Deck 3: The Science of Astronomy

Question 1

How did Eratosthenes estimate the size of Earth in 240 B.C.?

A)by observing the duration of a solar eclipse
B)by measuring the size of Earth's shadow on the Moon in a lunar eclipse
C)by comparing the maximum altitude of the Sun in two cities at different latitudes on the summer solstice
D)by sending fleets of ships around Earth
E)We don't know how he did it since all his writings were destroyed.

Answer 1

C

Question 2

Which ancient culture had the greatest known success in predicting eclipses?

A)Aztecs
B)Mayans
C)Egyptians
D)Babylonians
E)Greeks

Answer 2

B

Question 3

What do the structures of Stonehenge,the Templo Mayor,and the Sun Dagger all have in common?

A)They were all places used for religious sacrifice.
B)They were all built on the orders of ancient Mediterranean kings.
C)They all can be used as lunar calendars.
D)They were all used by ancient peoples for astronomical observations.
E)all of the above

Answer 3

D

Question 4

In order to tell time at night,the ancient Egyptians of 3000 B.C.used

A)sundials,with light provided by the Moon.
B)water clocks,measuring the flow of water through an opening.
C)hourglasses,measuring the flow of sand through an opening.
D)Moon clocks,which measured time based on the Moon's position relative to the stars.
E)star clocks,which measured time based on the positions of stars at particular times of night and particular times of year.

Question 5

How did the Ptolemaic model explain the apparent retrograde motion of the planets?

A)It held that sometimes the planets moved backward along their circular orbits.
B)It placed the Sun at the center so that the planets' apparent retrograde motion was seen as Earth passed each one in its orbit.
C)It varied the motion of the celestial sphere so that it sometimes moved backward.
D)It held that the planets moved along small circles that moved on larger circles around the Sun.
E)It held that the planets moved along small circles that moved on larger circles,also known as epicycles,around Earth.

Question 6

The Muslim fast of Ramadan occurs

A)on the summer solstice.
B)during the ninth month of a 12-month lunar cycle.
C)on the spring equinox.
D)during a thirteenth month of the Metonic cycle.
E)at the end of the Metonic cycle.

Question 7

Ptolemy was important in the history of astronomy because he

A)developed a model of the solar system that made sufficiently accurate predictions of planetary positions to remain in use for many centuries.
B)developed a scientifically accurate model of the universe.
C)was the first to believe in an Earth-centered universe.
D)was the first to create a model of the solar system that placed the Sun rather than Earth at the center.
E)was the first to believe that all orbits are perfect circles.

Question 8

Compared with the standard hour of 60 minutes used today,the hour of ancient Egypt

A)was longer than the hour used today.
B)was shorter than the hour used today.
C)differed in length depending on the pharaoh in power at the time.
D)was longer than 60 minutes in the summer and shorter than 60 minutes in the winter.
E)divided the entire day into 12 equal parts.

Question 9

At the Sun Dagger in New Mexico,a dagger-shaped beam of sunlight pierces a spiral

A)every day at noon.
B)at noon on the summer solstice.
C)at sunset on the spring equinox.
D)at noon on the day of full Moon each month.
E)during the totality of a total solar eclipse.

Question 10

Suppose the planet Uranus were much brighter in the sky,so that it was as easily visible to the naked eye as Jupiter or Saturn.Which one of the following statements would most likely be true in that case?

A)Its brightness would make it possible to read by starlight at night.
B)Its gravity would cause the tides to be much higher than they actually are.
C)Its slow motion through the sky would have led it to be named after the Goddess of Procrastination.
D)The discovery that Earth is a planet going around the Sun would have come hundreds of years earlier.
E)A week would have eight days instead of seven,despite the year length being unchanged.

Question 11

The Metonic cycle is the

A)29 1/2-day period of the lunar cycle.
B)12-month period of a lunar calendar.
C)19-year period over which the lunar phases occur on about the same dates.
D)18-year,11-day period over which the pattern of eclipses repeats.
E)period between successive Easters.

