Deck 36: General Theory of Relativity

Question 1

If you move in the direction in which gravity acts, an observer at rest sees your watch running

A)slower than at your starting point.
B)faster than at your starting point.
C)neither of these

Answer 1

slower than at your starting point.

Question 2

In a spaceship with an acceleration more than g far from gravitational influences, with the effort it takes on Earth to do 20 pushups, you could comfortably do

A)less than 20 pushups.
B)20 pushups.
C)more than 20 pushups.

Answer 2

less than 20 pushups.

Question 3

On a giant rotating turntable are two clocks, one at the center and the other at the rim.The clock that runs slower is at

A)the center of the turntable.
B)the rim of the turntable.
C)either of these

Answer 3

the rim of the turntable.

Question 4

In a 1-g gravitational field, 1 second after turning on a flashlight its beam will curve beneath a perfectly straight line by

A)less than 4.9 m.
B)4.9 m.
C)more than 4.9 m.

Question 5

In accord with general relativity, a person living at the top of a skyscraper ages

A)faster than a person on the ground floor.
B)slower than a person on the ground floor.
C)at the same rate as a person on any floor.

Question 6

Compared with special relativity, general relativity is more concerned with

A)acceleration.
B)gravitation.
C)spacetime geometry.
D)all of the above
E)none of the above

Question 7

If you toss a ball "horizontally" from one wall to an opposite wall inside an accelerating spaceship in deep space, defining "up" as the direction of acceleration, the ball will hit

A)below its straight-line path.
B)above its straight-line path.
C)neither of these

Question 8

Inside an accelerating spaceship far from gravitational influences, a flashlight beam will

A)not bend.
B)curve as it would in a gravitational field equal to the acceleration of the spaceship.
C)follow a semi-circular path.

Question 9

You shine a beam of monochromatic light from Earth to an astronaut friend in orbit. The light your friend receives, relative to light from an equivalent source on the spaceship, is slightly

A)lower in frequency.
B)higher in frequency.
C)weaker but no different in frequency.

Question 10

Light bends when it

A)closely passes a star.
B)closely passes the Moon.
C)both of these
D)neither of these

Question 11

A clock on the surface of a shrinking star will run progressively

A)slower.
B)faster.
C)no difference

Question 12

Inside an accelerating spaceship in deep space, a sideways-tossed ball will

A)curve as it would in a gravitational field equal to the spaceship's acceleration.
B)follow a straight-line path from one side of the interior to the other.
C)fall in a semi-circular path.

Question 13

If you shine a flashlight "horizontally" from one wall to an opposite wall inside an accelerating spaceship in deep space, you will see the light traveling

A)in a straight-line path.
B)in a parabolic path.
C)along the arc of a circle.

Question 14

You shine a beam of monochromatic light from Earth to an astronaut friend in orbit. The light your friend receives, relative to light from an equivalent source on the spaceship, is slightly

A)slower in speed.
B)higher in speed.
C)neither of these

Question 15

If you shine a flashlight from one wall to an opposite wall inside a spaceship drifting without acceleration far from gravitational influences, the beam of light will travel

A)in a straight-line path.
B)in a parabolic path.
C)along the arc of a circle.

Question 16

If you move a clock from Earth to the Moon, the clock runs

A)slower.
B)no differently.
C)faster.

Question 17

According to the principle of equivalence, observations made of falling objects at Galileo's Leaning Tower of Pisa are indistinguishable from observations made in

A)a spaceship orbiting in a gravitational field.
B)a spaceship accelerating at g in deep space.
C)any uniformly moving reference frame.
D)all of the above
E)none of the above

Question 18

Galileo dropped two balls of different weights and found they accelerated equally to the ground below. Einstein imagined the same result for a side-by-side drop

A)without invoking gravity.
B)in an accelerating vehicle.
C)whether they were of the same mass or not.
D)all of the above
E)none of the above

Question 19

Fire a cannonball with enormous speed from a hypothetical cannon and it curves due to gravity. Shine a light from a flashlight parallel to the cannon and it

A)follows a straight-line path.
B)curves downward as much as the cannonball.
C)curves slightly upward.

Question 20

In a spaceship that accelerates at g far from gravitational influences, with the effort it takes on Earth to do 20 pushups, you could comfortably do

A)less than 20 pushups.
B)20 pushups.
C)more than 20 pushups.

