Deck 3: The Origin of Modern Astronomy

Question 1

What is the term for a single conjecture that can be tested?

A)hypothesis
B)paradigm
C)model
D)theory

Answer 1

hypothesis

Question 2

In what circumstances is retrograde motion observable?

A)It is observable for planets located between the Earth and the Sun.
B)It is observable for planets more distant from the Sun than the Earth
C)It is only observable for the Moon.
D)It is observable for all planets.

Answer 2

It is observable for planets more distant from the Sun than the Earth

Question 3

What is the term for a commonly accepted set of scientific ideas and assumptions?

A)theory
B)paradigm
C)hypothesis
D)natural law

Answer 3

paradigm

Question 4

When do spring tides occur?

A)at new Moon and first quarter Moon
B)at first quarter and third quarter Moons
C)at new Moon and full Moon
D)at third quarter and full Moons

Question 5

What was Tycho Brahe's greatest contribution to astronomy?

A)his model of the universe
B)his telescopic observations
C)his discovery of three laws of motion
D)his 20 years of careful observations of the planets

Question 6

Which of the following describes the semi-major axis of an ellipse?

A)the ratio of the longest diameter of the ellipse to the shortest diameter of the ellipse
B)half the length of the shortest diameter of the ellipse
C)half the length of the longest diameter of the ellipse
D)the distance between the two foci of the ellipse

Question 7

Which of the following occur only when the Moon is in the first or third quarter?

A)neap tides
B)spring tides
C)total solar eclipses
D)annular eclipses

Question 8

What did Eratosthenes measure very accurately?

A)the size of the Earth
B)the length of the year
C)the distance to the Moon
D)the length of the month

Question 9

The Copernican system was no more accurate than the Ptolemaic system in predicting the positions of the planets because of a key factor unchanged from the Ptolemaic system.What was that factor?

A)The Copernican system assumed the Earth was at rest at the centre.
B)The Copernican system used elliptical planetary orbits.
C)The Copernican system used uniform circular motion.
D)The Copernican system assumed all planets orbited the Sun.

Question 10

What is the term for a description of some natural phenomenon that can't be right or wrong,but is merely a convenient way to think about a natural phenomenon?

A)hypothesis
B)paradigm
C)model
D)theory

Question 11

What is parallax?

A)the apparent motion of an object due to the motion of the observer
B)the distance between two straight lines
C)the small circle that the planets slid along in Ptolemy's geocentric universe
D)the distance between two foci of an ellipse

Question 12

What is the term for a well supported (observationally and/or experimentally)system of rules and principles that can be applied to a wide variety of circumstances but that is not universally accepted?

A)hypothesis
B)paradigm
C)theory
D)model

Question 13

What do we call an orbit that has the same period as the rotation period of the Earth?

A)a daily orbit
B)a lunar orbit
C)an epicycle orbit
D)a geosynchronous orbit

Question 14

What did Galileo's observations of a complete set of phases of Venus prove?

A)that Venus orbited the Sun
B)that the Earth orbited the Sun
C)that all of the planets orbited the Sun
D)that Venus had an atmosphere

Question 15

What feature of Ptolemy's model of the universe allowed it to explain retrograde motion?

A)heliocentrism
B)elliptical orbits
C)epicycles
D)geocentrism

Question 16

Galileo's telescopic discoveries of mountains on the Moon and spots on the Sun were controversial because they suggested something about the Sun and Moon.What was it?

A)that they were the same kind of object
B)that they were not perfect spheres
C)that they were inhabited
D)that they orbited each other

Question 17

What is the book "De Revolutionibus Orbium Coelestium" about?

A)It describes how Galileo's observations and Kepler's calculations proved the Copernican theory.
B)It describes the construction of Galileo's telescope and his observations.
C)It is a dialogue written to convince the general public of the merits of the Copernican theory.
D)It lays out the Copernican theory for the first time.

Question 18

What is the term for a small circle that has its centre located on the circumference of another larger circle?

A)equant
B)deferent
C)retrograde loop
D)epicycle

Question 19

What was a common feature of astronomy as practiced worldwide prior to the Greeks?

A)recognizing patterns
B)making hypotheses
C)defining the 24-hour clock
D)observing supernovae

Question 20

What two numbers tell us the size and shape of an ellipse?

A)radius, eccentricity
B)radius, deferent
C)semi-major axis, deferent
D)semi-major axis, eccentricity

Question 21

Which of the following astronomers described the universe in a way that matches the diagram?

