A water-filled paper cup held in a flame will not catch fire because
A) the inside of the paper is wet.
B) water is an excellent conductor of heat.
C) paper is a good conductor of heat.
D) the paper cup cannot become appreciably hotter than the water it contains.
Answer:
Why would you expect alpha particles to be less able to penetrate materials than beta
particles of the same kinetic energy?
A) Alpha particles pick up electrons to become harmless helium atoms.
B) Alpha particles carry twice the electric charge.
C) Alpha particles move much slower for a given kinetic energy.
D) Two of the above answers are reasonable.
Answer:
Entropy helps to explain
A) the forward motion of time.
B) the cause of a chemical reaction.
C) sunsets.
D) photosynthesis.
E) All of the above.
Answer:
The nucleus of an electrically neutral iron atom contains 26 protons. How many
electrons does this iron atom have?
A) 52
B) 26
C) 24
D) none
Answer:
Which of the above substances would have the largest dipole?
A) a
B) b
C) c
D) Each has the same size dipole.
E) None of the molecules has a dipole.
Answer:
When a gas such as helium becomes twice as hot it has
A) twice the thermal energy.
B) twice the absolute temperature.
C) both of these
D) none of the above
Answer:
Each second, the burning Sun’s mass
A) decreases.
B) increases.
C) remains unchanged.
Answer:
Which of the following is an aromatic molecule?
A) a
B) b
C) c
D) d
E) all of the above
Answer:
During the Mesozoic, the supercontinent of Gondwanaland fragmented into the
continents of
A) North America, Europe, and Asia.
B) South America, Africa, Antarctica/Australia, and India/Madagascar.
C) North America, Europe, and Africa.
D) South America, Africa, and Europe/Asia.
Answer:
Coal contains only minute quantities of radioactive materials, yet there is more
environmental radiation surrounding a coal-fired power plant than a fission power
plant. This indicates that
A) the coal-fired power plant’s radiation shields need to be strengthened.
B) the coal-fired power plant has been contaminated.
C) the coal-fired power plant contains none of the radiation it releases.
D) the news media is biased in its coverage.
Answer:
The longest living stars are those of
A) low mass.
B) high mass.
C) intermediate mass.
Answer:
How deep must an inverted drinking glass be pushed beneath the surface of water so
that the volume of enclosed air is squeezed to half?
A) 76 cm
B) 10.3 m
C) 14.7 m
D) 20.6 m
E) 29.4 m
Answer:
The following set of redox reactions takes place when iron is dipped into a solution of
copper ions.
Fe → Fe+2 + 2e-
Cu+2 + 2e- → Cu
Which of the following describes what is happening with the electrons in the solution?
A) The iron metal is releasing electrons and they are traveling to the copper ions.
B) The copper is releasing electrons and they are traveling to the iron ions.
C) The iron ions are gaining electrons from the copper metal.
D) The copper ions are releasing electrons and they are traveling to the iron metal.
E) none of the above
Answer:
Maxwell’s counterpart to Faraday’s law simply states that
A) each change in one field induces the other.
B) electric and magnetic fields are one and the same.
C) induced fields are parallel to each other.
D) all of the above
Answer:
How would you classify the following material?
a cappuccino (with foam)
A) a suspension
B) a heterogeneous mixture
C) a solution
D) an element
E) a compound
Answer:
Which of these, both of the same length, has the greater electrical resistance?
A) a thick copper wire
B) a thin copper wire
C) both about the same
D) need more information
Answer:
The layers of Earth’s atmosphere, from top to bottom, are the
A) troposphere, stratosphere, ozonosphere, mesosphere, thermosphere, ionosphere, and
exosphere.
B) exosphere, thermosphere, mesosphere, stratosphere, and troposphere.
C) exosphere, ionosphere, thermosphere, mesosphere, ozonosphere, stratosphere, and
troposphere.
D) troposphere, stratosphere, mesosphere, thermosphere, and the exosphere.
Answer:
What is the environmentally unfriendly component of chlorinated fluorocarbons that
ultimately damages ozone?
A) chlorine atoms
B) fluorine atoms
C) carbon atoms
D) molecular fragments of carbon and fluorine
E) all of the above
Answer:
In a thundercloud the downdrafts are ________ and the updrafts are ________.
A) warm; cold
B) cold; warm
C) fast; slow
D) slow; fast
Answer:
Dark nebula appear dark because they
A) reflect light.
B) emit light.
C) are opaque.
D) are transparent.
Answer:
Evidence to support that the inner core is solid and the outer core is liquid comes from
A) refraction of seismic waves as they encounter different mediums.