Question 12

When did Ptolemy live?

A)about 5000 years ago
B)about 2000 years ago
C)about 1000 years ago
D)about 500 years ago
E)about 100 years ago

Question 13

When and where did the Library of Alexandria exist?

A)from A.D.600 to A.D.1800 in Greece
B)from A.D.600 to A.D.1800 in Egypt
C)from 300 B.C.to A.D.400 in Rome
D)from 300 B.C.to A.D.400 in Greece
E)from 300 B.C.to A.D.400 in Egypt

Question 14

The path that led to modern science emerged from ancient civilizations in which part of the world?

A)Central and South America
B)the Mediterranean and the Middle East
C)North America
D)China
E)Southern Asia

Question 15

The names of the seven days of the week are based on the

A)seven naked-eye objects that appear to move among the constellations.
B)seven planets closest to the Sun.
C)seven brightest stars in the prominent constellation Orion.
D)most popular Norse gods.
E)seven largest constellations of the ancient world.

Question 16

People of central Africa predicted the weather by

A)recording the seasonal changes in average temperature.
B)observing the path of the planets across the sky.
C)observing the length of the lunar cycle.
D)observing the orientation of the crescent Moon relative to the horizon.
E)observing the location of the Moon relative to the Sun in the sky.

Question 17

Why did Ptolemy have the planets orbiting Earth on "circles upon circles" in his model of the universe?

A)to explain why more distant planets take longer to make a circuit through the constellations of the zodiac
B)to explain the fact that planets sometimes appear to move westward,rather than eastward,relative to the stars in our sky
C)to explain why the Greeks were unable to detect stellar parallax
D)to properly account for the varying distances of the planets from Earth
E)to explain why Venus goes through phases as seen from Earth

Question 18

The Jewish calendar is kept roughly synchronized with a solar calendar by

A)adding a thirteenth lunar month to 7 out of every 19 years.
B)having a thirteenth month with 5 days each year.
C)skipping a month every 7 out of 19 years.
D)having the first lunar month begin on the spring equinox.
E)having the first lunar month begin on the summer solstice.

Question 19

Which of the following statements about scientific models is true?

A)A model tries to represent all aspects of nature.
B)A model tries to represent only one aspect of nature.
C)A model can be used to explain and predict real phenomena.
D)All models that explain nature well are correct.
E)All current models are correct.

Question 20

Historians trace the origins of a 24-hour day to

A)the druids of Stonehenge.
B)the ancient Egyptians.
C)the Mayans.
D)the Aztecs.
E)the Babylonian astronomer,Meton.

Question 21

Which of the following was not observed by Galileo?

A)craters on the Moon
B)stellar parallax
C)sunspots
D)Jupiter's moons
E)phases of Venus

Question 22

Kepler's second law,which states that as a planet moves around its orbit it sweeps out equal areas in equal times,means that

A)a planet travels faster when it is nearer to the Sun and slower when it is farther from the Sun.
B)a planet's period does not depend on the eccentricity of its orbit.
C)planets that are farther from the Sun move at slower average speeds than nearer planets.
D)the period of a planet does not depend on its mass.
E)planets have circular orbits.

Question 23

From Kepler's third law,a hypothetical planet that is twice as far from the Sun as Earth should have a period of

A)1/2 Earth year.
B)1 Earth year.
C)2 Earth years.
D)more than 2 Earth years.
E)It depends on the planet's mass.

Question 24

He discovered that the orbits of planets are ellipses.

A)Tycho Brahe
B)Copernicus
C)Kepler
D)Galileo
E)Ptolemy

Question 25

He developed a system for predicting planetary positions that remained in use for some 1,500 years.

A)Tycho Brahe
B)Copernicus
C)Kepler
D)Galileo
E)Ptolemy

Question 26

During the Dark Ages in Europe,the scientific work of the ancient Greeks was preserved and further developed primarily by scholars in

A)Baghdad.
B)Greece.
C)Rome.
D)India.
E)China.

