Term
| The force of gravity is an inverse square law. This means that if you double the distance between two large masses the gravitational force between them |
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Definition
| Weakens by a factor of 4. |
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Term
| How does the Space Shuttle take off? |
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Definition
| Hot gas shoots out from the rocket, and by conservation of momentum the shuttle movies in the opposite direction. |
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Term
| Considering Einstein's famous equation E=mc2 which of the following statements is true? |
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Definition
| A small amount of mass can be turned into a large amount of energy |
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Term
| A skater can spin faster by pulling her arms closer to her body or spin slower by spreading her arms out from her body. This is due to |
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Definition
| Conservation of angular momentum |
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Term
| Kepler's third law, p2=a3 means that |
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Definition
| Planets that are farther from the Sun move at slower average speeds than nearer planets. |
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Term
| In which of the following cases would you feel weightless? |
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Definition
| While falling from a roof. |
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Term
| If your mass is 60kg on Earth, what would your mass be on the Moon? |
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Definition
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Term
| What quantities does angular momentum depend upon? |
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Definition
| Mass, velocity, and radius |
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Term
| What does temperature measure? |
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Definition
| The average kinetic energy of particles in a substance. |
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Term
| Grass (that is healthy) looks green because |
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Definition
| It reflects green light and absorbs other colors. |
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Term
| The wavelength of a wave is |
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Definition
| The distance between two adjacent peaks of the wave |
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Term
| From lowest energy to highest energy which of the following correctly orders the different categories of electromagnetic radiation? |
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Definition
| Radio, infrared, visible light, ultraviolet, X rays, gamma rays. |
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Term
| Which of the following statements about X rays and radio waves is NOT true? |
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Definition
| X rays travel through space faster than radio waves. |
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Term
| We can see each other in the classroom right now because we |
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Definition
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Term
| Which of the following statements about electrical charge is true? |
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Definition
| A positive charge and a negative charge will attract each other |
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Term
| When an atom loses an electron it becomes |
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Definition
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Term
| Consider an atom of gold in which the nucleus contains 79 protons and 118 neutrons. If it is doubly ionized, what is the charge of the gold ion and how many electrons remain in the ion? |
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Definition
| The gold ion has a charge of +2 and 77 electrons. |
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Term
| How can an electron in an atom lose energy to go from a higher energy level to a lower energy level? |
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Definition
| It releases a photon equal in energy to its own energy drop. |
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Term
| When light passes through a cool cloud of gas, we see |
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Definition
| An absorption line spectrum |
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Term
| From laboratory measurements we know that a particular spectral line formed by hydrogen appears at a wavelength of 486.1 nanometers. The spectrum of a particular star shows the same hydrogen line appearing at a wavelength of 485.9 nm. What can we conclude? |
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Definition
| The star is moving toward us. |
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Term
| About where is our solar system located within the Milky Way Galaxy? |
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Definition
| About two-thirds of the way from the center of the galaxy to the out-skirts of the galactic disk. |
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Term
| What do we mean we we say that the universe is expanding? |
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Definition
| Average distances are increasing between galaxies. |
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Term
| Science shows the age of the universe to be |
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Definition
| Between 12 billion and 15 billion years |
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Term
| Earth is made mostly of metals and rocks. Where did this material come from? |
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Definition
| It was produced by nuclear fusion in stars and supernova explosions. |
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Term
| Suppose we look at a photograph of many galaxies. Assuming that all galaxies formed at about the same time, which galaxy in the picture is the youngest? |
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Definition
| The one that is farthest away. |
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Term
| What is the Sun mainly made of? |
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Definition
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Term
| The observable universe is the same size today as it was a few billion years ago |
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Definition
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Term
| What is an astronomical unit? |
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Definition
| The average distance from Earth to the Sun |
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Term
| From the fact that virtually every galaxy is moving away from us and more distance galaxies are moving away from us at a faster rate than closer ones we conclude that |
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Definition
| The universe is expanding |
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Term
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Definition
| The Sun's apparent path along the celestial sphere |
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Term
| What is a circumpolar star? |
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Definition
| A star that always remains above your horizon |
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Term
| Orion is visible on winter evenings but not summer evenings because of |
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Definition
| The location of Earth in its orbit |
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Term
| Why do we have seasons on Earth? |
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Definition
| As Earth goes around the Sun and Earth's axis remains pointed toward Polaris, the Northern and Southern hemispheres alternately receive more and less direct sunlight |
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Term
| If the Moon is setting at 6Am the phase of the Moon must be |
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Definition
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Term
| Why do we see essentially the same face of the Moon at all times? |
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Definition
| Because the Moon's rotational and orbital periods are equal |
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Term
| The names of the seven days of the week are based on the |
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Definition
| Seven naked eye objects that appear to move among the constellations |
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Term
| What do the structures of Stonehenge, the Templo Mayor, the Sun Dagger, and the Big Horn Medicine Wheel all have in common? |
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Definition
| They were all used by ancient peoples for astronomical observations |
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Term
| He discovered that the orbits of planets are ellipses |
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Definition
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Term
| He discovered that Jupiter has moons |
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Definition
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Term
| Kepler's second law, which states that as a planet moves around its orbit it sweeps out equal areas in equal times means that |
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Definition
| A planet travels faster when it is nearer to the sun and slower when it is farther from the Sun |
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