1. "Velocity" implies both
a) mass and direction
b) speed and direction
c) speed only
d) direction and momentum
e) speed and momentum
2. If you were to triple the mass of the Earth but keep the radius
the same you would weigh
a) the same as you do now
b) 3 times as much as you do now
c) 1/3 as much as you do now
d) 9 times as much as you do now
e) 1/9 times as much as you do now
3. If you were to triple the radius of the Earth but keep the mass
the same you would weigh
a) the same as you do now
b) 3 times as much as you do now
c) 1/3 as much as you do now
d) 9 times as much as you do now
e) 1/9 as much as you do now
4. Where does the Earth's gravity actually end?
a) at the Sun
b) at the end of the planetary system
c) at the nearest star
d) at the Moon
e) nowhere
5. As you descend in an elevator in a tall building at constant
speed, your weight
a) decreases
b) increases
c) stays the same.
d) does something, but you can't predict what
e) depends on the elevator's speed in meters per second
6. Orbiting astronauts are weightless because the
a) shuttle is out of the Earth's gravity.
b) cabin's hull shields the astronauts from the Earth's
gravity.
c) Earth's gravity is balanced by the Moon's gravity
d) Earth's gravity is balanced by the Sun's gravity
e) astronauts and the cabin are both free-falling bodies.
7. If you could cut off the gravity of the Sun and planets (which
you cannot), Mars would
a) go into a perfectly circular orbit around the Sun
b) go flying away from the Solar System in a straight line
c) go into an elliptical orbit relative to the Sun
d) rotate faster
e) fall directly into the Sun
8. What is at one focus of the orbit of a planet?
a) the planet
b) Ursa Major
c) Polaris
d) the Sun
e) nothing; both foci are empty
9. For the Solar System, the period of a planet in years squared equals the
semi-major axis in AU raised to what power?
a) 1 b) 2 c) 3 d) 4 e) 5
10. As a planet approaches perihelion from aphelion, it
a) moves slower (in kilometers per second)
b) moves at a constant speed
c) moves faster (in kilometers per second)
d) at first moves faster, then slows down
e) at first moves slower then speeds up
11. Which observation by Galileo supports the Copernican
theory?
a) phases of the Moon
b) retrograde motion
c) the discovery of Pluto
d) the color of Mars
e) the phases of Venus
12. A body in a hyperbolic orbit relative to the Sun
a) will sometimes return to the Sun depending on its speed
b) will always return to the Sun
c) will never return to the Sun
d) is not possible
e) will always fall into the Sun
13. Which planet was discovered by William Herschel in the 18th
century?
a) Venus
b) Mercury
c) Neptune
d) Uranus
e) Pluto
14. The orbits of planets cannot actually be perfect ellipses
because
a) of their rotations
b) the planets are not spherical
c) of the gravitational pulls of the other planets
d) of the gravitational pulls of the stars
e) the Sun's gravitational field does not behave according to
an inverse square law
15. The motion of Uranus led to the discovery of
a) Venus b) Jupiter c) Mars d) Neptune e) the
asteroids
16. If you could suddenly shrink the Earth (make the Earth smaller
in radius but keep the same mass), the length of the day would
a) increase
b) decrease
c) stay the same
d) increase or decrease depending on the time of year
e) be unpredictable
17. Kepler's third law as generalized by Newton allows you to
find
a) the mass of the Sun
b) nothing
c) the chemical composition of Jupiter's atmosphere
d) your latitude
e) the season of the year
18. Pluto was discovered by
a) Albert Einstein
b) Isaac Newton
c) Edmund Halley
d) Clyde Tombaugh
e) William Herschel
19. Kepler's second law of planetary motion is essentially the
conservation of
a) angular momentum
b) mass
c) energy
d) mass plus energy
e) electric charge
20. Your weight on a planet depends
a) only on the planet's mass
b) only on the planet's radius
c) on both the planet's mass and radius
d) on neither the planet's mass nor radius
e) on the planet's mass, radius, and magnetic field