Question 27

What do scientists mean by verifiable observations?

A)statements that a person can,in principle,verify for himself or herself
B)statements that anyone would agree are obvious
C)observations that can be interpreted in only one way
D)observations that a model does not have to predict
E)observations that support a scientific theory

Question 28

He discovered what we now call Newton's first law of motion.

A)Tycho Brahe
B)Copernicus
C)Kepler
D)Galileo
E)Ptolemy

Question 29

When Copernicus first created his Sun-centered model of the universe,it did not lead to substantially better predictions of planetary positions than the Ptolemaic model.Why not?

A)Copernicus misjudged the distances between the planets.
B)Copernicus misjudged the speeds at which the planets orbit the Sun.
C)Copernicus placed the planets in the wrong order going outward from the Sun.
D)Copernicus placed the Sun at the center but did not realize that the Moon orbits Earth.
E)Copernicus used perfect circles for the orbits of the planets,whereas planets actually have elliptical orbits.

Question 30

Kepler's third law,p² = a³,means that

A)a planet's period does not depend on the eccentricity of its orbit.
B)all orbits with the same semimajor axis have the same period.
C)the period of a planet does not depend on its mass.
D)planets that are farther from the Sun move at slower average speeds than nearer planets.
E)All of the above are correct.

Question 31

One of the "nails in the coffin" for Earth-centered universe was

A)the retrograde motion of the planets.
B)the phases of the Moon.
C)eclipses of the Sun.
D)Galileo's observation of stars in the Milky Way.
E)Galileo's observations of the moons of Jupiter.

Question 32

All the following statements are true.Which one follows directly from Kepler's third law?

A)Venus is more massive than Mercury.
B)Venus orbits the Sun at a slower average speed than Mercury.
C)Venus is larger than Mercury.
D)Venus has a thicker atmosphere than Mercury.

Question 33

Which of the following is not one of,nor follows directly from,Kepler's laws?

A)The orbit of each planet about the Sun is an ellipse with the Sun at one focus.
B)As a planet moves around its orbit,it sweeps out equal areas in equal times.
C)The force of attraction between any two objects decreases with the square of the distance between their centers.
D)A planet travels faster when it is nearer to the Sun and slower when it is farther from the Sun.
E)More distant planets move at slower speeds.

Question 34

What is meant by a scientific paradigm?

A)a conundrum or unexplained set of facts
B)a radical change in scientific thought
C)a generally well-established scientific theory or set of theories
D)a pseudoscientific idea
E)a historical theory that has been proved inaccurate

Question 35

He was the first to prove that comets lie beyond Earth's atmosphere.

A)Tycho Brahe
B)Copernicus
C)Kepler
D)Galileo
E)Aristotle

Question 36

From Kepler's third law,an asteroid with an orbital period of 8 years lies at an average distance from the Sun equal to

A)2 astronomical units.
B)4 astronomical units.
C)8 astronomical units.
D)16 astronomical units.
E)It depends on the asteroid's mass.

Question 37

Where was the Sun in Ptolemy's model of the universe?

A)at the center
B)slightly offset from the center
C)between Earth and the Moon's orbit
D)between the orbits of Venus and Mars
E)at the outer edge,beyond Saturn's orbit

Question 38

When did Copernicus live?

A)about 5000 years ago
B)about 2000 years ago
C)about 1000 years ago
D)about 500 years ago
E)about 100 years ago

Question 39

The controversial book of this famous person,published in 1543 (the year of his death),suggested that Earth and other planets orbit the Sun.

A)Tycho Brahe
B)Copernicus
C)Kepler
D)Galileo
E)Ptolemy

Question 40

He discovered that Jupiter has moons.

