Astro 101 Exam Questions with Correct Answers
Question 1:
What did Einstein say gravity was?
Answer:
A curvature of space and time
Question 2:
What is a black hole? (Use gravity, curvature and light in answer)
Answer:
A region of space where gravity is so strong that the curvature of space-time stops light from
escaping.
Question 3:
The boundary around a black hole where nothing including light will be able to escape
Answer:
What is the event horizon around a black hole?
Question 4:
What is melanoheliophobia?
Answer:
An irrational fear of black holes
Question 5:
True or False: A black hole and a star with the same mass and different sizes have the same
gravitational attraction from their centers.
Answer:
True
Question 6:
True of False: Black holes and stars with the same mass and different sizes have the same
curvature of space-time.
,Answer:
False, black holes have a deeper curvature of space-time
Question 7:
What is the order of light in the EMS starting from radio?
Answer:
Radio > Infrared > Visible > Ultraviolet > X-ray > Gamma
Question 8:
True or Flase: X-rays have a longer wavelength than red visible light
Answer:
False, X-rays have a higher frequency and shorter wavelength than visible light
Question 9:
What is a photon?
Answer:
A particle of light. A small packet of energy
Question 10:
What is wave-particle duality?
Answer:
Light can be considered a wave or a particle depending on the situation.
Question 11:
What type of wave is light?
Answer:
A transverse wave
Question 12:
Another word for incandescence is
Answer:
Black body radiation
,Question 13:
Another word for luminescence is
Answer:
Cold body radiation
Question 14:
How is incandescent light produced?
Answer:
heat energy and particles vibrationg
Question 15:
What is the lowest temperature for incandescence to be produced and why?
Answer:
0 degrees since particles are still able to vibrate at this temp
Question 16:
How is luminescent light produced?
Answer:
From atomic transitions. Electrons jumping orbits
Question 17:
Florescence, phosphorescence and triboluminescence are examples of what type of light
production?
Answer:
Luminescence
Question 18:
What 3 properties describe light?
Answer:
Frequency, wavelength, energy
, Question 19:
What is an astronomical unit?
Answer:
The distance from the earth to the sun
Question 20:
What is a light year
Answer:
The distance light travels in a year
Question 21:
What is a parsec?
Answer:
Unit of distance equal to 3.26 lightyears
Question 22:
What 2 things affect doppler shift?
Answer:
The emission of the object and the relative speed of the object and the observer
Question 23:
When is an object red-shifted vs blue-shifted
Answer:
Red-shifted objects are moving away from the observer. The wavelength behind the object is
stretched out. In a blue-shifted object, the wavelength is compressed since the object is moving
towards the observer
Question 24:
What do spectrographs detect
Answer:
The change in wavelength of an star due to it's motion
Question 1:
What did Einstein say gravity was?
Answer:
A curvature of space and time
Question 2:
What is a black hole? (Use gravity, curvature and light in answer)
Answer:
A region of space where gravity is so strong that the curvature of space-time stops light from
escaping.
Question 3:
The boundary around a black hole where nothing including light will be able to escape
Answer:
What is the event horizon around a black hole?
Question 4:
What is melanoheliophobia?
Answer:
An irrational fear of black holes
Question 5:
True or False: A black hole and a star with the same mass and different sizes have the same
gravitational attraction from their centers.
Answer:
True
Question 6:
True of False: Black holes and stars with the same mass and different sizes have the same
curvature of space-time.
,Answer:
False, black holes have a deeper curvature of space-time
Question 7:
What is the order of light in the EMS starting from radio?
Answer:
Radio > Infrared > Visible > Ultraviolet > X-ray > Gamma
Question 8:
True or Flase: X-rays have a longer wavelength than red visible light
Answer:
False, X-rays have a higher frequency and shorter wavelength than visible light
Question 9:
What is a photon?
Answer:
A particle of light. A small packet of energy
Question 10:
What is wave-particle duality?
Answer:
Light can be considered a wave or a particle depending on the situation.
Question 11:
What type of wave is light?
Answer:
A transverse wave
Question 12:
Another word for incandescence is
Answer:
Black body radiation
,Question 13:
Another word for luminescence is
Answer:
Cold body radiation
Question 14:
How is incandescent light produced?
Answer:
heat energy and particles vibrationg
Question 15:
What is the lowest temperature for incandescence to be produced and why?
Answer:
0 degrees since particles are still able to vibrate at this temp
Question 16:
How is luminescent light produced?
Answer:
From atomic transitions. Electrons jumping orbits
Question 17:
Florescence, phosphorescence and triboluminescence are examples of what type of light
production?
Answer:
Luminescence
Question 18:
What 3 properties describe light?
Answer:
Frequency, wavelength, energy
, Question 19:
What is an astronomical unit?
Answer:
The distance from the earth to the sun
Question 20:
What is a light year
Answer:
The distance light travels in a year
Question 21:
What is a parsec?
Answer:
Unit of distance equal to 3.26 lightyears
Question 22:
What 2 things affect doppler shift?
Answer:
The emission of the object and the relative speed of the object and the observer
Question 23:
When is an object red-shifted vs blue-shifted
Answer:
Red-shifted objects are moving away from the observer. The wavelength behind the object is
stretched out. In a blue-shifted object, the wavelength is compressed since the object is moving
towards the observer
Question 24:
What do spectrographs detect
Answer:
The change in wavelength of an star due to it's motion
