UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO ASTRONOMY 101H1 MIDTERM TEST

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 11, 2010 DURATION: 45 MINUTES TOTAL MARKS: 35 NO AIDS ALLOWED

UTORID: _________________________________
CIRCLE YOUR TUTORIAL SECTION BELOW:
Monday Tuesday Wednesday
1101 -- SS 1084 1102 -- SS 1086

10:00 0101 -- BA 2165 0102 -- BA 1200 0601 -- BA 1230 0602 -- BA 2145

11:00 0201 -- BA 2165 0202 -- BA 1200 0701 -- BA 2175 0702 -- BA 2185 1201 -- BA 2175 1202 -- BA 2195 12:00 0301 -- BA 2195
0302 -- SS 2105 0801 -- BA 2175 0802 -- BA 2185 1301 -- BA 1230 1302 -- SS 1070 1402 -- SS 1084 1502 -- BA 1240 -

13:00 0401 -- BA 1210 0402 -- BA 1230 0901 -- BA 2175 0902 -- BA 2185 1401 -- BA 1230 14:00 0501 -- BA 1240 0502 -- BA 2185
1501 -- BA 2195 -

15:00 1601 -- BA 2175 1602 -- BA 2155 1001 -- MS 3171 1002 -- MS 4171

Instructions: 1. ON THIS PAGE: Fill in your UTorID (e.g. smithm1) and circle your tutorial section. 2. ON THE NEXT PAGE: Fill in your name (as it appears on ROSI), your student number, and your UTorID (e.g. smithm1). 3. ON THE SCANTRON CARD: Fill in your last name, first initial, and student number in the spaces given and, using pencil, darkly shade in the corresponding bubbles. Then sign the card. 4. For each multiple choice question, mark your answer in pencil on the Scantron card by darkly shading the appropriate bubble. All answers to multiple choice questions must be transferred to the Scantron card. Under no circumstances will answers to multiple choice questions written on this paper be accepted. 5. Answer short answer questions in the spaces provided. Answers written in pencil will not be re-marked. 6. Mark values are indicated with each question. 7. Make sure that your midterm has 9 pages.

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NAME: __________________________________

UTORID: ________________________________

STUDENT NUMBER: _____________________

Question A1-A22 (MC) B1 B2 B3 B4 B5 B6 Total

Marks /22 /2 /2 /2 /2 /1 /4 /35

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PART A: Multiple choice questions. CIRCLE THE MOST CORRECT ANSWER (1 mark each) 1. How many planets are there in the solar system? (a) (b) (c) (d) (e) 1 8 9 10 more than 100, counting all the moons of the outer planets

2. The atmospheres of Mars and Venus both consist primarily of carbon dioxide, a powerful greenhouse gas. Yet the surface of Venus is very hot while the surface of Mars is very cold. Why? (a) (b) (c) (d) Venus has no oceans to absorb any of the heat, while Mars does. Venus' atmosphere is very thick, while Mars' is very thin Venus is a much larger planet than Mars, so its atmosphere is able to hold more heat Venus is fixed with one side facing the Sun at all times, so it never gets a chance to radiate away most of the heat it absorbs (e) Venus has lots of active volcanoes which produce a lot of heat 3. The MESSENGER probe is currently exploring Mercury, trying to determine why Mercury has a fairly strong magnetic field. Why is it a surprise that Mercury has such a strong magnetic field? (a) Mercury was thought to be too close to the Sun to have a strong magnetic field (b) Mercury is covered in craters and it was thought that all of those impacts would have disrupted Mercury's magnetic field long ago (c) The last astronauts to visit Mercury detected no magnetic field (d) Magnetic fields are generated by motions of molten material inside a planet and we thought that Mercury solidified long ago. (e) We did not think that Mercury had the required concentrations of magnetized minerals to produce a strong magnetic field 4. Which of the following correctly describes an essential difference between light waves and sound waves? (a) Light waves bend as they go through narrow openings; sound waves do not (b) Light waves can be described with a frequency; sound waves can only be described with a wavelength (c) Light waves do not require a medium to travel through; sound waves do need a medium to travel through (d) Light waves have small wavelengths; sound waves have large wavelengths (e) Light waves carry a lot of energy; sound waves do not