A)Tycho Brahe
B)Aristotle
C)Kepler
D)Galileo
E)Ptolemy

Question 41

Process of Science: Assume we have data indicating a strong positive correlation between acupuncture treatments and recovery of patients from,say,cocaine addiction.However,let's also assume that every hypothesis we have for a mechanism of action (i.e. ,how acupuncture could work to help cure addiction)can be shown to be false.The patients,however,all claim to know that the acupuncture is what cured them.Which of the following conclusions are supported by our data?
Could acupuncture be responsible for the patients' recovery?

A)No.If there is no plausible mechanism of action,then clearly acupuncture cannot be responsible for their healing.
B)Yes.Just because we don't understand the mechanism doesn't mean the process does not occur.
C)No.Acupuncture is not accepted by most medical doctors,therefore it isn't effective.
D)Yes.If the patients got better,then the acupuncture must be effective.

Question 42

Copernicus was the first person to suggest a Sun-centered solar system.

Question 43

The Polynesian navigators of the South Pacific found their way primarily by observing the position of Polaris in the night sky.

Question 44

A scientific model must make a testable prediction.

Question 45

What is meant by Occam's Razor?

A)a well-designed experiment that clearly shows the differences between two competing theories
B)a poorly designed experiment that fails to show the difference between two competing theories
C)the idea that scientists should prefer the simpler of two models that agree equally well with observations
D)the fine line between science and pseudoscience
E)the shaving implement of a medieval scholar

Question 46

Scientific theories can never be proved true beyond all doubt.

Question 47

The astrology practiced by those who cast predictive horoscopes can be tested by

A)asking astrologers if it works.
B)asking astronomers if it works.
C)counting how many times the predictions come true.
D)comparing how often the predictions come true to what would be expected by pure chance.
E)polling people to find out what percentage believe their horoscopes to be accurate.

Question 48

Which of the following best explains the success of the central African rainfall-prediction technique of observing the waxing crescent Moon?

A)When the Moon is aligned in a U-shape,it can hold more water,so there is more rain.When it is tilted,it can hold less,so the weather is drier.
B)When the Moon is in Capricorn,there is always more tempestuous weather,while when in Pisces,it is just plain rainy.
C)Clouds cover part of the Moon's surface,so the smaller the crescent,the more likely it is to rain.
D)The Moon's orientation varies seasonally,and so does the weather.
E)The Moon causes the tides and affects the weather.

Question 49

Scientific thinking developed only in the past few decades.

Question 50

The names of the seven days of the week are derived from the names of the bodies of the solar system that are visible to the naked eye.

Question 51

Process of Science: Assume we have data indicating a strong positive correlation between acupuncture treatments and recovery of patients from,say,cocaine addiction.However,let's also assume that every hypothesis we have for a mechanism of action (i.e. ,how acupuncture could work to help cure addiction)can be shown to be false.The patients,however,all claim to know that the acupuncture is what cured them.Which of the following conclusions are supported by our data?
Must acupuncture be responsible for the patients' recovery?

A)No.Acupuncture may be responsible for the healing,or it may not.Correlation does not necessarily imply causation.
B)Yes.If the study was run by qualified M.D.s,then we should respect their findings that acupuncture cured these patients.
C)No.Acupuncture is hippie,new age stuff,and is not respected by reputable doctors.
D)Yes.The patients stated afterwards that they knew it had helped,and these people know their own bodies better than we do.

Question 52

In the Ptolemaic system,Venus should not show phases.

Question 53

Process of Science: What is Occam's razor?

A)The idea that scientists should prefer the simpler of two models that agree equally well with observations.
B)The principle that everyone should agree on a theory before it is considered correct.
C)A long,steep cliff on Mercury that may have been produced as the planet contracted as it formed.
D)The principal that any theory can be verified by others.
E)An unusual implement that Professor Occam uses to remove facial hair.

Question 54

Which of the following statements about scientific theories is false?