B) the wave shadow effect of P- and S-waves as they encounter the solid and liquid
core.
C) the wave shadow effect of P- and S-waves, and the increase in velocity of P-waves
as they encounter the solid inner core.
D) the inner core is not solid, but is liquid.
Answer:
If the pH of a solution was 7 and you were to increase the hydroxide ion concentration
100x, what would the pH be?
A) 9
B) 5 M
C) 1 10-5 M
D) 700 M
E) 5
Answer:
You cannot exert a force on a wall
A) if the wall resists.
B) unless you put your mind to it.
C) unless the wall simultaneously exerts the same amount of force on you.
Answer:
Why does iodine, (s), spontaneously sublime at room temperature?
A) The contact of iodine, (s), with the water vapor in the air causes the sublimation
process.
B) Iodine, (s), pulls from the air as it self-oxidizes under sublimation to (g).
C) There is an increase in entropy as solid iodine, (s), sublimes into iodine vapor,
(g), because in the gaseous phase energy is more readily dispersed.
D) The reaction of (s) subliming to (g) is highly exothermic and therefore proceeds
spontaneously.
Answer:
During the Mesozoic, the supercontinent of Laurasia fragmented into the continents of
A) North America, Europe, and Asia.
B) South America, Africa, Antarctica/Australia, and India/Madagascar.
C) North America, Europe, and Africa.
D) South America, Australia, and Antarctica.
Answer:
The fact that desert sand becomes very hot in the day and very cold at night is evidence
that sand has a
A) low specific heat capacity.
B) high specific heat capacity.
C) none of the above
Answer:
Sound travels faster when the air is
A) warm.
B) cold.
C) neither of these
Answer:
Lower temperatures can be expected
A) behind a stationary warm front.
B) behind an advancing warm front.
C) ahead of an advancing cold front.
D) behind an advancing cold front.
Answer:
If the Moon were covered with water, tidal effects by Earth would find the Moon with
A) 1 tidal bulge.
B) 2 tidal bulges.
C) 3 tidal bulges.
D) 4 tidal bulges.
E) no tidal bulges.
Answer:
Given that the bond energy of N2 is 946 kJ/mole, the bond energy of O2 is 498 kJ/mole
and the NO bond energy is 631 kJ/mole, how much energy is required to react 1 mole
of nitrogen molecules according to the following reaction?
N2 + O2 → 2 NO
A) 182 kJ
B) -182 kJ
C) 813 kJ
D) -813 kJ
E) 2075 kJ
Answer:
Inside a freely-falling elevator you would have no
A) gravitational force on you.
B) weight.
C) both of these
D) none of the above
Answer:
How did seafloor spreading suggest a driving force for continental drift?
A) Youngest seafloor is found near continents.
B) Seafloor spreading pushes continents.
C) Mantle convection causes irreversible slippage.
D) Subduction creates the youngest seafloor.
Answer:
Which seismic waves produce a wave shadow?
A) P-waves.
B) Love waves.
C) S-waves.
D) P- and S- waves
Answer:
If you exert 100 J to lift a box in 50 s your power output is
A) 1/4 W.
B) 1/2 W.
C) 2 W.
D) 4 W.
E) more than 4 W.
Answer:
The rise in ocean levels is due to
A) warmer water.
B) melting of ice on land that flows into the ocean.
C) both of these
D) none of the above
Answer:
Explain how a convection cycle is generated.
Answer:
Explain the statement: “At the same pressure, cold air is more dense than warm air.”
Answer:
Why does a swimmer under water see the color of seawater as greenish blue?
Answer:
Why are hurricanes more likely to occur on the eastern coast of the United States than
on the western coast?
Answer:
Which has the thicker lamp filament, a 60-W incandescent bulb or a 100-W
incandescent bulb?
Answer:
Is evaporation greater over warm ocean water or cold ocean water?
Answer:
How does terrestrial radiation warm Earth’s surface?
Answer:
How does the mass of a giant star compare with the mass of the black hole it may
become? How do the densities compare?
Answer:
What three factors affect permeability?
Answer:
What happens to water-vapor molecules at the lifting condensation level?
Answer:
Describe how the different paths of polar wandering helped establish that continents
move over geologic time.
Answer:
Why are temperature fluctuations greater over land than water?
Answer:
Why does a clay rock body generally have a medium-to-high porosity but a poor
hydraulic conductivity?
Answer:
How did plant and animal fossils influence the theory of continental drift?
Answer:
How can the location and the strength of an earthquake be determined?
Answer:
Why is an umbrella in danger of being turned inside out on a windy day?
Answer: