Quiz and Final Exam Study Guides for Astro 3-1 Fall '24

 

   I've gone through our text and my question bank and found the chapter and subsection within the book which contains the relevant material to answer that question. There are about 10 questions on a typical quiz, so you'll see below for each quiz a list of ~10 section titles, one line for each question. This is so amazingly helpful - Now you can really focus your studying time!

   In some cases, the relevant material is in two sections; you'll then see two lines for that question, one of them indented. For most questions, the answer to the question is given explicitly in the section listed. But in some cases, the text doesn't address it well, or at all. In this case, you'll see an "L" out in front. That means consult your notes from my "L"ecture on that material. In some cases, the material spreads through the entire chapter, not a single section within that chapter. In other cases, the section contains all the basic facts, but you'll need to do some reasoning to deduce an answer not given explicitly. In these cases, you'll see an "R" (for "reasoning required").

   So, like all good exams, there's a mix of easy, hard, factoid, and reasoning questions. There's even a couple of extra credit questions floating around in my test bank. If you get one, there's no mark-off if you get it wrong, and you get a bonus if you get it right.
   Web Readings: Under Quiz #1, note Chapter 0 sections (e.g. 0.1 "Natural Selection and Development of Mind") are not in the textbook, but linked below from my own website page, and "On Teaching" (labelled with a "T").

 

  For our lecture on Earth Climate Change, especially review the PowerPoint I gave in class; in the study guide below it's labelled "Chapter 30".

 

 

 

 Quiz #1                                                                                                                                                                                     
  0.6   Characteristics of a Good Scientist                                  
    &   3.5b  Does astrology have any scientific validity?                   
  0.1   Natural Selection & Development of Mind                              
  0.3   The Real World                                                       
L 0     Chapter 0: Science and Clear Thinking                                
  0.8   General Principles in the Design of a Scientific Test                
    &   3.4a  How can we distinguish science from nonscience?                
  T     Web essay "On Teaching"                                              
R 2.1c  Why do the constellations seen depend on latitude, time of year?     
L 2.1b  Why do stars rise and set?                                            
    &   S1.2b How do stars move through the local sky?                       
  2.3b  What causes eclipses?                                           
R 2     Discovering the Universe for Yourself                                                                             

 Quiz #2                                                                      
   2.4b  Why ancient Greeks rejected real explanation of planetary motion?    
    &   3.2b  How did the Greeks explain planetary motion?                    
  3.3b  What are Kepler's 3 laws of motion?                                  
  2.4b  Why ancient Greeks rejected real explanation of planetary motion?    
    &   3.2b  How did the Greeks explain planetary motion?                   
  3.3b  What are Kepler's 3 laws of motion?                                  
  3.3b  What are Kepler's 3 laws of motion?                                  
R 3.2c  Eratosthenes measures the earth                                      
  4.5b  How does gravity cause tides?                                        
L 4.4a  What determines the strength of gravity?                             
  4.5b  How does gravity cause tides?                                        
    &   3.3b  What are Kepler's 3 laws of motion?                            
  4.3b  What keeps a planet rotating and orbiting the sun?                   

 Quiz #3                                                                      
   5.3c  How is energy stored in atoms?                                        
L 5.3c  How is energy stored in atoms?                                       
  5.5a  How does light tell us the speed of a distant object?                
  5.4c  How does light tell us temperatures?                                  
  5.2a  What is light?                                                       
  5.4c  How does light tell us temperatures?                                 
  6.2c  What do astronomers do with telescopes?                              
  6.3b  Why do we put telescopes in space?                                   
  6.1b  How do we record images?                                                                      

 Quiz #4                                                                      
   7.2a  What features of our solar system clue us to how it formed?          
  7.2a  What features of our solar system clue us to how it formed?          
  8.3c  How did the Jovian planets form?                                     
  8.3a  Why are there two major types of planets?                            
  8.3c  How did the Jovian planets form?                                     
  9.2a  What processes shape planetary surfaces?                             
R 9.1d  Why do some planetary interiors create magnetic fields?              
  9.6a  How do we know that Earth's surface is in motion?                    
  10.4a What is Mars like today?                                             
  10.1a What is an atmosphere?                                                
  10.1c Why do atmospheric properties vary with altitude?                      

   Quiz #5                                                                       
 L 30.17 Replacing coal with Nat Gas will cause initial temperature INcrease, then slower rise rate thereafter
L 30.10 Sea Level rise if CO2 levels stay at current 400ppm will be ~24m = 80ft higher when it finally stabilizes                   
L 30.12 Princeton research found Congress listens only to the Economic Elites, not avg citizens. Know the correlation coefficients!          
L 30.20 Need 11 sq miles per day of new solar PV panel area just to keep CO2 emission rates constant, with 2% annual global economic growth     
   11.2c What is Remarkable about Titan and other moons?                      
  11.1d What is the weather like on Jovian planets?                          
  11.3b How do other Jovian ring systems compare to Saturn's?                
  11.1a Are Jovian planets all alike?                                        
L 12.2a What are comets like?                                                
  12.4d How do the Jovian planets affect impact rates?                       
L 12    Asteroids, Comets, and Dwarf Planets                                 
   12.2a What are comets like?                                                

 

 Quiz #6                                                                      
   13.1b How do we detect planets around other stars?                          
L 13    Other Planetary Systems                                              
  13.1b How do we detect planets around other stars?                         
  14.3a What causes solar activity?                                           
  14.3c How does solar activity vary with time?                              
  14.2b How does the energy from fusion get out of the sun?                  
L 24    Life in the Universe                                                 
  24.1c What are the necessities of life?                                    
  24.9  Climate stability is prime, for intelligent life                     
  24.5b Where are the aliens?                                                

         

                          

  Final Exam Study Guide

   0.7   Pseudo-Science                                                       
  0.5   Steps of the Scientific Method                               
  T     Web essay "On Teaching"                                              
L 2.2a  What causes the seasons?                                             
L 2.2a  What causes the seasons?                                              
  3.3c  How did Galileo solidify the Copernican Revolution?                  
R 3.3c  How did Galileo solidify the Copernican Revolution?                  
R 4.5b  How does gravity cause tides?                                         
R 4     Understanding Motion, Energy, and Gravity                            
R 4.4a  What determines the strength of gravity?                             
R 4.2b  What are Newton's three laws of motion?                               
    &   4.5a  How do gravity & energy allow us to understand orbits?         
L 5.4b  How does light tell us what things are made of?                      
  5.5a  How does light tell us the speed of a distant object?                
  5.4a  What are the three basic types of spectra?                           
L 6.3a  How does earth's atmosphere affect ground observations?              
  6.4a  How do we observe invisible light?                                   
  7.2a  What features of our solar system clue us to how it formed?          
  7.2a  What features of our solar system clue us to how it formed?          
R 8     Formation of the Solar System                                        
  8.1b  What theory best explains the features of our solar system?          
  8.2a  Where did the solar system come from?                                
  9.4   Geology of Mars                                                      
L 9.6b  How is Earth's surface shaped by plate tectonics?                     
  9.4c  What evidence tells us water flowed on Mars?                         
  10.4b Why did Mars change?                                                 
  10.2d How does a planet gain or lose atmospheric gases?                     
  10.6b Why does Earth's climate stay relatively stable?                     
  10.4b Why did Mars change?                                                 
L 30.21 Even ending all direct human CO2, permafrost thaw still adds more CO2
L 30.14 Know the future climate of California for "Business as Usual"        
L 30.23 The two safety criteria for GeoEng: no hysteresis, minimize changes to Earth's surface
  11.1d What is the weather like on Jovian planets?                          
  11.2b Why are Jupiter's Galilean moons so geologically active?             
  11.2b Why are Jupiter's Galilean moons so geologically active?             
    &   24.2b Could there be life on Europa or other Jovian moons?           
L 12.2a What are comets like?                                                 
  12.1b Why is there an asteroid belt?                                       
  12.2a What are comets like?                                                
  12.1b Why is there an asteroid belt?                                        
L 13.2  The Nature of Extrasolar Planets                                     
  13.1  Detecting Extrasolar Planets                                         
  13.3a Can we explain the surprising orbits of extrasolar planets?           
L 13.3  The Formation of Other Solar Systems                                 
  14.2c How do we know what is happening inside the sun?                     
  14.3a What causes solar activity?                                          
  14.3a What causes solar activity?                                          
  14.2a How does nuclear fusion occur in the Sun?                            
  24.1b How did life arise on Earth?                                         
L 24    Life in the Universe                                                  
  24.1c What are the necessities of life?                                    
  24.1b How did life arise on Earth?