A)Theories are not taken seriously if they contradict older,more developed,theories.
B)A theory is a model designed to explain a number of observed facts.
C)If even a single new fact is discovered that contradicts what we expect according to a particular theory,then the theory must be revised or discarded.
D)A theory must make predictions that can be checked by observation or experiment.
E)A theory can never be proved beyond all doubt;we can only hope to collect more and more evidence that might support it.

Question 55

The ancient goal of astrology was to

A)understand the origin of Earth.
B)make a more accurate model of the universe.
C)predict the passing of the seasons.
D)predict human events.
E)antagonize astronomers.

Question 56

Copernicus's model of the solar system gave much better predictions than the model of Ptolemy.

Question 57

What is meant by a hypothesis?

A)a natural phenomenon that requires explanation
B)an explanation for a phenomenon that makes a prediction
C)a tentative understanding of a natural phenomenon
D)a pseudoscientific idea
E)a historical theory that has been proved inaccurate

Question 58

The Ptolemaic model of the solar system was useless for predicting planetary positions.

Question 59

It is possible for science as a whole to be objective despite the fact that all individual scientists have personal biases and beliefs.

Question 60

Galileo found "imperfections" on the Sun in the form of sunspots and "imperfections" on the Moon in the form of mountains and valleys.

Question 61

Summarize in your own words,the three "hallmarks" of science?

Question 62

Describe one major accomplishment for each of the following people: Copernicus,Tycho Brahe,Kepler,Galileo,Newton.

Question 63

Why was a knowledge of the stars so important to Polynesians?

Question 64

Process of Science: Why is it not science to start with the answer to a question and look for evidence to support it?

Question 65

What practical value did astronomy offer to ancient civilizations?

A)It helped them keep track of time and seasons,and it was used by some cultures for navigation.
B)It allowed them to predict eclipses with great accuracy.
C)It helped them understand our cosmic origins.
D)It helped them find uses for ancient structures like Stonehenge.

Question 66

Astronomy and astrology were often practiced together in ancient cultures,and astrology played an important role in the historical development of astronomy.

Question 67

Describe what a scientific test of astrology would involve.

Question 68

What is special about the lines in the Nazca Desert of Peru?

Question 69

Process of Science: Give a scientific explanation of the success of the central African rainfall-prediction technique of observing the waxing crescent Moon.Can the Moon cause a change in rainfall? Or vice versa?

Question 70

What is pseudoscience?

Question 71

State Kepler's three laws of planetary motion.

Question 72

Scientific thinking is

A)based on everyday ideas of observation and trial-and-error experiments.
B)completely different from any other type of thinking.
C)a difficult process that only a handful of people can do well.
D)an ancient mode of thinking first invented in Egypt.

Question 73

How did ancient peoples of central Africa predict the weather?

Question 74

The Metonic cycle is

A)used to keep lunar calendars approximately synchronized with solar calendars.
B)used to predict the future orientation of the Earth's axis in space.
C)the ancient Greek name for the cycle of lunar phases that repeats every 29 1/2 days.
D)the 18-year,11-day period over which the pattern of eclipses repeats.

Question 75

Describe how Eratosthenes first measured the size of Earth over 2,000 years ago.

Question 76

Nonscientific practices that make no claims about how the natural world works do not conflict with science.

Question 77

Process of Science: If any single test of a scientific hypothesis contradicts it,the hypothesis must be revised.(Assume that you've ruled out errors in the testing process;that is,the test result really does contradict the hypothesis. )

Question 78

Describe the Ptolemaic model of the solar system.How did Ptolemy account for the apparent retrograde motion of the planets?

Question 79

The names of the seven days of the week are based on

A)the names of the seven planets closest to the Sun.
B)the seven most prominent constellations in the summer sky.
C)the names of prophets in the Bible.
D)the seven naked-eye objects that appear to move among the constellations.

Question 80

Process of Science: I am doing science when I already know the answer to my scientific question and I am searching for evidence in the natural world strictly to support what I know.