Deck 7: Other Worlds: an Introduction to the Solar System

Question 1

All the planets (without exception)

A) have solid surfaces
B) have atmospheres much thicker than Earth's
C) have satellites orbiting around them
D) revolve around the Sun in the same direction
E) rotate on their axes in the same direction that they revolve around the Sun

Answer 1

revolve around the Sun in the same direction

Question 2

Which of the following is NOT a terrestrial planet?

A) Mars
B) Earth
C) Jupiter
D) Venus
E) Mercury

Answer 2

Jupiter

Question 3

A planet in our solar system whose composition resembles that of our Sun is:

A) Earth
B) Mercury
C) Jupiter
D) Pluto
E) you can't fool me, the planets are all made of materials quite different from those in the Sun

Answer 3

Jupiter

Question 4

The first trans-Neptunian object astronomers found (in 1930) is called

A) Uranus
B) Pluto
C) Eris
D) Ceres
E) Bayonne

Question 5

The smaller objects in the solar system composed mainly of ices (frozen gases) that usually orbit far from the Sun are called:

A) snowroids
B) comets
C) asteroids
D) satellites
E) jovians
Section 4.2: Composition and Structure of Planets

Question 6

The smaller objects in the solar system made of rock and metal (most of which orbit between Jupiter and Mars) are called:

A) comets
B) satellites
C) Titius-Bode objects
D) asteroids
E) silicates

Question 7

Generally, planets and moons in our solar system are named after

A) great writers and poets from the past
B) gods and goddesses from mythology
C) the political leaders of ancient Greece and Rome
D) leading scientists from long ago
E) whatever astronomers want

Question 8

Which of the following ways that jovian (giant) planets differ from the terrestrial planets is NOT CORRECT?

A) jovians have more mass than the terrestrials
B) jovians are further from the Sun than terrestrials
C) jovians are made of lighter elements on average than terrestrials
D) jovians have rings while terrestrials do not
E) jovians (being larger) rotate significantly more slowly than terrestrials

Question 9

During the process of differentiation,

A) satellites separate from the parent planets and go into their own orbits
B) the faster planets move further out from the Sun
C) heavier materials sink to the centers of molten planets
D) the atmosphere of a planet changes from oxidized to reduced
E) the surface of a planet changes to resemble Bayonne, New Jersey

Question 10

What is the most important reason that astronomers have learned more about our planetary system in the last 30-40 years than all of history before then.

A) astronomers today are a lot smarter than astronomers were earlier
B) the Hubble Space Telescope
C) we have been able to send spacecraft to gather information about planets and moons up close
D) radio telescope arrays allow astronomers to make out details on the planets that they have never been able to see before
E) the planets (moving in their slow orbits around the Sun) happen to be closer to the Earth in the last 30 years than at any previous time in human history

Question 11

If you were to take a large sample of the four giant planets, the most common element you would find in them is:

A) iron
B) hydrogen
C) oxygen
D) silicon
E) you can't fool me, there are equal amount of ALL the elements in those planets

Question 12

In the far future, a visiting tourist from another planetary system asks to see the most massive object in our solar system. Where would you take him/her/it?

A) the Sun
B) Jupiter
C) the asteroid belt
D) Comet Halley
E) Neptune

Question 13

Which of the following characteristics do all four terrestrial planets have in common?

A) the all have one or more moons
B) all have liquid water on their surfaces
C) they all rotate in 24 hours or less
D) they all have thick atmospheres
E) they all have solid surfaces with signs of geological activity on them

Question 14

Today, the chemistry of the terrestrial planets does not include a lot of free hydrogen. Chemists call the chemistry in places like the Earth:

A) reduced
B) expanded
C) silicate
D) oxidized
E) comet-like

Question 15

In the four terrestrial planets, the densest, heaviest materials are at the center and not evenly distributed throughout the planet. Scientists interpret this observation to mean that:

A) the four terrestrial planets must once have been inside the Sun
B) the four terrestrial planets must once have been hot enough to be molten (like a liquid)
C) the four terrestrial planets must have formed where Jupiter and Saturn now are
D) the four terrestrial planets must have collided with each other many times
E) none of the above

Question 16

Of the following planets, which do NOT have satellites (moons)?

A) Mars
B) Venus
C) Earth
D) Jupiter
E) you can't fool me, all the planets have satellites

Question 17

When chemists say that a planet's upper regions are reduced, they mean that these regions

A) have far less material than other parts of the planet
B) are dominated by the element oxygen and its compounds
C) are so warm that no molecules can exist
D) are dominated by the element hydrogen and its compounds
E) have been bombarded over the years by many asteroids, causing large craters on the surface

Question 18

You are the captain of an interplanetary tour ship and a wealthy tourist from Texas asks you to take him to see only the "largest darn planets" in the solar system. Which of the following would you NOT include in your tour?

A) Mercury
B) Jupiter
C) Saturn
D) Neptune
E) Uranus

Question 19

Which planet in the solar system has not been examined by spacecraft instruments that have either flown by or orbited them?

