Deck 15: Cosmology: Will the Universe End

Question 1

Who first showed that the Milky Way is not the only galaxy in the universe?

A) Kepler
B) Copernicus
C) Newton
D) Hubble
E) Galileo

Answer 1

D

Question 2

According to the Big Bang theory, what accompanied the freezing of the universe at 10^-35 seconds after time zero?

A) Antimatter was not yet eliminated.
B) All four fundamental forces were unified.
C) Stable nuclei formed.
D) There was a short period of inflation.
E) The strong force separated from the weak force.

Answer 2

D

Question 3

According to the current ideas about the origin of the universe, which one of the following forces existed before 10^-43 seconds?

A) the gravitational force
B) the electromagnetic force
C) the strong force
D) the weak force
E) a single unified force.

Answer 3

E

Question 4

Which wavelength of radiation is associated with our expanding universe?

A) 7.35 nanometers
B) 7.35 millimeters
C) 7.35 centimeters
D) 7.35 meters
E) 7.35 kilometers

Question 5

Which of the following is constructed completely from atoms made during the Big Bang?

A) a gold ring
B) the air you are breathing
C) a glass bottle
D) a crystal of salt made of Na and Cl
E) something made entirely of H, He, or Li.

Question 6

What experimental evidence supports the Big Bang theory?

A) universal contraction
B) creationism
C) cosmic microwave radiation
D) abundance of hydrogen, helium, and lithium
E) cosmic microwave radiation and the abundance of lithium, hydrogen, and helium

Question 7

Which of the following describes a quasar?

A) highly energetic
B) dark matter
C) compressed to the size of the Earth
D) part of a supercluster
E) all of these are correct

Question 8

The discovery of a cosmic microwave background

A) supported the idea of a steady state universe.
B) showed that the universe has a constant heat source.
C) proved that matter in the universe is grouped in superclusters.
D) gave support to the Big Bang theory.
E) indicated that supernovas produced all known elements.

Question 9

What is the basis for evidence supporting the theory of an open expanding universe?

A) the laws of gravity
B) the mass of the universe
C) the proportion of dark matter
D) a newly discovered supernova
E) all of these are correct

Question 10

The Big Bang theory and the theory of the steady state universe differ

A) because only the Big Bang theory states that the universe is expanding.
B) because only the steady state theory states that the universe is expanding.
C) in that only the steady state theory lacks a specific beginning for the universe.
D) in that only the steady state universe incorporates an idea about the missing dark matter.
E) only in name.

Question 11

Which statement about dark matter is accepted by most astronomers?

A) Dark matter is missing from the Milky Way.
B) Dark matter exerts centrifugal forces on antimatter.
C) Dark matter emits leptons.
D) Dark matter interacts with ordinary matter through a gravitational force.
E) All of these are correct.

Question 12

When astronomers look out at our universe, they see all

A) other planets moving away from us.
B) other galaxies moving away from us.
C) asteroids moving toward us.
D) supernovas moving away from us.
E) other galaxies moving toward us.

Question 13

Because of research with high energy particle accelerators, scientists have direct experimental checks for the evolution of the universe back to

A) 10^-43 seconds after the Big Bang.
B) 10^-35 seconds from time zero.
C) 10^-10 seconds from the beginning.
D) three minutes after the Big Bang.
E) one million years following the origin.

Question 14

Which of the following was not a contribution to cosmology by Edwin Hubble?

A) the proof that there are other galaxies
B) the idea that far galaxies are moving faster than those near
C) the discovery of the cosmic red shift
D) studies of the relative abundances of chemical elements in the universe
E) all of these are correct

Question 15

Hubble's law tells us that

A) the distance to other galaxies can be measured by calculating the blue shift of the light we receive from them.
B) the rate at which a galaxy recedes from the Earth is proportional to the square of the distance from the Earth.
C) the rate at which a galaxy advances toward the Earth is proportional to its distance from the Earth.
D) the distance to other galaxies can be measured by calculating the red shift of the light we receive from them.
E) the rate at which a galaxy moves is the Hubble constant.

Question 16

At what point after the Big Bang did the elementary particles form?

A) 10^-43 seconds
B) 10^-35 seconds
C) 10^-5 seconds
D) three minutes
E) 500,000 years

Question 17

The most recent "freezing" of the universe involved the creation of

A) nuclei.
B) atoms.
C) elementary particles.
D) quarks.
E) molecules.

