbit of the moon. b. the determination of the speed of light to be constant. c. the change in mass of a particle moving at a high speed. d. the demonstration of a hammer and a feather falling at the same rate on the moon. e. the determination of the rate of advance of the perihelion of Mercury's orbit. 17. If the mass of the Earth decreased by a factor of two with no change in radius, your weight would a. increase by a factor of 4. b. increase by a factor of 2. c. stay the same. d. decrease by a factor of 2 e. decrease by a factor of The force due to gravity between two objects depends on I. the mass of each object. II. the distance each object is from Earth. III. the distance between the two objects. IV. the speed of light. a. I & II b. I & III c. II & IV d. I, II, & III e. I, II, III, & IV 19. Since gravity behaves as an inverse square relation the force due to gravity between two masses a. will increase as the distance between the two masses increases. b. will decrease as the square of the distance between the two masses increases. c. will cause the two masses to move away from each other. d. will cause the two masses to move in a straight line. e. will cause the two masses to orbit each other. 20. Which type of curve would accurately represent a closed orbit? a. ellipse

4 b. hyperbola c. parabola d. straight line True/False Indicate whether the statement is true or false. 21. Viewed from the center of Stonehenge, the summer solstice sun rises behind the Heelstone. 22. Parallax is the apparent change in location of an object due to the motion of the observer. 23. Many classical astronomers believed Earth could not move because they detected no parallax. 24. The Ptolemaic model of the universe was heliocentric. 25. Classical Greek astronomers believed the motions of the heavens could be described by uniform circular motion. 26. The Copernican model of the solar system has the planets orbit the sun along elliptical paths. 27. Copernicus was the first to propose that Earth moves around the sun. 28. Galileo wrote the Almagest. 29. Galileo used a telescope to observe the phases of Venus. 30. If a planet orbits the sun at a distance of 4 AU, then its orbital period is 8 years. 31. Kepler's 2 nd of planetary motion states that the orbits of the planets are ellipses with the Sun at one focus. 32. Kepler completed the Rudolphine Tables. 33. Galileo believed that motion stopped in the absence of a force. 34. The force due to gravity has the mathematical form:. 35. The law of gravitation is termed universal because it is a property of all material objects. 36. Changing the direction of a moving body does not change its velocity. 37. The lunar tides on Earth are making the moon recede from Earth. 38. The apparent positions of stars around the sun during an eclipse have been used to prove the general theory of relativity. 39. The neap tides can only occur when the Moon's position is at or near one of its orbital nodes.

5 40. The spring tides occur during the new and full lunar phases. Completion Complete each statement. 41. is a description of the Ptolemaic model of the solar system. 42. The first observations of objects in the solar system that orbit neither the sun nor Earth were made by. 43. Uranus' orbital period is 84 years. How far is Uranus from the sun? 44. Tables based on a heliocentric model of the universe which used elliptical orbits for the planets were more accurate than. 45. The modern first astronomer to propose a heliocentric model for the solar system was. 46. The of a particle is the mass we would measure if the particle were not moving. 47. A ball is dropped from the top of a science building. What is the speed of the ball after falling for three seconds? 48. The states that an observer cannot distinguish locally the difference between inertial forces due to acceleration and uniform gravitational forces due to the presence of a massive object. 49. What is the speed of light in meters per second? 50. Once a theory has been tested thoroughly and is confidently believed by scientists it becomes a.