A) Earth
B) Neptune
C) Venus
D) Saturn
E) you can't fool me, spacecraft have visited all the planets in our solar system

Question 20

The planet closest to the Sun in the solar system is:

A) Mercury
B) Pluto
C) Venus
D) Neptune
E) none of the above

Question 21

What is one way that astronomers have actually gotten an idea of the age of the surfaces of terrestrial planets other than the Earth?

A) looking at the colors different surfaces show
B) bringing back samples and run radioactive dating tests
C) counting craters
D) measuring the thickness of the atmosphere above each surface
E) looking in the instruction manual that comes with each planet

Question 22

The material that would eventually make all the major bodies in our solar system first gathered together as smaller pieces which astronomers call:

A) planetesimals
B) nebuloids
C) satellites
D) differentiated objects
E) jovians

Question 23

Our best evidence and theoretical calculations indicate that the solar system began with a giant spinning system of gas and dust that scientists call:

A) the Titius-Bode cloud
B) the solar nebula
C) a planetesimal
D) the asteroid belt
E) the beltway

Question 24

In radioactive dating, the measure scientists use to note how long (on average) a particular radioactive nucleus will take to decay is called its

A) radioactive ratio
B) parent-daughter criterion
C) half-life
D) geological activity
E) Tinder activity

Question 25

The inner planets are made mostly of rock and metal because:

A) lighter materials cannot orbit the Sun; they would fall in immediately
B) the Sun is made mostly of rock and metal and the inner planets are closest to the Sun
C) it was so hot where the inner planets formed that the lighter materials evaporated
D) Jupiter's large gravity immediately attracted all the lighter materials, and so there were few light atoms left by the time the inner planets were ready to form
E) this is an unsolved problem in astronomy

Question 26

On Earth, we can get the age of various parts of our planet by finding rocks that contain radioactive atoms. Which other world do have a good number of rocks from to do this kind of age analysis?

A) Venus
B) The Moon
C) Halley's Comet
D) Jupiter
E) You can't fool me, there is no other world from which we have rocks

Question 27

In general, the further planets are from the Sun, the cooler they are. What other factor can have a significant influence on a planet's surface temperature?

A) its atmosphere (whether it has one and how thick it is)
B) the number of large moons that are close to the planet
C) how fast the planet is spinning (the length of its day)
D) whether its core has a lot of iron in it
E) none of the above (only distance from the Sun affects a planet's temperature)

Question 28

In studying the surfaces of solid bodies in the solar system, astronomers have learned that the number of craters (per unit area):

A) is about the same on every world
B) is greater as you get closer to the Sun
C) is greater as you get further and further from the Sun
D) is roughly proportional to the age of the surface we are examining
E) follows no discernible rules or relationships at all

Question 29

The rate at which a collection of the same radioactive atoms will decay depends on:

A) the amount of radio waves falling on the material
B) the amount of light falling on the material
C) the temperature of the material
D) the size of the planet or moon on which the material is located
E) only on internal processes within the atoms; nothing external matters

Question 30

In a bad late-night science fiction film, a villain is using a large collection of rare radioactive atoms as energy for a weapon to threaten the good guys. The atoms have a half-life of 1 hour. The villain has 4 kilograms of the radioactive material now, and he needs a minimum of 1 kg. for his weapon to work. After how much time will the weapon no longer be a threat?

A) just a little after 1 hr
B) just a little after 2 hrs
C) just a little after 4 hours
D) just a little after 16 hours
E) can't be determined from the information given

Question 31

One piece of evidence that can help astronomers sort out how the planets in our solar system formed is

A) discovering other galaxies of stars beyond the Milky Way
B) counting the number of moons around each planet in our own solar system
C) finding circumstellar disks of material around nearby stars
D) counting the craters on the surface of Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune
E) measuring variations in the amount of snowfall in northern Canada during this century

Question 32

On which planet (besides the Earth) do we still see a high level of geological activity on the surface today?

A) Jupiter
B) Mercury
C) Neptune
D) Venus
E) none of the above
Section 4.3: Dating Planetary Surfaces

Question 33

A future interplanetary tourist whose parents kept him too warm as a baby asks for your help to find a "really cold place" in the solar system. Which of the following would be the coldest place to take him?

A) the Earth's polar regions
B) the moons of Neptune
C) the moons of Mars (which are captured asteroids)
D) Halley's Comet when it is closest to the Earth in its orbit
E) the deep atmosphere of Jupiter

Question 34

Radioactive dating techniques have revealed that our Earth and Moon are approximately how old?

A) about 6,000 years
B) about 2 million years
C) about 100 million years
D) about 4.5 billion years
E) you can't fool me, we have no way of measuring ages as old as the Earth's
Section 4.4: Origin of the Solar System

Question 35

Which of the following places is most likely NOT to be differentiated?

A) a small asteroid
B) Earth
C) Jupiter
D) Venus, because it is so hot
E) Ganymede, the largest satellite in the solar system

Question 36

On which of the planets (other than Earth) could a human being step out of a spacecraft and survive without any protective gear (special suit, oxygen tanks, etc)?

A) Venus
B) Mars
C) Jupiter
D) Neptune
E) you can't fool me; there is no other planet on which we could survive unprotected