Deck 36: General Theory of Relativity

Question 1

At the top of very tall skyscraper,a sensitive watch will appear to run

A)slow.
B)fast.
C)the same as at 1 g.

Answer 1

fast.

Question 2

From a general relativistic point of view,a person on the ground floor of a skyscraper ages

A)faster than a person on the top floor.
B)slower than a person on the top floor.
C)at the same speed as a person on the top floor.

Answer 2

slower than a person on the top floor.

Question 3

In a one-g gravitational field,in one second,a light 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.

Answer 3

4)9 m.

Question 4

Compared to special relativity,general relativity is more concerned with

A)acceleration.
B)gravitation.
C)space-time geometry.
D)all of these
E)none of these

Question 5

Suppose at the surface of the Earth a person can do 20 pushups.In a spaceship far away from any gravitational influence,accelerating at g,the same person could do

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

Question 6

According to the principle of equivalence,observations made in a Newtonian gravitational field are indistinguishable from observations made in

A)any other gravitational field.
B)an Einsteinian gravitational field.
C)any uniformly moving reference frame.
D)all of these
E)none of these

Question 7

At the bottom of a well deep enough so that the acceleration due to gravity is less than 1 g,a watch will run

A)slow.
B)fast.
C)the same as at 1 g.

Question 8

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

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

Question 9

The two-dimensional surface of the Earth is

A)positively curved.
B)negatively curved.
C)both of these
D)none of these

Question 10

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 11

Fire a cannonball from a cannon and it curves due to gravity.Shine a light from a flashlight and it

A)curves per second the same as the cannonball.
B)follows a straight-line path with no curvature at all.
C)curves half as much as the cannonball.
D)curves slightly,but not as much per second as the cannonball.

Question 12

Light bends when it

A)passes a massive star.
B)passes through a gravitational field.
C)both of these
D)neither of these

Question 13

Compared to Newton's theory of gravitation,Einstein's theory

A)is an exception to the correspondence principle.
B)obeys the correspondence principle.
C)neither of these

Question 14

The quantity that undergoes a red shift is

A)wave frequency.
B)wavelength.
C)both of these
D)neither of these

Question 15

A strong gravitational field

A)slows a clock.
B)speeds up a clock.
C)does not affect a clock.

Question 16

Compared to a watch at the Earth's poles,a watch at the Earth's equator should run

A)a tiny bit slower.
B)a tiny bit faster.
C)at the same speed.

Question 17

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 18

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

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

Question 19

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 20

If a star 100 light-years away explodes,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.

Question 21

An astronaut falling into a black hole would see the universe

A)red shifted.
B)blue shifted.

Question 22

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

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

Question 23

The quantity that shifts in a gravitational red shift is

A)wave frequency.
B)wave direction.
C)field intensity.
D)space-time curvature.
E)none of these

Question 24

Einstein's theory of gravitation obeys the correspondence principle because it

A)corresponds to truer description of events in very large gravitational fields.
B)agrees with proven results of Newton's theory.
C)has been proven in repeated experiments.
D)is a special case of Newton's theory.
E)none of these

Question 25

According to the principle of equivalence

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

Question 26

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

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

Question 27

The orbit of Mercury precesses because

A)Mercury moves in the gravitational field of the other planets.
B)Mercury travels faster than any other planet.
C)Mercury is closest to the sun.
D)the sun's gravitational field varies along Mercury's orbit.
E)none of these

Question 28

If the sun collapsed to a black hole,the time required for Earth to orbit the collapsed sun would

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

Question 29

According to relativity theory,it is possible to reverse time and grow younger 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)You can never grow younger.
E)none of these