Deck 8: The Sun

Question 1

The layer above the chromosphere is the photosphere.

Answer 1

False

Question 2

Sunspots tend to occur in groups, or pairs, with the magnetic field around the pair resembling that around a bar magnet.

Answer 2

True

Question 3

Nuclear fusion within the Sun proceeds step by step in a series of reactions called the neutron-neutron chain.

Answer 3

False

Question 4

Spicules can trigger communications blackouts and auroras on Earth.

Question 5

Which two elements are most abundant within the Sun?

A) hydrogen and oxygen
B) hydrogen and helium
C) helium and carbon
D) helium and nitrogen
E) hydrogen and carbon

Question 6

When the Sun generates its own energy, it uses weak forces to bind together atomic nuclei.

Question 7

Helioseismology maps of rotation in the Sun's interior show that its internal gases rotate with equal periods.

Question 8

The Sun is a ball of hot gas held together by its own gravity.

Question 9

What is the average distance between the Sun and Earth?

A) 1 AU
B) 2 AU
C) 5 AU
D) 10 AU
E) 20 AU

Question 10

Which is the correct order of the Sun's atmospheric layers, from the innermost to outermost?

A) chromosphere → corona → photosphere
B) corona → chromosphere → photosphere
C) chromosphere → photosphere → corona
D) photosphere → chromosphere → corona
E) photosphere → corona → chromosphere

Question 11

The corona is so dim that it is not visible in Earth's daytime sky.

Question 12

The visible surface of the Sun is composed of solid matter.

Question 13

Granulation is caused by convection currents just below the photosphere.

Question 14

Sunspot numbers follow a seven-year cycle.

Question 15

What is the approximate average temperature of the Sun's surface?

A) 5000 ^o C
B) 5800^oC
C) 5800 K
D) 6400 K
E) 10,000^oC

Question 16

Nuclear fusion in the Sun is tremendously powerful.

Question 17

What are the dark regions that give the Sun's photosphere a mottled appearance?

A) sunspots
B) spicules
C) granules
D) flares
E) CMEs

Question 18

The upper chromosphere is hot enough to emit X-rays.

Question 19

Almost all the light we receive from the Sun escapes from underneath its photosphere.

Question 20

Sunspots are parts of active solar regions dominated by magnetic fields that encompass all layers of the Sun's atmosphere.

Question 21

When mapping the interior of the Sun, astronomers must measure _____ as the photosphere moves up and down.

A) sunspots
B) magnetic fields
C) supergranules
D) limb darkening
E) Doppler shifts

Question 22

What occurs on the surface of the Sun during a solar cycle minimum?

A) reversal in rotation of the Sun
B) little to no sunspot activity
C) decreased temperature of the photosphere
D) partial dissipation of the corona
E) little to no solar wind

Question 23

How many nuclear reactions occur in a proton-proton chain?

A) one
B) two
C) three
D) four
E) five

Question 24

When two arches in a magnetic field encounter each other, ____ can cause powerful eruptions called ____.

A) reconnection events; flares
B) supergranules; Coulumb barriers
C) filaments; coronal holes
D) solar winds; convective zones
E) prominences; limb darkening

Question 25

Galileo proposed that the Sun is a rotating sphere after he ____.

A) timed a full rotation of the Sun's equator
B) observed sunspots move across the surface of the Sun
C) measured different spectral lines of emission on different days
D) noted how the Sun rose in the east and set in the west
E) discovered the parallax of the Sun

Question 26

What causes granulation on the photosphere?

A) convection
B) solar cycle
C) magnetic fields
D) bursts of energy
E) differential rotation

Question 27

Astronomers can measure the magnetic fields of sunspots using the ____, which splits spectral lines into multiple components.

A) Zeeman effect
B) Maunder effect
C) Babcock effect
D) Galileo effect
E) Payne effect

Question 28

Why does the temperature of the corona rise with latitude?

A) Atoms within the corona become more ionized at higher altitudes.
B) Atoms are forced upward from the chromosphere to the corona.
C) Atoms become neutralized as they dissipate in higher altitudes.
D) Atoms undergo fission when repelled by the corona.
E) Atoms are less excited as they move from the photosphere to the corona.

Question 29

Consider the complete magnetic cycle of sunspot activity on the Sun. Approximately how many years is this cycle?

A) 7 years
B) 11 years
C) 22 years
D) 40 years
E) 100 years

Question 30

The pink color of the chromosphere is produced by the combined light of three emission lines of hydrogen: ____.

A) blue, green, and yellow
B) red, blue, and violet
C) green, blue, and violet
D) red, magenta, and violet
E) indigo, blue, and red

Question 31

Figure 8-2b
What process on the Sun's photosphere does this figure represent?

A) solar cycle
B) sunspot cycle
C) convection currents
D) magnetic field shifts
E) differential rotation

Question 32

Figure 8-1b
Which layer of the Sun's atmosphere is represented in the accompanying visual-wavelength image?

A) magnetic carpet
B) chromosphere
C) heliosphere
D) solar wind
E) corona

Question 33

The corona can reach temperatures of up to ____.

A) 5800 K
B) 10,000 K
C) 500,000 K
D) 1,000,000 K
E) 2,000,000 K

Question 34

What methodology do astronomers use to map the inside of the Sun?

A) heliogeology
B) chromography
C) coronagraphy
D) helioseismology
E) magnetic field mapping

Question 35

The Babcock model of the solar magnetic cycle explains the sunspot cycle as primarily a consequence of the Sun's ____.

A) meridional flow
B) convection currents
C) differential rotation
D) coronal mass ejections
E) helioseimologic activity

Question 36

Granulation is evidence that energy in the photosphere ____.

A) is flowing downward towards the core
B) stays horizontal on the surface
C) is spiraling westward
D) is spiraling eastward
E) is flowing upward

Question 37

Of the following parts of the Sun, which is the hottest?

A) sunspots
B) corona
C) photosphere
D) supergranules
E) chromosphere

Question 38

The _____ occurs when some of the energy in the convective motion of gas is converted into magnetic field energy.

A) Zeeman effect
B) Maunder minimum
C) meridional flow
D) dynamo effect
E) reconnection event

Question 39

Astronomers refer to the dark center of a sunspot as a(n) ____

A) eye
B) flare
C) umbra
D) spicule
E) penumbra

Question 40

Astronomers often record solar images in the ____ part of the electromagnetic spectrum because the gaseous layers high in the Sun's atmosphere are very hot and emit most of their light at short wavelengths.

A) visible light
B) microwave
C) ultraviolet
D) gamma
E) infrared

Question 41

During the first reaction of the proton-proton chain of nuclear fusion, a weak force causes one of the protons to transform into a neutron and emit ____.

A) a positron and a neutrino
B) a positron and a deuterium
C) a neutrino and a deuterium
D) a neutrino and an electron
E) a deuterium and an electron

Question 43

The Maunder minimum occurred in the 17th century, which many scientists debate the labeling of that time as the "Little Ice Age". However, it occurred before the Industrial Revolution and thus, had no significant impact on the human standard of living as we know in today's society. Suppose the Sun experienced a similar period today. How would life on Earth be impacted?

Question 44

During nuclear fusion, four hydrogen nuclei fuse into how many helium?

A) one
B) two
C) three
D) four
E) eight

Question 45

Explain the role of convection on the Sun's surface.

Question 46

The number of _______________ visible on the Sun varies in a cycle with a period of 11 years.

Question 47

What are the only four forces that can affect matter?

Question 48

Which of the natural forces bind atomic nuclei?

A) strong force
B) weak force
C) gravitational force
D) Newtonian force
E) electromagnetic force

Question 49

Explain the Babcock model and why the solar cycle should really be considered as a 22-year cycle instead of 11-year cycle.

Question 50

Why was the Davis experiment only able to detect one-third of the neutrinos originally predicted?

A) Most of the neutrinos were absorbed by Earth's atmosphere.
B) The neutrinos combined with other particles as they entered Earth's atmosphere.
C) The neutrinos distributed evenly among three different flavors while traveling to Earth.
D) The number of neutrinos was too great to be held in the tank that Davis designed.
E) The other two-thirds of neutrinos dissipated while traveling to Earth.

Question 51

The _______________ is a thin layer of gas from which Earth receives most of the Sun's light.

Question 52

What occurs during nuclear fusion within the Sun and how much energy is produced?

Question 53

What is released from the proton-proton chain and is immediately absorbed by the surrounding gas, thereby heating it?

A) positrons
B) deuterium
C) gamma rays
D) neutrinos
E) electron motion

Question 54

In order for nuclear fusion to occur, atomic nuclei must overcome the ____ by colliding violently.

A) coronal hole
B) dynamo effect
C) convective zone
D) radiative zone
E) Coulomb barrier

Question 55

The chromosphere is roughly _______________ times fainter than the photosphere.

Question 56

Which equation represents the overall nuclear fusion process of the Sun?

A) 4 ⁴ H => ⁴ He - energy
B) 2 ¹ H => ¹ He + energy
C) 4 ¹ H => 2 ¹ He - energy
D) 4 ¹ H => ⁴ He + energy
E) ⁴ H => ⁸ He + energy

Question 57

The most abundant gas making up the Sun's composition is _______________.

Question 58

What forms of electromagnetic radiation from the Sun's emissions do we experience here on Earth? Illustrate how we know this to be the case with one practical example for each form.

Question 59

The magnetic polarities of sunspots _______________ at the end of an 11-year cycle.

Question 60

Why do sunspots occur darker than the rest of the Sun's surface?

Question 61

The images produced by _______________ reveal streamers in the corona that follow magnetic lines of force in the Sun's magnetic field.

Question 62

The solar wind extends to the _______________ , marking an outer boundary of the Solar System.

Question 63

How is the Sun's rotation different than that of Earth's?

Question 64

Historical records show that there were very few sunspots from about 1645 to 1715, a phenomenon known as the _______________.

Question 65

Stars, like our Sun, generate their energy by way of nuclear _______________.

Question 66

What is the safest way to view the Sun and its sunspots?

Question 67

The _______________ of the solar disk is dimmer than the center, which is caused by the absorption of light in the photosphere.

Question 68

Gas flows away from the Sun in the _______________, which can be considered an extension of the corona.

Question 69

The _______________ predicts that pairs of sunspots should occur where magnetic tubes burst through the Sun's surface.

Question 70

What causes auroras and where are they most prominent on Earth?