Does ET Exist? Exam_01
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Answers
01 – 10 cbdec abedd
11 – 20 ccded dcbda
21 – 30 daebe cdbcb
31 – 40 deddc ecabd
41 – 50 cabbc babdb
51 – 60 adeda beadc
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1. Extraterrestrial life is defined to be
A) life found beyond the Earth which is based on
the same biology and chemistry as life on Earth
B) advanced life forms that have visited the
Earth
C) any kind of life found beyond the Earth
D) advanced life found on Earth-like planets
around other stars
E) life depicted in the movie, “ET – the
Extraterrestrial”
2. Which three branches of science are most
important in our study of life in the universe?
A) physics, astrology, and mathematics
B) astronomy, planetary science, and biology
C) planetary science, biology, and mathematics
D) biology, economics, and physics
E) astrology, intelligent design, and
creationism
3. Astronomy has shown us that the Earth
A) occupies a special location in the universe
so that life elsewhere is unlikely
B) is the only planet in the universe with any
kind of life
C) is the only planet in the universe with
advanced life
D) is just one planet orbiting an ordinary star
in a vast universe
E) ain’t long for this world
4. Astronomy has shown us that the fundamental
laws of physics are
A) are a crock of …
B) the same in our solar system but different
beyond the solar system
C) completely random and unpredictable
D) different on other planets in our solar
system
E) the same everywhere in the universe
5. Which component of Earth’s geology is
believed to have been largely responsible for the long-term climate stability
that has allowed life to evolve?
A) global magnetism
B) seismic activity
C) plate tectonics
D) erosion and weathering
E) polar ice caps
6. The fact that the life on Earth seems to have
appeared quite rapidly suggests that life
A) can arise on most habitable worlds
B) can only appear soon after a planet forms
C) on any kind of planet is inevitable
D) is only possible on Earth-like planets
E) can be created by an intelligent designer
7. The molecular building blocks of life have
been found
A) in the oceans below Europa’s surface
B) on the Earth, in interstellar clouds, and in
meteorites
C) on the Earth and in meteorites
D) on the Earth and on Mars
D) only on the Earth
8. Using current spacecraft, how long would it
take to reach the nearest stars?
A) hundreds of millions of years
B) millions of years
C) only a few years
D) thousands of years
E) hundreds of thousands of years
9. You chemically analyze a small sample of a
meteorite. K-40 and Ar-40 are present in a ratio of approximately 1.25 units of
K-40 atoms to 8.75 units of gaseous Ar-40 atoms. How old is the meteorite given
the half-life of this decay is 1.25 billion years?
A) 1.25 billion years
B) 5.00 billion years
C) 2.50 billion years
D) 3.75 billion years
E) pretty dam.. old!
10. Which component of Earth’s geology has helped
to shield the Earth’s atmosphere from energetic particles of solar wind from
the Sun which would have gradually stripped it away into space?
A) volcanism
B) seismic activity
C) plate tectonics
D) global magnetism
E) critters living in fertile soil
11. The methods of modern science were originated
by the
A) Mayans
B) Egyptians
C) Greeks
D) Babylonians
E) Italians
12. In science, conceptual representations of
observed phenomena are referred to as
A) myths
B) hypotheses
C) models
D) beliefs
E) facts
13. The Ptolemaic model has planets moving in
A) elliptical orbits about the Sun
B) a simple circle about the Earth
C) a simple circle about the Sun
D) small circles, the centers of which move in a
larger circle about the Earth
E) concentric circles
14. Copernicus
A) provided strong observational evidence that
the Earth moved about the Sun
B) proved that the orbital shapes of the planets
were ellipses and not circles
C) was the first person to suggest the Earth
moved around the Sun
D) was obviously wrong because he suffered from
myopia when observing
E) revived Aristarchus’s suggestion of a
Sun-centered solar system and described it mathematically
15. Tycho Brahe
A) developed a theory of gravity to explain the
motions of the planets
B) obtained the first observational evidence
suggesting the Earth moved about the Sun
C) showed that the orbits of the planets were
ellipses and not circles
D) made detailed measurements of the motions of
the planets in the sky
E) drank too much wine which kept him from being
able to observe Mars accurately
16. Johannes Kepler
A) developed a theory of gravity to explain the
motions of the planets
B) obtained the first observational evidence
suggesting the Earth moved about the Sun
C) made detailed measurements of the motions of