A)Kepler
B)Ptolemy
C)Copernicus
D)Galileo

Question 22

When Mars is located directly behind the Earth with respect to the Sun in its orbit,we see it at its highest in the sky.At what time of day or night does this happen?

A)at sunset
B)at midnight
C)at sunrise
D)at noon

Question 23

Which of the following statements reflects beliefs that were almost universally held in pre-Copernican astronomy?

A)The planets travelled in elliptical orbits around the Earth.
B)The planets travelled in elliptical orbits around the Sun.
C)The Sun was at the centre of the universe.
D)The Earth was at the centre of the universe.

Question 24

Which of the following planets can be seen in a crescent phase when observed from the Earth?

A)Mercury and Venus
B)Venus and Mars
C)Mercury
D)Jupiter and Saturn

Question 25

What does the force due to gravity between two objects depend on?

A)the objects' masses and velocities
B)the objects' masses and the distance between them
C)the objects' velocities and the distance between them
D)the objects' distance from the Earth

Question 26

An object has been located orbiting the Sun at a distance of 65 AU.What is the approximate orbital period of this object?

A)8.1 years
B)65 years
C)524 years
D)4225 years

Question 27

When we say that gravitation is universal,what do we mean?

A)The Earth exerts gravitational force on objects on its surface.
B)The Earth exerts a gravitational force on its Moon and vice versa.
C)The Earth, the Moon, and the Sun exert gravitational force on each other.
D)All objects exert gravitational force on one another.

Question 28

Given its orbital period of 76 years,what is the average distance of Comet Halley from the Sun?

A)18 AU
B)38 AU
C)51 AU
D)114 AU

Question 29

Would your mass and weight change if you went to the Moon?

A)weight would change but mass would not
B)mass would change but weight would not
C)both would change
D)neither would change

Question 30

Which of the following statements is implied by Kepler's first law of planetary motion?

A)The planets move at a constant speed at all points in their orbits.
B)The planets all move around the Earth in elliptical orbits.
C)Uniform circular motion is adequate to describe the motion of all planets.
D)The planets move in elliptical orbits around the Sun.

Question 31

Imagine a satellite in orbit around the Earth,always at a constant distance from the centre of the Earth.Which of its properties changes?

A)velocity
B)speed
C)acceleration
D)mass

Question 32

What was the basis for Isaac Newton's conclusion that a force from the Earth must be acting on the Moon?

A)A force is needed to keep the Moon in motion in its orbit.
B)A force is needed to pull the Moon outward.
C)A force is needed to accelerate the Moon toward the Earth, away from straight-line motion.
D)The Moon moved at a constant velocity in a straight line.

Question 33

What was the reason for using epicycles and deferents to explain the motion of the planets in the night sky?

A)prograde motion
B)Mercury and Venus's limited angular distance from the Sun
C)retrograde motion
D)non-uniform speed of the planets in their orbits

Question 34

On average,Saturn is 10 AU from the Sun.What is the approximate orbital period of Saturn?

A)10 years
B)32 years
C)1000 years
D)3200 years

Question 35

If the mass of the Earth decreased by a factor of 2,with no change in the radius,what would happen to your weight?

A)It would increase by a factor of 4.
B)It would increase by a factor of 2.
C)It would decrease by a factor of 2.
D)It would decrease by a factor of 4.

Question 36

The period of Jupiter's orbit around the Sun is approximately 12 years.What is the approximate distance from the Sun to Jupiter?

A)5.2 AU
B)42 AU
C)144 AU
D)1728 AU

Question 37

What is the term for the apparent westward motion of a planet in the sky compared to the background stars (as viewed from the Earth)when observed on successive nights?

A)epicycle
B)retrograde motion
C)prograde motion
D)heliocentric motion

Question 38

Gravity obeys an inverse square relation.What does this statement imply about the force due to gravity between two masses?

A)It will increase as the distance between the two masses increases.
B)It will decrease as the square of the distance between the two masses increases.
C)It will cause the two masses to move in a straight line.
D)It will cause the two masses to orbit each other.

Question 39

Which of the following objects cannot transit (i.e.pass in front of)the Sun,as seen from Jupiter?

A)Mercury
B)Venus
C)Mars
D)Saturn

Question 40

Which of the following statements is implied by Kepler's second law of planetary motion?

A)A planet should move at its greatest speed when it is closest to the Sun.
B)The most massive planets will have the greatest speed in their orbits.
C)The speed of a planet in its orbit depends on the size of the epicycle.
D)The mass of the planet determines how far the planet is from the Sun.

Question 41

A(n)____________________ is a circle,the centre of which moves in a circular orbit around the Earth.

