The temperature of outer space is
A) zero.
B) about 2.7 kelvin.
C) meaningless.
D) none of the above
The net force acting on an insect falling downward at constant velocity is
A) zero.
B) the weight of the insect.
C) upward air resistance.
D) none of the above
Iridescent colors in the pearly luster of an abalone shell are due to
A) refraction.
B) diffraction.
C) dispersion.
D) polarization.
E) interference.
Pseudoscience is best characterized as being
A) new age.
B) an alternate view to be taken seriously.
C) fake.
D) all of the above
A person who sees more clearly under water without eyeglasses or a facemask is
A) nearsighted.
B) farsighted.
C) neither of these
Which jar will roll down an incline in the shortest time, an empty one or one filled with
peanut butter?
A) the empty jar
B) both reach the bottom at the same time
C) the filled jar
D) need more information
A swimmer cannot snorkel more than a meter deep because air
A) in the lungs cannot easily be expelled.
B) tends to liquefy in the snorkel tube.
C) is buoyed up leaving the swimmer breathless.
D) at the surface will not freely enter the higher-pressure region in the compressed
lungs.
E) all of the above
The main reason ocean tides exist is that Moon’s pull is stronger
A) than the pull of the Sun.
B) on water closer to it than on water farther away.
C) on Earth’s oceans than on Earth itself.
D) all of the above
If the Sun collapsed to a black hole, Earth would
A) be sucked into the black hole.
B) follow a straight-line path into space.
C) continue in its present orbit.
Some alpha particles fired at a gold foil bounced backward as a result of
A) reflection from the surfaces of gold atoms.
B) electrostatic repulsion by gold nuclei.
C) electrostatic repulsion by electrons within gold atoms.
D) all of the above
E) none of the above
To save energy while you leave your cool house for a half hour on a hot day, turn the
temperature setting on the air conditioner
A) down.
B) up.
C) off altogether.
D) to room temperature.
If a fish looks upward at 45o to a pond’s water’s surface, it will see
A) the pond’s bottom.
B) the sky and possibly some tall surroundings.
C) only the water’s surface.
D) none of the above
The direction of a gravitational field is
A) in the same direction as gravitational attraction.
B) away from the center of gravity of an object.
C) opposite to the direction of gravitational attraction.
A galvanometer can be calibrated to measure
A) electric current.
B) electric voltage.
C) both of these
D) none of these
A gymnast performing somersaults in a high-flying plane moving at constant velocity
needs to make
A) small adjustments to compensate for the airplane’s velocity.
B) major adjustments to compensate for the airplane’s velocity.
C) no adjustments.
D) none of the above
If you are driving at 20 m/s and slam on your brakes and skid at 0.5g to a full stop, the
skidding time is about
A) 3 s.
B) 4 s.
C) 5 s.
D) 6 s.
E) greater than 6 s.
The A in AM radio stands for
A) acceleration.
B) authorized.
C) amplitude.
D) agony.
E) almost.
Steam that issues from a pressure cooker
A) is invisible.
B) cools as it expands.
C) both of these
D) neither of these
When ultraviolet light is incident upon glass, atoms in the glass
A) are forced into vibration.
B) resonate.
C) pass the light energy along practically undiminished.
D) freely absorb and re-emit most of the ultraviolet light.
Technology is a tool that can
A) be socially beneficial.
B) be socially harmful when abused.
C) lead to a better world.
D) all of the above
In the double-slit experiment, fringes are more widely spaced when illumination is with
monochromatic
A) low-frequency light.
B) high-frequency light.
C) polarized light.
D) none of the above
The force on an electron moving in a magnetic field will be least when its direction is
A) the same as the magnetic field direction.
B) perpendicular to the magnetic field direction.
C) either of these
D) neither of these
The primary of a transformer
A) has an iron core.
B) may or may not have an iron core.
C) has more turns of wire than the secondary.
D) none of the above
For all paths of Earth satellites, one focus of the path is
A) the location from which the satellite was launched.
B) Earth’s center.
C) the Sun’s center.
D) need more information
Consider a moon that orbits one of our most distant planets in an elliptical path. The
distance that the moon covers each day is
A) greatest when closest to the planet.
B) greatest when farthest from the planet.
C) the same everywhere.
D) need more information
Which ball will bounce higher off a hard surface?
A) a common rubber ball
B) a steel ball
C) both the same
On a planet in the solar system where the sky normally scatters light of lower
frequencies, its sunsets would be
A) reddish.
B) yellow-greenish.
C) bluish.
D) whitish.
Rays with the shortest wavelengths have the
A) highest frequencies and energies.
B) lowest frequencies and energies.
C) lowest frequencies but highest energies.
When an astronaut on the Moon experiences a solar eclipse, observers on Earth see
A) a lunar eclipse.
B) a solar eclipse.
C) no eclipse at all.
When a chocolate bar is cut in half, its density is
A) halved.
B) unchanged.
C) doubled.