To see his full height, Blinky Bill who is 1.0 meter tall needs a mirror that is at least
A) 0.33 m tall.
B) 0.50 m tall.
C) 0.75 m tall.
D) 1 m tall.
E) depends on distance from the mirror.
Answer:
When you stand on tiptoes on a bathroom scale, there is an increase in
A) weight reading.
B) pressure on the scale, not registered as weight.
C) both weight and pressure on the scale.
D) none of the above
Answer:
An element is best described as a material
A) consisting of only one type of atom.
B) that is pure.
C) that has consistent physical properties.
D) with more than one type of atom.
E) that has consistent chemical properties.
Answer:
How do the wind speeds of the Martian atmosphere compare with those of Earth?
A) about the same as Earth’s
B) about one tenth of Earth’s
C) about 50% of Earth’s
D) about ten times more than Earth’s
Answer:
Which of the following statements does not describe a proton?
A) It orbits around the nucleus of an atom.
B) It has a positive charge equivalent but opposite of an electron’s.
C) It is much more massive than an electron.
D) It is a nucleon.
E) It is attracted to negatively charged electrical plates.
Answer:
The concept of entropy tells us how exothermic reactions are
A) favored over endothermic reactions.
B) not as favorable as endothermic reactions.
C) just as effective as endothermic reactions.
D) the reverse of endothermic reactions.
Answer:
How many alpha particles are emitted in the series of radioactive decay events from a
U-238 nucleus to a Pb-206 nucleus?
A) 32
B) 16
C) 8
D) 4
Answer:
Consider two mercury barometers, one with twice the cross-section area of the other.
Mercury in the wider tube will rise
A) to the same height as in the narrow tube.
B) twice as high as mercury in the narrow tube.
C) four times as high as mercury in the narrow tube.
D) more than four times as high as in the narrow tube.
E) none of the above
Answer:
A clerk can lift containers a vertical distance of 1 m, or roll them up a 2-m-long ramp to
the same elevation. With the ramp, the applied force needed is
A) half as much.
B) twice as much.
C) the same.
Answer:
Why might a high-formula-mass alcohol be insoluble in water?
A) A high formula mass alcohol would be too attracted to itself to be soluble in water.
B) The bulk of a high formula mass alcohol likely consists of nonpolar hydrocarbons.
C) Such an alcohol would likely be in a solid phase.
D) In order for two substance to be soluble in each other their molecules need to be of
comparable mass.
Answer:
A compact fluorescent lamp gives more light output for
A) less power.
B) the same power.
C) greater resistance.
Answer:
The loudness of a musical sound is most related to the sound’s
A) wavelength.
B) frequency.
C) speed.
D) amplitude.
E) all of the above
Answer:
A 4-ohm and 6-ohm resistor connected in parallel have an equivalent resistance of
A) 2.4 ohms.
B) 4 ohms.
C) 5 ohms.
D) 5.5 ohms.
E) 10 ohms.
Answer:
In the Southern Hemisphere, the Coriolis force causes all free-moving objects in the air
to curve
A) to the left of their intended path.
B) to the right of their intended path.
C) counterclockwise to their intended path.
D) clockwise to their intended path.
Answer:
When we consider the time for an oscillating system to make a vibration we’re talking
about
A) frequency.
B) period.
C) wavelength.
D) amplitude.
Answer:
Peak frequency as noted on a radiation curve is directly proportional to the
A) frequency of waves emitted.
B) wavelength of waves emitted.
C) temperature of emitted radiation.
D) temperature of the emitter.
E) none of the above
Answer:
Which of the following solutions is the most dilute?
A) one liter of water with 1 gram of sugar
B) one liter of water with 2 grams of sugar
C) one liter of water with 5 grams of sugar
D) one liter of water with 10 grams of sugar
E) They all have the same volume.
Answer:
Arnold Strongman and Suzie Small each pull on opposite ends of a rope in a
tug-of-war. The greater force on the rope is exerted by
A) Arnold.
B) Suzie.
C) same by each
Answer:
Wobbles in the path of Uranus led to the discovery of
A) Jupiter.
B) Mars.
C) Neptune.
D) all of the above
E) none of the above
Answer:
When tilted or folded sedimentary layers are covered by younger, horizontal rock layers
it is called
A) an intrusion.
B) an angular unconformity.
C) a syncline.
D) conformable.
Answer:
The top of the mantle is the same as the
A) base of the core.
B) base of the lithosphere.
C) top of the asthenosphere.
D) base of the crust.
Answer:
To date relatively young rocks and materials, we use the decay of
A) uranium-238 to lead-206.
B) potassium-40 to argon-40.
C) carbon-14 to nitrogen-14.
D) uranium-235 to lead-207.
Answer:
What is the number of moles of H2O produced if you combust one mole of CH4
according to the following balanced equation?
CH4 + 2 O2 → CO2 + 2 H2O
A) 2 moles
B) 4 moles
C) 6 moles
D) 8 moles
E) 1 mole
Answer:
For what reason was Pluto demoted from full planetary status in 2006?
A) because of objects as large or larger than Pluto in the Kuiper belt
B) because Pluto resides outside of the zone that can truly be described as the solar
system
C) because Pluto was discovered to be a twin planet system
D) because according to the standard definition, no planet can be smaller than the
Earth’s moon
Answer:
Microscopic slush in water tends to make the water
A) more dense.
B) less dense.
C) slipperier.
D) warmer.
Answer:
As the pH increases, the hydroxide ion concentration
A) goes down.
B) gets larger.
C) starts to affect the H+ concentration.
D) starts to decrease because it is reacting with the excess hydronium ions.
E) stays constant.
Answer:
Which atom is smallest?
A) Be
B) Mg
C) Ca
D) Sr
E) All are the same size.
Answer:
Oxygen, O, (number 8), sulfur, S, (number 16), and selenium, Se, (number 34) have
such similar chemical properties because
A) their outermost shells contain the same number of electrons.
B) because they are all located close to one another in the periodic table.
C) they all have the same number of occupied shells.
D) These elements can’t have similar chemical properties because they are in different
periods of the periodic table.
Answer:
Two charged particles near each other are released. As they move, the force on each
particle increases. Therefore, the particles have
A) the same sign.
B) the opposite sign.
C) not enough information
Answer:
As a helium-filled balloon rises in the air, it becomes
A) bigger.
B) more dense.
C) heavier.
D) all of the above
E) none of the above
Answer:
Why is Jupiter the largest planet in the solar system?
A) Because that’s just the way it happened.
B) Being the oldest planetary core, it had more time than the other planets to
accumulate enough gas around itself before solar winds blew interplanetary dust away.
C) Due to a massive collision with another protoplanet.
D) Because of its distance from the Sun, the gravitational attraction between it and the
Sun is perfectly balanced so as to create a density that results in the largest size of any
planet.
Answer:
On days when the air nearest the ground is colder than air above, sound waves tend to
A) be refracted upward.
B) be refracted downward.
C) travel without refraction.
Answer:
Occupants of the International Space Station experience weightlessness due to
A) the absence of Earth gravity at that altitude.
B) the absence of a support force.
C) rotation of the station.
D) no inertia in space.
Answer:
What is the reference that astronomers use to denote the luminosity of stars?
A) the luminosity of the Sun
B) the luminosity of the Northern Star
C) the luminosity of Proxima Centauri, our solar system’s closest neighbor star
D) the luminosity of the cluster of stars at the center of the Milky Way galaxy
Answer:
If the Earth had twice its present radius and twice its present mass, what change in
weight would you experience? Explain.
Answer:
What is the difference between intrusive and extrusive igneous rocks?
Answer:
What is a stalactite and how does it form?
Answer:
If water had a lower specific heat capacity, would ponds and lakes be more or less
likely to freeze in winter?
Answer:
What accounts for the additional few minutes of sunlight we experience daily, before
sunrise and after sunset?
Answer:
How does erosion and wearing away of a mountain affect the depth to which the crust
extends into the asthenosphere?
Answer:
Why are glacial striations so important?
Answer:
Why does dew form on the ground during clear, calm summer nights?
Answer:
What is the difference between a roche moutonnee and a drumlin?
Answer:
Why are scientists saying that we are entering a new epochthe Anthropocene epoch?
Answer:
What simple observation inspired Alfred Wegener’s hypothesis of continental drift?
Answer:
A mineral’s hardness depends on the strength of its chemical bonds. Name and describe
the factors that influence hardness.
Answer:
What is the direction of Ekman transport in the Northern Hemisphere?
Answer:
In which atmospheric layer does all our weather occur?
Answer:
Warm climates favor carbonate deposition because carbonates dissolve more easily in
cold water than in warm water. Name two types of carbonate depositional
environments.
Answer:
In a cooling magma, which minerals are the first to crystallize?
Answer:
Where do the ocean’s salts originate?
Answer:
Distinguish between the concepts of mass and weight. Which is more fundamental, and
why?
Answer:
Explain why fish are able to survive through cold winters even when the ponds are
frozen over.
Answer:
The Sun exerts almost 200 times more force on the oceans of the Earth than the Moon
does. Why then, is the Moon more effective in raising tides?
Answer: