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56 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
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Someone proposes launching a satellite that will orbit the Sun at the same distance as the Earth, but complete one orbit every two years. Why can't this be done?
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It violates Kepler's Third law
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in 946, long before the man made satellite was launched, Arthur C. Clarke proposed that a satellite could be launched into an orbit at a certain distance so that it would have a period of exactly 24 hours. The satellite would therefore always appear over the same spot on Earth, making communications simpler. This is an example of?
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Kepler's Third law
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The star Betelgeuse appears red while the star Rigel appears blue..this tells us...
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betelgeuse is cooler than rigel
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a hot piece of metal taken from furnace A glows red while a hot piece of metal taken from furnace B glows bluish white. This tells us.....
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B is hotter than A
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The planet Mars appears red while the planet Neptune appears blue. This tells us...
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Nothing! the temperature of a planet is unrelated to its color.
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Absorption lines appear in spectra because?
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atoms of a given element can absorb radiation of only certain energies
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Newton's Second Law tells us that a large force applied to a given mass will produce?
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a large acceleration
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The main purpose of an interferometer is to?
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improve resolution
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Newtonians and Cassegrains are types of?
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reflectors
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The effective magnification of a telescope...
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is limited by the resolution
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What led Maxwell to his discovery about the nature of light?
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a desire for beauty in his equations
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Maxwell's work was an example of?
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basic research
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Oxygen in the Earths atmosphere...
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was created by planets
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Potassium undergoes radioactive decay which turns it into argon gas. If rock A contains 90% potassium and 10% argon, and rock B contains50% potassium and 50% argon, which rock is older?
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in the earth's interior the atmosphere, and in a pot of boiling water.
ALL THE ABOVE |
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Heat from the Earth's interior generates convective motions which shift the Earth's crust. This process is called?
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Plate Tectonics
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Electric currents in the Earth's liquid core generate?
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the Earth's magnetic field
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Carbon dioxide in the Earth's atmosphere is transparent to visible light but absorbs infrared light (IR). How does this affect the Earth's temperature?
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It warms the Earth since most IR is trapped by the atmosphere
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Charged particles from the sun which become trapped by the Earths magnetic field are responsible for?
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the aurora
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Which part of the Moon has the older surface?
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Highlands
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Potassium undergoes radioactive decay which turns it into argon gas. We would therefore expect rocks from heavily cratered regions of the Moon to contain?
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more argon and less potassium than regions with fewer craters
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A day on Earth...
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was significantly less than 24 hours long in the past
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The reason for the answer to question 12 above is?
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the tides
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A sidereal day is measured with respect to?
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the starts
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A solar day is longer than a sidereal day because...
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the Earth must turn farther in order to make the Sun appear at the same point in the sky
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Most lunar craters were formed by?
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meteor impacts
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The reason we have tides is?
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gravitational force decreases with distance
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What is the ultimate cause for the fact that the Moon has more craters than the Earth and no recent plate tectonics or volcanic activity?
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it is smaller than the Earth so it cooled more quickly
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When the Moon's shadow falls on the Earth we have...
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a solar eclipse
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why aren't there eclipses every month?
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the Moons orbit is slightly inclined to the Earth-Sun line.
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The Apollo missions to the Moon
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allowed us to accurately determine the age of the lunar surface
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The moon...
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rotates on its axis once per orbit of the Earth
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Maria are...
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lava flows that have flooded lunar basins made by impacts
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What is currently the best explanation for how the Moon formed?
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it formed from debris produced when another planet collided with Earth
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What evidence supports the explanation given above in question
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the moon is less dense than the Earth
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(test 3)If all the planets of our Solar System formed at the same time, 4.5 billion years ago, why do we say some of them have a "young" surface while others are "old"?
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"young" surfaces have been reshaped by geological forces such as volcanism and weather while "old" surfaces have not changed recently
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On which world is the Greenhouse Effect greatest?
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Venus
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Which world is closest in size to the Earth?
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Venus
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Which world was once very Earth-like, with a warmer climate, denser atmosphere, and oceans of liquid water before it became the cold, dry desert with an unbreathable thin atmosphere that it is today?
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Mars
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Which world has an atmosphere much denser than the Earth's?
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Venus
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Which world was too small to retain a substantial atmosphere?
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Mercury and the moon
BOTH A B |
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Mercury is closer to the Sun than Venus, but Venus is hotter than Mercury. Why?
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Carbon dioxide in the Venus atmosphere traps the heat
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Which world or worlds have the youngest surfaces?
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Venus and Earth
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Which world or worlds have the oldest surfaces?
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the Moon and Mercury
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Which world or worlds have an intermediate number of craters compared to the others in this list?
the moon and mercury venus and earth mars |
Mars
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Which world appears to have oceans of liquid water beneath an icy crust?
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Europa
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Some of the moons of Jupiter have interiors which are warmer than we would expect given their small size. What effects does this produce?
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geological activity and possible liquid water
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What is the reason for the effect described in the previous question?
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tidal forces
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The Jovian planets have a composition..
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similar to the Sun
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What is the Great Red Spot?
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a giant storm on Jupiter
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A comet could best be described as...
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a dirty snowball
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most (but not all) astroids orbit the Sun..
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between Mars and Jupiter
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Which planets are mostly atmosphere with relatively small rocky cores?
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Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune
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Active volcanoes are known to exist on..
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Earth and Io
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Comets usually have two tails..
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True- an ion tail and a dust tail
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The spacecraft Spirit and Opportunity...
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found evidence that oceans of liquid water once existed on Mars
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Most of the planets lie near the same plane because..
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the solar nebula from which they formed flattened into a disk as it spun.
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