A Recent Article in Scientific American Notes That Life Would

Multiple Choice

A recent article in Scientific American notes that life would be impossible on any planet close enough to the Sun to boil water, or far enough from the Sun that water froze. It also argues that the Earth is in one of the few parts of the galaxy where life could exist. Too close to the core, and either collisions with other objects would destroy the planet or cosmic radiation from neighboring stars would destroy life. Too far from the sun and there wouldn't be enough of the elements needed to form a planet. Let's assume that radiation becomes particularly dangerous to life when it carries enough energy to ionize a water molecule when it is absorbed. ?


Use Avogadro's number and Planck's constant to calculate the frequency of this radiation to one significant figure. (Hint: Pay close attention to units!)

A) 3 x 10⁹ s^-1
B) 3 x 10¹² s^-1
C) 3 x 10¹⁵ s^-1
D) 3 x 10¹⁸ s^-1
E) 3 x 10²¹ s^-1