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5. Clouds of hydrogen gas in space glow a characteristic red colour. Why? (a) (b) (c) (d) Because hydrogen atoms are red. Because such clouds are usually full of red stars, whose light the hydrogen reflects. Because the hydrogen gas is very hot, so it glows red. Because red light corresponds to the energy difference between a pair of electron orbitals in the hydrogen atom. (e) Because our eyes are most sensitive to red light. 6. Compared to light with a short wavelength, light with a long wavelength has: (a) (b) (c) (d) (e) a bluer colour more energy a lower frequency a faster speed a lower pitch

7. If you were building a telescope to observe BOTH visible light and infrared radiation, where would it be best to build it? (a) (b) (c) (d) (e) Far away from civilization, because infrared radiation can harm people On top of a mountain, because you'd want to be far from all the heat produced by the Earth Above the atmosphere, to avoid atmospheric absorption On Venus, where there is plenty of infrared radiation to pick up In a protected environment deep underground, where the telescope will not be exposed to gamma rays.

8. The spectrum of the Sun shows a variety of absorption lines. What do the positions of these lines in the Sun's spectrum tell us about the Sun? (a) (b) (c) (d) (e) The chemical composition of the outer layers of the Sun The overall size and mass of the Sun The colour of the Sun's outer layers The distance to the Sun The temperature in the core of the Sun

9. What heat source contributes the most to keeping terrestrial planet interiors molten long after those planets have formed? (a) (b) (c) (d) (e) accretion desalination differentiation radioactive decay redistribution

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10. Consider two planets, A and B. Both have the same chemical composition, formed at the same time, orbit identical stars, and orbit those stars at identical distances. A has a lot of volcanoes, while B has none. Which of the following conclusions is consistent with this evidence? (a) (b) (c) (d) (e) A is larger than B A has a thicker atmosphere than B A is likely to be home to more aggressive aliens, possibly made of magma A contains more heavy elements than B A has a weaker magnetic field than B

11. Looking at a picture of the Moon, or even looking at the Moon with your bare eye, you can see lots of dark patches. These dark patches are round and have names like The Sea of Tranquility? What are these dark patches? (a) Oceans of liquid methane (b) Places where the intense heat from the rockets of the Apollo astronauts charred the surface of the Moon (c) Craters that filled with lava early in the Moon's history (d) Oceans of liquid water (e) Places where high winds have cleared the Moon's surface free of dust 12. Which of the following best describes the rings of Saturn? (a) (b) (c) (d) (e) They are solid rings, like hula-hoops, encircling Saturn They are composed of a fine spray of gas They mainly consist of tiny rocks and chunks of ice, about the size of pebbles They mainly consist of large chunks of rock, about the size of refrigerators They are rings of sulphur plasma emitted by Io

13. While on vacation to the International Space Station (ISS), you decide to make a latte and sip it on the patio on the shaded side of the ISS. Unfortunately, after exiting the ISS without any form of protection, you realize that there is, in fact, no patio. You start to get very cold. By what method are you and your latte mainly losing heat? (a) (b) (c) (d) (e) convection differentiation conduction radiation Darwinian natural selection

14. Which of the following is NOT an important power of a large, modern telescope? (a) resolution (seeing more detail in celestial objects) (b) magnification (making images of celestial objects larger) (c) light gathering power (seeing fainter objects)

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15. If the temperature of the Earth increased a little bit (a degree or two), what would happen in the long term? (a) Carbon dioxide would be released by the oceans, causing the temperature to get hotter and hotter in a feedback loop. (b) More water would evaporate from the oceans, the water would absorb atmospheric carbon dioxide, and the temperature would come back down (c) Rocks would start to release carbon dioxide, which would be absorbed by the oceans, bringing the temperature back down (d) The capacity of the oceans to dissolve carbon dioxide would increase, reducing the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, bringing the temperature back down (e) Rocks would start to release carbon dioxide so the temperature would rise until the oceans absorbed some of the extra carbon dioxide, at which point the temperature would stabilize at a new, higher level 16. Imagine you are elected president of the United States. The whole budget of NASA is at your disposal. You decide that your legacy will be to land humans on another planet. Because you only have four years until the next election and don't have time to invent a lot of new technology, you're going to have to send the astronauts to the planet that, in its natural state, is the most suitable for supporting human life. Which planet will you send the astronauts to? (a) (b) (c) (d) (e) Neptune Jupiter Europa Mars Venus

