If an atom has 43 electrons, 56 neutrons, and 43 protons, what is its approximate atomic
mass? What is the name of this element?
A) atomic mass, 137 amu; Barium
B) atomic mass, 99 amu; Technetium
C) atomic mass, 99 amu; Radon
D) atomic mass 142 amu; Einsteinium
Answer:
Which requires more work on the brakes of a car?
A) slowing down from 100 km/h to 70 km/h
B) slowing down from 70 km/h to a stop
C) equal amounts of work for either
Answer:
Given the following generic chemical reaction, which is the reactant?
X → Y
A) Y is the reactant.
B) X is the reactant.
C) → is the reactant.
D) Both X and Y are the products.
E) Both X and Y are the reactants.
Answer:
If heat death results in a maximum amount of entropy, then what does this say about
entropy at the beginning of the universe?
A) Entropy at the beginning of the universe must also have been at a maximum.
B) There was a change in the direction of entropy flow about 7 billion years ago.
C) The Big Bang was a moment of minimal entropy.
D) Nothing.
Answer:
The emphasis of the orange-and-apple sequence in your text is
A) to define systems.
B) that actions equal reactions.
C) that forces produce accelerations.
D) defining friction as a force.
E) that mass is not a force.
Answer:
If a nucleus of Th absorbs a neutron and the resulting nucleus undergoes two
successive beta decays (emitting electrons), what nucleus results?
A) americium-232
B) plutonium-232
C) thorium-233
D) uranium-233
Answer:
The solar system consists mostly of
A) the Sun.
B) the planets.
C) the Sun and the planets combined.
D) empty space.
Answer:
Water can be brought to a boil by
A) supplying thermal energy.
B) reducing air pressure on its surface.
C) both of these
D) neither of these
Answer:
In a well in an unconfined aquifer, the highest level that water can rise to is
A) the level of the water table.
B) just below the level of the water table.
C) to the top of the well.
D) dependent on how deep the well is.
Answer:
Compared to the amount of electric current in the filament of a lamp, the amount of
current in the connecting wire is
A) definitely less.
B) often less.
C) actually more.
D) the same.
E) incredibly, all of the above
Answer:
What aspect of the Sun’s behavior wraps and distorts the solar magnetic field?
A) the differential spin between the equatorial and polar regions
B) sunspot activity due to differential heat dispersion
C) plasma fluxes within the core
D) the cycle of the reversal of the magnetic poles
Answer:
The amount of energy given to each coulomb of charge flowing through a 12-V battery
is
A) 12 J.
B) 12 A.
C) 12 V.
D) all of the above
E) none of the above
Answer:
What happens if nearly saturated air experiences a quick, significant temperature drop?
A) Relative humidity drops.
B) Relative humidity rises.
C) Condensation occurs.
D) Outcome depends on the temperature of the air.
Answer:
The motion of particles that contribute to thermal energy are
A) translational.
B) rotational.
C) vibrational.
D) all of the above
Answer:
Stars to the upper right of the Hertzsprung-Russell diagram tend to be relatively
A) hot and blue.
B) long lasting.
C) huge.
D) yellow and of average size.
Answer:
Otto Hahn and Fritz Strassmann discovered fission by bombarding uranium with
neutrons. Their discovery was made possible by finding one of the fission products,
barium (Ba, atomic no. = 56). What is a reasonable explanation for why they were
unable to initially observe the other product, krypton (Kr, atomic no. = 36)?
A) Krypton is a noble gas and it may have diffused out of the sample.
B) The isotope of krypton generated might have a short half-life and had undergone
radioactive decay to some other element.
C) Krypton is a noble gas and therefore chemically unreactive, making it difficult to
characterize by chemical means.
D) both A and B
E) all of the above
Answer:
Which of the following substances is pure?
A) an ionic compound consisting of sodium and chlorine ions
B) a covalent compound consisting of one type of molecule
C) an element
D) all of the above
E) none of the above
Answer:
What is the hydroxide ion concentration in an aqueous solution when the hydronium
ion concentration equals 1 moles per liter?
A) The concentration of hydroxide ions is 1 moles per liter.
B) The concentration of hydroxide ions is 1 moles per liter.
C) The concentration of hydroxide ions is 1 moles per liter.
D) The concentration of hydroxide ions is 1 moles per liter.
Answer:
A lunar month is about 28 days. If the Moon were farther from Earth than it is now, the
lunar month would be
A) more than 28 days.
B) less than 28 days.
C) about 28 days.
Answer:
As hot mantle rock rises, it expands. As it expands it cools. This cooler rock is
A) less dense so it keeps rising to form underwater volcanoes.
B) more dense so it sinks. This contributes to the heat flow convection process.
C) ocean crust.
D) unstable and explodes in a volcano.
Answer:
A projectile is launched at an angle of 15 above the horizontal and lands downrange.
With no air resistance, what other projection angle for the same speed would produce
the same downrange distance?
A) 30
B) 45
C) 50
D) 75
E) 90
Answer:
If you were to travel at a speed close to the speed of light, you would notice that your
own
A) mass changes.
B) pulse decreases.
C) Both of these.
D) Neither of these.
Answer:
An unconformity can be interpreted as
A) an occurrence of radioactive decay.
B) repeated intrusions of igneous rock.
C) a buried surface of erosion.
D) the result of repeated volcanic action.
Answer:
The Earth’s lower atmosphere is kept warm by
A) solar radiation.
B) terrestrial radiation.
C) short-wave radiation.
Answer:
The isotope most useful for dating rocks from the late Pleistocene is
A) uranium-238.
B) uranium-235.
C) potassium-40.
D) carbon-14.
Answer:
The speed of a vertically-thrown ball at the top of its path is
A) zero.
B) 10 m/s2.
C) between zero and 10 m/s2.
D) dependent on the mass of the ball.
Answer:
Your friend says that the helium used to inflate balloons is a product of radioactive
decay. Another friend says no way. With whom do you agree?
A) If helium were a product of radioactive decay, we would all be radioactive. Agree
with the friend that says “no way.”
B) Radioactive decay produces alpha particles, not helium. Agree with the friend that
says “no way.”
C) Your first friend is correct. Radioactive isotopes emit alpha particles which, in turn,
capture electrons and become helium atoms.
D) Helium is an element of the periodic table, not some product of any reaction. Agree
with the friend that says “no way.”
Answer:
Which of the following molecules is polar?
A) a
B) b
C) c
D) All are polar.
E) Only A and C are polar.
Answer:
Saturation and condensation are more likely to occur on a
A) cold day.
B) warm day.
C) windy day.
D) balmy day.
Answer:
How come an animal’s carbon-14 levels do not start to decrease until it dies?
A) because it constantly replenishes its carbon-14 supply by eating plants with
carbon-14 in them
B) because it constantly replenishes its carbon-14 supply by breathing air with
carbon-14 in it
C) because it is constantly being bombarded with cosmic rays
D) carbon-14 only starts to decay after the animal dies
E) the carbon-14 levels do not decrease because the carbon-13 in its skin protects it
from cosmic rays
Answer:
For lunar tides to occur in the human body,
A) most of the body would have to be in the liquid state.
B) Earth’s gravitation would have to be incredibly small.
C) parts of the body would have to be appreciably closer to the Moon than other parts.
D) the body would have to be female, as evidenced by women’s monthly menstrual
cycles.
E) none of these
Answer:
The number of moons in orbit around Mars is
A) zero.
B) one.
C) two.
D) three.
Answer:
The lithosphere floats atop the
A) mantle.
B) crust.
C) asthenosphere.
D) mohorovicic.
Answer: