Midterm Solutions

1) Answer: B

2) Answer: B

3) Answer: A

4) Answer: A

5) Answer: D

6) Answer: D

7) Answer: D

8) Answer: D

9) Answer: D

10) Answer: E

11) Answer: B

12) Answer: E

13) Answer: A

14) Answer: A

15) Answer: A

16) Answer: B

17) Answer: E

18) Answer: B

19) Answer: E

20) Answer: A

21) Answer: D

22) Answer: B

23) Answer: B

24) Answer: B

25) Answer: C

26) Answer: A

27) Answer: E

28) Answer: A

29) Answer: A

30) Answer: B

31) Answer: E

32) Answer: E

33) Answer: C

34) Answer: B

35) Answer: E

36) Answer: A

37) Answer: D

38) Answer: B

39) Answer: D

40) Answer: C

41) Answer: FALSE

42) Answer: FALSE

43) Answer: FALSE

44) Answer: FALSE

  1. Answer: TRUE

46) Answer: Terrestrial planets are metallic or rocky in composition, close to the Sun, have higher average density, have a solid surface, are warmer at the surface, and have few if any moons. Jovian planets are gaseous in composition, lower in density, have no solid surface, are farther from the Sun, and have rings and moons.



47) Answer: Every chemical element has a unique set of atomic energy levels. Spectral lines are produced by electrons moving between energy levels in the atoms. Therefore, every chemical element has a unique set of spectral lines. By identifying spectral lines, we can identify the elements that produced them.


48) Answer: It means that when we look at a distant object, we see it as it was some time in the past, rather than as it is now. This is because the light we see has taken time to travel from the object to us.


49) Answer: We would no longer have seasons if there were no axial tilt because the Sun's light would hit at the same angle all throughout the year, depending only on where you lived. Thus, the amount of solar energy received would not vary on a yearly time scale as it does now. The slight change in distance between the Earth and the Sun during the year would not produce much of an effect.


50) Answer: The orbital period of the planet would be approximately the same as that of the Earth (1 year). Kepler's 3rd law considers only the sum of the object masses. In comparison with the mass of the star, the mass of the planet can be neglected. Thus, even though the planet is twice as massive as the Earth, its orbit will be nearly the same as that of the Earth.