17. When impactors capable of producing craters hit a planetary body, they explode. Why? (a) Because they hit the surface while moving at the speed of light, so their mass is converted to energy. (b) Because they hit the surface while moving faster than the speed of sound in the ground, so the ground can't deform to absorb the impact and the impactor's energy is instead converted to heat. (c) Because rocks capable of producing craters are generally very hot, so when they hit the ground, that heats them up an extra little bit and causes them to explode. (d) Because they hit the ground at moving faster than the speed of sound in space, so they get superheated by the planet's atmosphere and are ready to explode when they hit the surface of the planet. 18. Over millions of years, tidal interactions between the Earth and the Moon are causing: (a) (b) (c) (d) (e) Earth's day to get longer the Moon to move closer to Earth Earth's crust to cool down Earth's year to get shorter the Moon to spin faster on its axis PAGE 6 OF 9

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19. Why do Earth and Venus have much thicker atmospheres than either Mars or Mercury? (a) Because Mars and Mercury are either too hot or to cold to maintain atmospheres. (b) Because Mars and Mercury orbit in parts of the solar system where there are few comets, and therefore little material out of which to build planetary atmospheres. (c) Because Mars and Mercury are heavily cratered, and the frequency of the impacts on their surfaces has disrupted their atmospheres. (d) Because Mars and Mercury have masses below the threshold required to capture and hold a thick atmosphere for billions of years. (e) We cannot be sure why Mars and Mercury have such thin atmospheres. We hope that the MESSENGER and Mars Express probes will help resolve this enduring mystery. 20. Here are the spectra of two different celestial objects., A and B. What relationship between these two objects is revealed by these spectra?

(a) (b) (c) (d) (e)

A is hotter than B A is moving relative to us at a different speed than B is A is colder than B A is larger than B A is made of different materials than B

21. Which of the following correctly describes a change that will occur in Earth's sky over the next ten thousand years? (a) (b) (c) (d) (e) all of the stars will go out because they will have exhausted their fuel the expansion of space will make it impossible to see other galaxies the Orion Nebula will finish forming stars and disappear the North Celestial Pole will move away from Polaris most of the constellations will change their appearance due to the motion of the stars within them, so that they will become unrecognizeable

22. Which of the following planets DOES NOT have rings? (a) (b) (c) (d) (e) Jupiter Venus Uranus Neptune Saturn

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PART B: Short answer questions. Answer ALL of the following questions in the spaces provided. Point form is acceptable where appropriate. Marks may be deducted for lack of clarity or concision. 1. [2 marks] Draw a CLEARLY LABELED diagram showing an example of a configuration of celestial objects which would produce an absorption spectrum. Be sure to indicate the direction to the observer who sees the absorption spectrum!

2. [2 marks] Using a CLEARLY LABELED diagram, illustrate the difference in the positions and extents of the Kuiper Belt and the Oort Cloud. Your diagram should include a dot for the Sun, a circle for the orbit of Neptune, and representations of both the Kuiper Belt and the Oort Cloud.

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3. [2 marks] NAME two different processes that tend to erase craters from the surfaces of moons and planets. i. ii. 4. [2 marks] We believe that the planets formed in a disk of material orbiting the young Sun. In such a disk, everything would rotate in the same sense (e.g. counterclockwise as seen from above). Two planets in the solar system rotate on their axes in peculiar ways which challenge this model for the formation of the planets. What are these two planets AND in what way is the rotation of each one peculiar? i. ii.

5. [1 mark] The Jovian moon, Io, is highly volcanically active, yet it is smaller than geologically inactive planets such as Mars and Mercury. What primary source of heat continues to power Io's volcanic activity.

6. [4 marks] Use a line to connect each of the following measurable quantities (on the left) to the ONE piece of information (on the right) that it gives us about a celestial object. Each item should be used only once. blackbody spectrum presence of emission or absorption lines Doppler shift of emission or absorption lines degree of cratering chemical composition speed toward or away from us age surface temperature

THE END
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