Question 18

The redshift surveys of the 1980s

A) determined the velocity of superclusters.
B) were significant in calculating Hubble's constant.
C) measured the distance to thousands of galaxies.
D) definitively proved the Big Bang theory.
E) provided a foundation for planetary exploration.

Question 19

What were the first three elements formed in the Big Bang?

A) hydrogen, lithium, and helium
B) hydrogen, oxygen, and helium
C) helium, oxygen, and carbon
D) carbon, oxygen, and deuterium
E) helium, oxygen, lithium

Question 20

Antimatter is relatively rare in the universe because

A) antimatter is dark matter that is very difficult to detect with today's technology.
B) cosmic microwave background radiation absorbs antimatter in space.
C) antimatter is a short-lived transient state for quarks.
D) laboratory research indicates that matter was more plentiful early and annihilated the antimatter.
E) each galaxy produces a specific type of matter, according to Hubble's law.

Question 21

Why do scientists think that dark matter does not interact through the electromagnetic force?

A) because, if it did, it would absorb or emit photons
B) because it exists too far out into space
C) it exerts no gravitational pull on other matter
D) there is too little of it to exert an electromagnetic force
E) all of these are correct

Question 22

How do we know the Milky Way is a spiral galaxy?

Question 23

What would happen to the estimate of age of the universe if Hubble's constant changes with future observations?

Question 24

Compare the future for the three theories of the universe: flat, open, and closed.

Question 25

How far away is a galaxy that is moving away from Earth at 100,000 km/s? Assume 50 km/s Mpc for the Hubble constant.

A) 2000 Mpc
B) more than 6 light years
C) 8000 Mpc
D) more than 4 light years
E) 2000 Mpc and more than 6 light years

Question 26

What are the main effects of dark matter and dark energy in the universe?

Question 27

Compare the expanding-balloon analogy of the universe with the raisin-bread dough analogy. What are their common points? At what point does each analogy fall apart?

Question 28

Evidence for the Big Bang includes the

A) observation that the universe is expanding.
B) independent evidence that microwave radiation is coming from all directions in space.
C) fact that the average temperature of the universe is 2.7 Kelvin.
D) abundance of light elements.
E) all of these are correct.

Question 29

How did the discovery of cosmic microwave background radiation support the Big Bang theory?

Question 30

In what way was the existence of other galaxies in the universe demonstrated when Hubble measured the distance to the Andromeda nebula?

Question 31

What new evidence has led to wider acceptance of the open universe theory?

Question 32

What are scientists trying to discover when they make "red shift surveys" of the sky?

Question 33

How did scientists calculate the value of Hubble's constant?

Question 34

Place the celestial objects in order by size from planet being the smallest to supercluster being the largest. How do astronomers know our position in the universe?

Question 35

In what way is the Milky Way a typical galaxy?

Question 36

How might scientists tell if the universe started to contract?

Question 37

Before the first stable nuclei were formed, what was the makeup of the universe?

A) hydrogen and helium
B) elementary particles
C) atoms
D) molecules
E) iron and oxygen

Question 38

How is it that every point in the universe appears to be the center of the universe?

Question 39

Why are changes of state in the early universe referred to as "freezings"?

Question 40

The nucleus of helium-4 contains

A) one proton
B) one proton and one neutron
C) two protons and one neutron
D) two protons and two neutrons
E) three protons and two neutrons

Question 41

At present, what is thought to be the composition of the universe besides ordinary matter?

Question 42

Why are not all galaxies the same shape and size? What does this suggest about their history?

Question 43

When the strong and electroweak forces were unified, what two events occurred in the history of the universe?

Question 44

What is the likely composition of dark matter?

Question 45

What is the fate of the universe if the density of dark energy increases over time?

Question 46

In Hubble's Law equation, there is a constant (Hubble's constant). What is that constant and in what unit is it expressed? What is a megaparsec?

Question 47

If a proton and a neutron came together before the first three minutes of the universe, what would happen to them? Why?

Question 48

What does the term quasar mean and what is a quasar?

Question 49

In the night sky, the Milky Way appears as a band of stars across the night sky. How does this fit with the model of a spiral galaxy?

Question 50

Dark matter particles move as a sort of 'wind.' Why do we not feel this 'wind'?