Question 21

A message from relativity theory is that slowing the aging process

A)can occur with correct applications of physics.
B)would occur if you fell into a bottomless mine shaft.
C)can only happen to "the other guy."

Question 22

The shortest distance between two points in flat Euclidean space is a

A)straight line.
B)geodesic.
C)neither of these

Question 23

If a star that is 10 light-years away from Earth explodes, gravitational waves from the explosion will reach Earth in

A)less than 10 years.
B)more than 10 years.
C)10 years.

Question 24

According to general relativity, a photon emitted by a star

A)loses energy.
B)reduces in frequency.
C)is red-shifted.
D)all of the above
E)none of the above

Question 25

In gravitational red shift, the quantity that undergoes a red shift is

A)spacetime curvature.
B)wave direction.
C)field intensity.
D)wave frequency.
E)none of the above

Question 26

The shortest distance between two points on a curved surface is a

A)straight line.
B)geodesic.
C)neither of these

Question 27

Strictly speaking, the sum of the angles on a triangle equals 180 degrees

A)in flat space.
B)on a spherical surface.
C)on a saddle-shaped surface.
D)all or any of the above
E)none of the above

Question 28

Accelerate an electron and you produce an electromagnetic wave. Accelerate a massive body and you produce

A)a gravitational wave.
B)a cosmic wave.
C)both of these
D)neither of these

Question 29

Strictly speaking, the ratio of circumference to diameter for a circle equals π as we know it

A)in flat space.
B)on a spherical surface.
C)on a saddle-shaped surface.
D)all or any of the above
E)none of the above

Question 30

Apart from the effects of other planets, the orbit of Mercury precesses because

A)Mercury travels faster than any other planet.
B)Mercury's orbit is nearly circular.
C)of pronounced variations in Mercury's orbit about the Sun.

Question 31

According to relativity theory, you can experience a longer youth when you

A)are near a black hole.
B)are near a very large gravitational field.
C)travel at nearly the speed of light.
D)all of the above
E)none of the above

Question 32

If the Sun collapsed to a black hole, Earth would

A)be sucked into the black hole.
B)follow a straight-line path into space.
C)continue in its present orbit.

Question 33

Important support for general relativity came from studies of the precession of the orbit of

A)Mercury.
B)Venus.
C)Earth.
D)Mars.
E)asteroids.

Question 34

The measured ratio of circumference to diameter on a disk is π when the disk is

A)moving at relativistic speeds.
B)rapidly rotating.
C)at rest.
D)all of the above
E)none of the above

Question 35

The geometry of our universe is

A)flat.
B)positively curved.
C)negatively curved.
D)all of the above
E)none of the above

Question 36

If the orbit of Mercury were perfectly circular, its rate of precession would be

A)larger.
B)smaller.
C)the same.
D)zero.

Question 37

A measuring stick on a rapidly rotating disk will not appear to shrink if it is oriented along the

A)circumference.
B)radius.
C)either of these
D)neither of these

Question 38

If the Sun collapsed to a black hole, Earth's speed in space would

A)increase.
B)decrease.
C)remain the same.

Question 39

If the elliptical orbit of Mercury were more eccentric, its precession rate would be

A)larger.
B)smaller.
C)the same.
D)nonexistent.

Question 40

An astronaut falling into a black hole would see the universe

A)red-shifted.
B)blue-shifted.
C)with no shift at all.

Question 41

The principle of equivalence tells us that

A)mass and energy are forms of each other.
B)space and time are forms of each other.
C)electricity and magnetism are forms of each other.
D)observations made in an accelerating reference frame are indistinguishable from those made in a gravitational field.
E)all of the above

Question 42

Compared with Newton's theory of gravity, Einstein's theory is

A)an exception to the correspondence principle.
B)in accord with the correspondence principle.
C)neither of these

Question 43

A profound message from all of science is that we are a part of nature

A)that stands above other life forms.
B)and have the ability to conquer it.
C)that is becoming more and more conscious of itself.

Question 44

Einstein's theory of gravitation

A)agrees with established results of Newton's theory.
B)has been supported by repeated experiments.
C)incorporates Newton's theory as a special case.
D)is superior to Newton's where spacetime is more curved.
E)all of the above

Question 45

If a star 100 light-years away explodes, the time for the gravitational waves to reach Earth is 100 years as measured from

A)any uniformly moving reference frame.
B)any accelerating reference frame.
C)any reference frame, accelerated or not.
D)the reference frame of the waves.
E)Earth.