the planets in the sky
D) showed that the orbits of the planets were
ellipses and not circles
E) should have been Tycho’s advisor … not his
mere assistant
17. Kepler’s Third Law of planetary motion states
that
A) the further a planet is from the Sun, the
faster it moves in its orbit
B) an imaginary line joining the Sun and planet
sweeps out equal areas in equal times
C) the further a planet is from the Sun, the
slower it moves in its orbit
D) the orbits of planets are ellipses
E) all the planets exert equal but opposite
forces on each other
18. Galileo Galilei
A) developed a theory of gravity to explain the
motions of the planets
B) obtained the first observational evidence
suggesting the Earth moved about the Sun
C) showed that the orbits of the planets were
ellipses and not circles
D) made detailed measurements of the motions of
the planets in the sky
E) should have been burned at the stake after
been found guilty of heresy
19. The observations of sunspots on the Sun and
craters on the Moon by Galileo contradicted the commonly held belief that the
realm of the heavens was
A) spherical
B) unchanging
C) infinite
D) perfect
E) beyond humankind’s ability to understand
20. The discovery of a supernova by Tycho Brahe
in 1572 contradicted the commonly held belief that the universe was
A) unchanging
B) spherical
C) infinite
D) perfect
E) expanding
21. The discovery of four moons in orbit about
Jupiter by Galileo suggested that
A) the Earth moved about Jupiter
B) the Earth moved about the Sun
C) Jupiter moved about the Sun
D) bodies could stay in orbit about a moving
Jupiter
E) the Earth was also one of Jupiter’s moons
22. Galileo discovered that Venus goes through a
cycle of phases like the Moon. This suggested that
A) Venus moved about the Sun
B) Venus moved about the Earth
C) the Sun moved about the Earth
D) the Earth moved about the Sun
E) you might also go crazy when Venus was full
as happens when the Moon is full
23. What is the relationship between
A)
B)
C) Kepler’s laws are general and apply to any
motion, while
D) none … they were derived independently
E)
24. In the scientific method a hypothesis is
another name for
A) an observation
B) an educated conjecture
C) a test
D) a theory
E) a possible fact
25. A scientist intuitively believes that a
higher power must be present in the universe.
However, she can provide no experimental data to support her belief.
This is an example of
A) voodoo
B) hypothesis-driven science
C) incompetence
D) discovery science
E) nonscience
26. A scientist tries to determine why a
particular car is getting a much lower gas mileage than claimed by the
manufacturer by systematically designing experiments to test possible causes
for the problem. This is an example of
A) GM in action
B) nonscience
C) hypothesis-driven science
D) pseudoscience
E) fixing it only if it’s broke
27. Modern science attempts to seek explanations
for phenomena that are based on
A) new subjective laws that are yet to be
confirmed experimentally
B) intuitive expectations
C) the views of leading scientists
D) the known laws of nature
E) unfounded beliefs
28. If a scientific model generates a prediction
that is not confirmed experimentally,
A) the experimental data must be modified to be
consistent with the model
B) it must be initially revised and eventually
abandoned if it continues to be inconsistent with experiments
C) it must be assumed that there are errors in
the experiment
D) it must immediately be abandoned
E) the scientist has to punt
29. Scientific models supported by a large,
compelling body of evidence are referred to as
A) facts
B) ideas
C) theories
D) hypotheses
E) truths
30. Two asteroids have identical masses. However,
one asteroid is twice as far from the Sun than the other. According to
A) the same size as the force exerted on the
closer asteroid
B) one-quarter of the size of the force exerted
on the closer asteroid
C) twice as large as the force exerted on the
closer asteroid
D) one-half of the size of the force exerted on
the closer asteroid
E) one-eighth of the size of the force exerted
on the closer asteroid
31. In the context of life in the universe, which
of the following discoveries of astronomy suggests that extraterrestrial life
may be constructed in a similar fashion to life on Earth?
A) the universe is very large
B) the universe is very old
C) the laws of physics are the same everywhere
D) the chemical elements that make up life on
Earth are common
E) Kepler’s laws
32. In our Milky Way galaxy, the Sun is located
A) in the galactic bulge
B) at the galactic center
C) in the halo
D) in a black hole
E) in the disk
33. According to current astronomical data,
approximately how old is the universe?
