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Astronomy : Solar System Exam

Total questions: 71

Worksheet time: 1hrs 19mins

Name
Class
Date
1.

A person would weigh less on the moon than on the Earth because...

a)

the moon has less mass, and therefore less gravity

b)

the moon has more mass, and therefore less gravity

c)

the moon has less mass, and therefore more gravity

d)

the moon has more mass, and therefore more gravity

2.

If a person weighs 100 pounds on Earth, calculate how much that person would weigh on Jupiter. Jupiter has 3 times the amount of gravity than Earth does.

a)

100 pounds

b)

300 pounds

c)

33.3 pounds

d)

Not enough information is given

3.
__________holds all of the planets in orbit around the sun.
a)
Force
b)
Motion
c)
Weight
d)
Gravity
4.

Gravity on Mar's surface is much lower than it is here on Earth. This is because the mass of Mars is __________ that of Earth.

a)

less than

b)

more than

c)

the same as

5.

Two factors effecting the magnitude of the force of gravity between 2 objects are...

a)

mass. density and distance

b)

mass and matter

c)

distance, density and weight

d)

weight and mass

6.

How does changing the distance of the string in the model represent the orbits of the planets?

a)

the longer the string means the larger the planet

b)

the longer the string, the longer the orbit time of a planet

c)

the shorter the string, the longer the orbit time of the planet

d)

the shorter the string, the smaller the planet

7.
Do planets affect the sun? Why?
a)
No. Sun pull on the planets and keep them in orbit.
b)
Yes. Sun pulls on planets, planets pull on Sun
8.

What best describes the mass and weight of a person as they move around the universe?

a)

mass and weight changes

b)

mass and weight stays constant

c)

weight remains constant, mass changes

d)

mass stays constant, weight changes

9.
What is mass?
a)
Attraction between objects
b)
How much matter in an object
c)
Amount of space in object
10.

All objects in the universe that have mass exert a gravitational pull on other objects that have mass.

a)

True

b)

False

11.
Which planet is the largest?
a)
Jupiter
b)
Saturn
c)
Uranus
d)
Neptune
12.

The spinning of an object on its axis is called______

a)

orbit

b)

rotation

c)

revolution

d)

tide

13.

Day and night is caused by the _____________ of earth on its axis.

a)

revolution

b)

orbit

c)

rotation

14.

How long does it take the Earth to make one REVOLUTION around the Sun?

a)

365 hours

b)

365.5 days

c)

365.25 days

d)

29.5 days

15.
How long does it take for Earth to complete on full rotation?
a)
365 days
b)
23 hours
c)
24 hours
d)
1 month
16.
This is the largest planet in the solar system.
a)
Saturn
b)
Jupiter
c)
Uranus
d)
Venus
17.
This is the smallest planet in the solar system
a)
Mercury
b)
Venus
c)
Earth
d)
Mars
18.

Which of the following statements is correct?

a)

Pluto was once classified as a dwarf planet, but is now classified as a main planet

b)

Pluto was never classified as a planet

c)

Pluto has always been considered a planet

d)

Pluto was once considered a main planet, but is now a dwarf planet

19.
Which planet is the largest?
a)
Jupiter
b)
Saturn
c)
Uranus
d)
Neptune
20.
What is a common characteristic of the inner planets?
a)
Large
b)
Gaseous
c)
Rings
d)
Rocky Surface
21.
What is NOT a common characteristic of the outer planets?
a)
Gaseous
b)
Giant
c)
Rings
d)
Smaller than Earth
22.
True or False
The planets are all equally distanced from each other.
a)
True
b)
False
23.

What is between the inner planets and the outer planets?

a)
Asteroid belt
b)
Kuiper belt
c)
Sun
d)
Moon
24.

What force(s) keeps the planets orbiting the sun? ( You may select more than one.)

a)

Gravity

b)

Magnetism

c)

Electricity

d)

Friction

e)

inertia

25.
What planets are Mercury, Venus, Earth, & Mars considered?
a)
inner
b)
outer
c)
dwarf
26.
The outermost planets have what type of physical composition?
a)

gas and ice

b)

rocky

c)
liquid
27.

A dwarf planet. It is farther from the sun than Neptune

a)

Earth

b)

Pluto

c)

Uranus

d)

Neptune

e)

Kuiper

28.

The spherical outer shell of objects that surrounds everything else in the solar system is called the ______.

a)

Kuiper Belt

b)

Oort Cloud

c)

Scattered Disk

d)

Plutinos

29.

All the known dwarf planets (except Ceres) orbit in the:

a)

asteroid belt

b)

Kuiper belt

c)

Oort cloud

30.

What object is at the center of a heliocentric model?

a)

Earth

b)

Sun

c)

the Moon

31.
How long is a day on earth?
a)
22 hours
b)
365 days
c)
12 hours
d)
24 hours
32.

The first concept of the solar system had the earth at the center, this was called

a)

a heliocentric system

b)

a geocentric system

c)

the Milky Way

d)

Copernicus' model

33.

The planets of the solar system

a)

are evenly spaced out.

b)

are closer together inside the asteroid belt and then spread further apart after the asteroid belt.

c)

are far apart inside the asteroid belt then closer together outside the asteroid belt.

d)

have not set spacing between them.

34.

This model of the "universe" was first proposed by ancient Greeks

a)

heliocentric

b)

geocentric

c)

lunarcentric

d)

Ptolomy's system

35.

According to Kepler's 2nd law

a)

Planets move faster when they have moons

b)

Planets all move at the same speed around the sun

c)

Planets move faster farther away from the sun and slower when closer to the sun

d)

Planets move faster closer to the sun and slower when farther away.

36.

According to Kepler's first law

a)

Orbits are dependent on the mass of the planet and the sun

b)

Orbits are perfectly circular with the sun at the focus

c)

Orbits of planets are ellipses with the earth at one focus

d)

Orbits of planets are ellipses with sun at one focus

37.

Which planet is the only planet with water in 3 states

a)

Earth

b)

Venus

c)

Mars

d)

Mercury

38.

Which planet is covered in clouds of CO2 and sulfuric acid

a)

Earth

b)

Mercury

c)

Venus

d)

Mars

39.

Which planet has polar “ice caps” of CO2

a)

Earth

b)

Mercury

c)

Venus

d)

Mars

40.

On which planet is Olympus Mons: largest volcano known found?

a)

Earth

b)

Mercury

c)

Venus

d)

Mars

41.

Which planet has no atmosphere due low gravitational force

a)

Earth

b)

Mercury

c)

Venus

d)

Mars

42.

This planet has many craters

a)

Earth

b)

Mercury

c)

Venus

d)

Mars

43.

This planet has high atmospheric pressure and temperature

a)

Earth

b)

Mercury

c)

Venus

d)

Mars

44.

The four outer "Jovian Planets" are mostly made up of

a)

gasses: nitrogen, oxygen, carbon dioxide, and water vapor

b)

gasses and/or ices: Hydrogen, helium, methane, ammonia, and water

c)

solid: Hydrogen, helium, methane, ammonia, and water

d)

rocky minerals

45.

Which planet has 4 largest moons that were seen by Galileo

a)

Jupiter

b)

Saturn

c)

Uranus

d)

Neptune

46.

Which planet is almost enough mass to be a brown dwarf star

a)

Jupiter

b)

Saturn

c)

Neptune

d)

Uranus

47.

Which planet is rolling through space?

a)

Jupiter

b)

Saturn

c)

Uranus

d)

Neptune

48.

Which planet is famous for its blue color?

a)

Jupiter

b)

Saturn

c)

Uranus

d)

Neptune

49.

Which planet has large, easily visible rings made of rocks and ice with 82 moons?

a)

Jupiter

b)

Saturn

c)

Uranus

d)

Neptune

50.

Which planet has the giant red spot storm?

a)

Jupiter

b)

Saturn

c)

Uranus

d)

Neptune

51.

Which gas giant has seasons?

a)

Jupiter

b)

Saturn

c)

Uranus

d)

Neptune

52.

The distance of each planet from the sun makes a big difference in

a)

its climate and weather

b)

its moons and whether it can support life.

c)

if it has rings

d)

its climate and whether it can support life.

53.

What is one reason Earth can support life?

a)

water

b)

atmosphere

c)

moon

d)

seasons

54.

Models that are to scale are most useful for showing

a)

the relationships between the sizes of things and the distances between them.

b)

the number of items in the solar system

c)

the order of the planets

d)

what color each planet is

55.

Why is it diffiicult to make a model the solar system with both the sizes and the distances being accurate and to scale?

a)

Because we do not know what is in the solar system

b)

Because the sun is so large and the distances so great

c)

Because of the immense distances and the fact that things are so small in comparison

d)

Because we do not know the actual distances

56.

What force does the string represent? What would happen if the string was suddenly let go? What force does this represent?

a)

The string represents the pull of gravity between the hand and the ball. If released the ball would be pulled into the center.

b)

The string represents the push of gravity. Nothing would happen to the the ball, it would just continue in its orbit due to the pull of inertia.

c)

The string represents the pull of inertia. If released the ball at the end would fly off due to the pull of gravity.

d)

The string represents pull gravity. If released the ball at the end would fly off due to inertia.

57.

What is the difference between the Asteroid belt and the Kuiper belt?

a)

Asteroid belt contains rocky material and Kuiper belt contains icy material.

b)

Asteroid belt contains large rocky material , Kuper belt contains dwarf planets and other rocky material and is found outside of the gas giants.

c)

Asteroid belt contains comets, meteoroids and asteroids while the Kuiper belt contains meteoroids and comets.

d)

Asteroid belt contains dwarf planets and Kuiper belt contains small rocky material.

58.

How does the tail of a comet behave?

a)

it points towards the sun

b)

it only exists out in deep space

c)

it points away from the sun

d)

it is part of the nucleus

59.

Where is the home of billions of comets?

a)

Kuiper belt

b)

asteroid belt

c)

Oort cloud

d)

between area between Neptune and the Kuiper Belt

60.

What type of orbit do comets have?

a)

circular

b)

slightly elliptical

c)

very elliptical

d)

square

61.

What is Halley's comet?

a)

Comet that appears every 76 years and was predicted by Hailey in 1705

b)

Comet that appears every 76 years and reappearred in 1905

c)

Comet that appears every 1705 years and reappearred in 1758

d)

Comet that appears every 1758 years and reappearred in 1705

62.

What do scientist think occurred 65 million years ago?

a)

The Earth was formed

b)

the moon was formed from a collision between Earth and a large rocky object

c)

An asteroid hit Earth and exploded leaving a thin layer of Irdium

d)

An asteroid hit Earth and made the oceans

63.

When the eccentricity of an orbit increases what is ocurring?

a)

the more circular the shape of the orbit is becoming

b)

the number of moons and rings the planet has is increasing

c)

the faster the planet is moving around the sun

d)

the more oval the shape of the orbit is becoming

64.

Why do scientist think dinosaurs went extinct?

a)

Humans hunted them to death

b)

Mammals ate all their eggs

c)

Earth was hit by a large asteroid

d)

Earth was hit by a dwarf planet

65.

Why do meteors burn up in the Earth's atmosphere?

a)

they don't, they all hit the ground

b)

friction creates thermal heat

c)

they don't instead they warm up and melt

d)

they are on fire out in space

66.

What is the relationship between mass and weight?

a)

Mass is the amount of matter in an object and weight is the measure of how gravity pulls that mass

b)

Weight is the amount of matter in an object and mass is the measure of how gravity pulls that mass

c)

weight and mass are the same thing

d)

mass is how large something is and weight is how gravity pulls on the object

67.

Which of these statements describes our solar system? (choose more than 1)

a)

The inner planets are small, dense, and close together

b)

The innner planets are small and very far apart

c)

the outer planets are large gas giants with low density and spread far apart

d)

the outer planets are large dense rocky planets that are far apart

68.

Select the statement that best reflects the relationship between planet size and gravity .

a)

Smaller planets always have less gravitational pull than large planets

b)

Small rocky planets and larger giants with low density can have similar gravities

c)

Giant planets always have larger gravitational pull than small planets

d)

Giant planets have the same gravitational pull as Earth.

69.

Which description best fits our solar system

a)

1 Sun, 8 planets, many moons, and small items that can be rocky or icy

b)

1 Sun, 8planets all with moons, and small rocky and icy items

c)

1 Sun, 13 planets, 10 moons, and small rocks

d)

1 Sun, 8 planets with moons

70.

Which general statement best describes the arrangement of our solar system

a)

all planets are spaced equally from the sun

b)

Inner planets and giants are spaced equally far apart

c)

Inner planets are spaced far apart and giants are spread further apart the farther you get from the sun

d)

Inner planets are closer together and the giants are spread further apart the farther you get from the suny

71.

Which statement best describes our solar system?

a)

Inner planets are smaller gas planets and outer planets are solid ice or gas giants

b)

All planets are alike

c)

Inner planets are smaller solid planets and outer planets are gas or ice giants

d)

there is not a relationship between size of planet and distance from sun