Question 42

The orbit of the planet Jupiter is an ellipse with the Sun at one focus.What is located at the other focus?

A)the Earth
B)the asteroid belt
C)Saturn
D)nothing

Question 43

According to Kepler's third law,a planet's orbital period ____________________ is equal to its average distance from the Sun ____________________.

Question 44

The Ptolemaic model of the universe was heliocentric.

Question 45

The first observations of objects in the solar system that orbited neither the Sun nor the Earth were made by ____________________.

Question 46

In Ptolemy's view of the universe,what is at the centre of a planet's epicycle?

A)the Sun
B)the Earth
C)the deferent
D)the equant

Question 47

Many classical Greek astronomers believed the Earth could not move because they detected no parallax.

Question 48

Classical Greek astronomers believed the motions of the heavens could be described by uniform circular motion.

Question 49

The Copernican model of the solar system has the planets orbiting the Sun along elliptical paths.

Question 50

The first modern astronomer to propose a heliocentric model for the solar system was ____________________.

Question 51

What does the eccentricity of a planet's orbit describe?

A)westward motion in the night sky when observed on successive nights
B)deviation in shape when compared to a circle
C)tilt with respect to the ecliptic plane
D)the tilt of the planet's rotational axis with respect to the ecliptic

Question 52

Copernicus was the first to propose that the Earth moved around the Sun.

Question 53

What was the greatest inaccuracy in Copernicus's model of the solar system?

A)that the planets travelled in circular orbits with uniform motion
B)that the planets travelled on epicycles, the centres of which followed orbits around the Sun
C)that the planets travelled in elliptical orbits
D)that the planets were allowed to travel backwards in their orbits

Question 54

Which of the following statements best describes Kepler's third law of planetary motion?

A)The smaller the diameter of a planet, the faster its rotational period.
B)The orbital period of a planet is directly proportional to the diameter of the planet.
C)The smaller the orbit, the longer its orbital period.
D)The larger the orbit, the longer its orbital period.

Question 55

The orbital period of Uranus is 84 years.How far is Uranus from the Sun?

Question 56

A scientific model can never be exactly correct.

Question 57

Ocean tides of low amplitude that occur at first and third quarter Moons are called ____________________.

Question 58

Ptolemy formulated a(n)____________________ model of the solar system to predict positions of the Sun,Moon,and planets.

Question 59

How did Galileo's observations of moons orbiting Jupiter conflict with the geocentric model of the universe of his time?

A)The moons moved in non-circular orbits about Jupiter.
B)The moons did not appear to orbit the Sun.
C)The moons did not appear to orbit the Earth.
D)The moons appeared to be too small, and therefore too far away, to be considered part of the solar system.

Question 60

A comet is found in a highly elliptical orbit with a semi-major axis equal to one astronomical unit (AU).According to Kepler's third law of planetary motion,what would the sidereal period of this comet be?

A)It would be more than one year.
B)It would be one year.
C)It would be less than one year.
D)It would be 76 years; the same for every comet.

Question 61

Discuss which of Galileo's observations argued against the geocentric model and which of his discoveries argued for the heliocentric model.

Question 62

How did the geocentric model and the heliocentric model of the universe explain retrograde motion?

Question 63

If Copernicus overthrew the geocentric universe,what did Kepler overthrow?

Question 64

Describe the differences between the Ptolemaic,Tychonian,and Copernican models of the universe.

Question 65

If a planet orbits the Sun at a distance of 4 AU,then its orbital period is 8 years.

Question 66

Why does Ptolemy include epicycles in his model?

Question 67

What are Newton's three laws of motion?

Question 68

How did Tycho Brahe's model of the universe differ from that of Ptolemy? How did Tycho Brahe's model of the universe differ from that of Copernicus?

Question 69

The spring tides occur during the new and full lunar phases.

Question 70

Why were Galileo's telescopic observations of the phases of Venus critical evidence in favour of the Copernican theory?

Question 71

Describe one observation that would disprove the Ptolemaic model and explain why it would conflict with the model.

Question 72

The force due to gravity has the mathematical form:

Question 73

What are Kepler's three laws of planetary motion?

Question 74

Describe the Ptolemaic model of the universe.Draw a diagram of the model,showing the major components of the model for the Earth,the Moon,the Sun,and the five planets visible to the ancient Greeks.

Question 75

The law of gravitation is termed universal because it is a property of all material objects.

Question 76

The neap tides can only occur when the Moon's position is at or near one of its orbital nodes.

Question 77

Galileo used a telescope to observe the phases of Jupiter.