A) 65 million years
B) 6000 years
C) 4.6 billion years
D) 13.7 billion years
E) infinite
34. The strongest piece of evidence that supports
the Big Bang theory is the
A) observation that the further away the galaxy,
the greater its blueshift
B) detection of dark matter in the halos of
galaxies
C) fact that stars have finite lifetimes
D) detection of the cosmic microwave background
radiation left over from the formation of the universe
E) fact that the universe is expanding
35. In the process of nuclear fusion,
A) two or more nuclei fuse or stick together to
form a heavier nucleus that has exactly the same mass as the original nucleus
B) a heavy nucleus breaks apart into a number of
smaller nuclei whose combined mass is less than the original nucleus
C) two or more nuclei fuse or stick together to
form a heavier nucleus whose combined mass is slightly less than the original
nucleus
D) two or more nuclei fuse or stick together to
form a heavier nucleus whose combined mass is slightly greater than the
original nucleus
E) two nuclei simply bounce off each other when
hurled together at great speed
36. The main chemical building blocks of life,
carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, and nitrogen were formed
A) inside interstellar gas clouds during star
formation
B) in the center of the Earth and then ejected
onto the surface via volcanism
C) in lego kits
D) in the Big Bang that created the universe
E) in the nuclear burning cores of stars and
then ejected into space when they died
37. If we compress the entire history of the
Earth into one year, modern humans appear
A) at 9 PM on New Year’s Eve
B) at midnight on New Year’s Eve
C) a couple of minutes before midnight on New
Year’s Eve
D) a few seconds before midnight on New Year’s
Eve
E) on groundhog day when they see their shadow
38. In our solar system, terrestrial planets are
A) small, made mostly of rock and iron with high
densities, and found close to the Sun
B) large, made mostly of gases and liquids with
low densities, and found far from the Sun
C) large, made of pure gases with low densities,
and found far from the Sun
D) small, made of pure rock with high densities,
and found close to the Sun
E) further from the Sun than Jovian planets
39. The most abundant materials in the solar
nebula were
A) hydrogen compounds like water, methane, and
ammonia
B) hydrogen and helium gases
C) metals
D) rocks
E) nebulonium and solarium
40. The outer Jovian planets most likely formed
from
A) Jovians
B) larger collections of hydrogen and helium gas
attracting particles of rock and ice to them
C) the collision and coalescence of clumps of
hydrogen and helium gas within the solar nebula
D) planetesimals of rock and ice attracting
hydrogen and helium gas from the solar nebula
E) clumps of hydrogen and helium gas spun from a
rapidly rotating protosun
41. Given the basic building blocks of planets
are widespread and the same laws of physics operate everywhere, we would expect
A) to have detected other planetary systems with
life like ours on Earth
B) other planetary systems to be identical to our
own with the same number and types of planets as our own solar system
C) other planetary systems to exist and some to
be laid out in a similar manner to our own with inner rocky terrestrial planets
and outer gaseous Jovian planets
D) other planetary systems to be very different
than our own because the detailed conditions that existed in our own solar
nebula are unlikely to have been replicated elsewhere
E) no other planetary systems like ours to exist
since the chances are far too small
42. Atoms are held together by
A) the electrostatic force of attraction between
the protons in the nucleus and the surrounding electrons
B) the combined electrostatic force of
attraction between the protons and neutrons in the nucleus and the surrounding
electrons
C) the force of gravitational attraction between
the protons in the nucleus and the surrounding electrons
D) the electrostatic force of attraction between
the neutrons in the nucleus and the surrounding electrons
E) superglue
43. An isotope of the element Manganese (Mn) has
an atomic number of 25 and a mass number of 55. Assuming the atom is neutral,
this means it has
A) 55 protons, 55 electrons, and 25 neutrons
B) 25 protons, 25 electrons, and 30 neutrons
C) 25 protons, 30 electrons, and 25 neutrons
D) 25 protons, 25 electrons, and 55 neutrons
E) none of the above
44. How does the speed (in a vacuum) of a
high-frequency electromagnetic wave compare with a low-frequency
electromagnetic wave?
A) the lower-frequency wave has the higher speed
because speed is inversely related to frequency
B) the two waves have the same speed because the
speed of light is constant
C) the lower-frequency wave has the higher speed
because it has the longest wavelength
D) the higher-frequency wave has the higher speed
E) … depends on the exact frequencies
45. Which of the following sequence of
electromagnetic radiations is in order of increasing wavelength?
A) radio, infrared, UV, gamma ray
B) gamma ray, UV, radio, microwave
C) X-ray, visible, infrared, radio
D) UV, infrared, visible, microwave
E) gamma ray, X-ray, visible, UV
46. The main way astronomers determine the
physical and chemical properties of an object in the distant universe is
through
A) photography
B) spectroscopy
C) astrometry
D) direct measurement
E) go get it and examine it through a microscope
47. In which eon of Earth’s history did the early
bombardment occur?
A) Hadean
B) Archaen
C) Phanerozoic
D) Proterozoic
E) Renaissance
48. Isotopic analysis of meteorites suggests the
Earth and the rest of the solar system formed
A) 3.85 billion years ago
B) 4.57 billion years ago
C) 4.4 billion years ago
D) 4.0 billion years ago
E) about 6000 years ago
49. Given the Earth’s larger size and strong
gravity, the Earth’s surface should have more impact craters than the Moon.
However, it has very few. Why is this?
A) the Moon acted like a shield, protecting the
Earth from most impacts
B) the Earth’s surface was almost completely
molten during the Hadean Eon so no impact craters were formed
C) almost all impacts occurred in the oceans so
no impact craters were formed
D) geological processes like plate tectonics,
volcanism, and erosion have erased them
E) the craters do exist, but they’re all
underwater