Quiz and Final Exam Study Guides for Astro 3-2 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 few 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 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                                                                            
 L 0.8   General Principles in the Design of a Scientific Test                
    &   3.4a  How can we distinguish science from nonscience?                
  0.7   Pseudo-Science                                                       
L 0     Chapter 0: Science and Clear Thinking                                
  0.7   Pseudo-Science                                                       
    &   3.5b  Does astrology have any scientific validity?                   
L 0.9   Occam's Razor                                                         
  T     Web essay "On Teaching"                                              
  2.1b  Why do stars rise and set?                                           
    &   2.1c  Why do the constellations seen depend on latitude, time of year?
R 2     Discovering the Universe for Yourself                                
R 2.1c  Why do the constellations seen depend on latitude, time of year?     
    &   S1.2b How do stars move through the local sky?                        
L 2.2a  What causes the seasons?                                                        

 Quiz #2                                                                       
R 3.3c  How did Galileo solidify the Copernican Revolution?                   
    &   2.1b  Why do stars rise and set?                                     
  3.3b  What are Kepler's 3 laws of motion?                                  
  3.3b  What are Kepler's 3 laws of motion?                                  
  3.3a  How did Copernicus, Tycho, Kepler challenge Earth-centered model?    
  3.3b  What are Kepler's 3 laws of motion?                                  
R 3.3c  How did Galileo solidify the Copernican Revolution?                  
  4.5a  How do gravity & energy allow us to understand orbits?               
  4.5b  How does gravity cause tides?                                        
R 4     Understanding Motion, Energy, and Gravity                            
R 4.4b  How does Newton's law of gravity extend Kepler's Laws?               
    &   4.1b  How is mass different from weight?                             

 Quiz #3                                                                      
   5.4c  How does light tell us temperatures?                                  
  5.2a  What is light?                                                       
L 5.2a  What is light?                                                       
  5.2a  What is light?                                                        
  5.3c  How is energy stored in atoms?                                       
  5.3b  What are the phases of matter?                                       
  6.4a  How do we observe invisible light?                                   
  6.3a  How does earth's atmosphere affect ground observations?              
L 6.3a  How does earth's atmosphere affect ground observations?              

 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?          
  8.1b  What theory best explains the features of our solar system?          
  8.5b  When did the planets form?                                            
  8.2a  Where did the solar system come from?                                
  9.6b  How is Earth's surface shaped by plate tectonics?                    
  9.4c  What evidence tells us water flowed on Mars?                         
  10.6b Why does Earth's climate stay relatively stable?                     
  10.1b How does the greenhouse effect warm a planet?                        
  10.2d How does a planet gain or lose atmospheric gases?                     

 Quiz #5                                                                      
    
  11.1c What are Jovian planets like on the inside?                          
    &   11.3c Why do the Jovian planets have rings?                          
  11.3a What are Saturn's rings like?                                        
  11.1d What is the weather like on Jovian planets?                          
  11.3c Why do the Jovian planets have rings?                                
  12.1a What are asteroids like?                                             
  12.1b Why is there an asteroid belt?                                       
L 12.2a What are comets like?                                                 
  12.3a How big can a comet be?                                              
L 30.17 Replacing coal with Nat Gas will cause initial temperature INcrease, then slower rise rate thereafter
L 30.10 SeaLevel 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     

 Quiz #6                                                                      
   13.3b Do we need to modify our theory of solar system formation?           
L 13.2  The Nature of Extrasolar Planets                                     
L 13.3  The Formation of Other Solar Systems                                 
  14.1b Why does the sun shine?                                               
  14.3a What causes solar activity?                                          
R 14.2a How does nuclear fusion occur in the Sun?                            
L 10.6c How is human activity changing our planet?                           
L 24.4  The Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence                         
  24.1b How did life arise on Earth?                                         
  24.1b How did life arise on Earth?                                         




Final Exam Study Guide

  0.3   The Real World                                                       
  0.3   The Real World                                                        
  T     Web essay "On Teaching"                                              
R 2.1c  Why do the constellations seen depend on latitude, time of year?     
  2.3b  What causes eclipses?                                                 
  2.4b  Why ancient Greeks rejected real explanation of planetary motion?    
    &   3.2b  How did the Greeks explain planetary motion?                   
  2.4b  Why ancient Greeks rejected real explanation of planetary motion?    
    &   3.2b  How did the Greeks explain planetary motion?                   
  4.4a  What determines the strength of gravity?                             
  4.3b  What keeps a planet rotating and orbiting the sun?                    
L 4.2b  What are Newton's three laws of motion?                              
  4.5b  How does gravity cause tides?                                        
    &   3.3b  What are Kepler's 3 laws of motion?                            
  5.2a  What is light?                                                       
  5.3c  How is energy stored in atoms?                                       
  5.5a  How does light tell us the speed of a distant object?                
  6.1b  How do we record images?                                             
  6.3b  Why do we put telescopes in space?                                   
  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?          
  8.4c  How do we explain the existence of our moon?                         
  8.3c  How did the Jovian planets form?                                     
  8.3a  Why are there two major types of planets?                             
  9.6a  How do we know that Earth's surface is in motion?                    
  9.2a  What processes shape planetary surfaces?                             
  9.1c  What causes geological activity?                                      
    &   9.1e  The surface area - to - volume ratio                           
  10.1b How does the greenhouse effect warm a planet?                        
  10.1a What is an atmosphere?                                               
  10.6a How did Earth's atmosphere end up so different?                      
  10.1c Why do atmospheric properties vary with altitude?                    
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 Earth surface change
  11.1c What are Jovian planets like on the inside?                          
  11.1a Are Jovian planets all alike?                                         
  11.2c What is Remarkable about Titan and other moons?                      
L 12    Asteroids, Comets, and Dwarf Planets                                 
L 12    Asteroids, Comets, and Dwarf Planets                                  
  12.2a What are comets like?                                                
  12.3a How big can a comet be?                                              
  13.1b How do we detect planets around other stars?                          
L 13.1  Detecting Extrasolar Planets                                         
L 13    Other Planetary Systems                                              
L 13    Other Planetary Systems                                              
  14.1c What is the Sun's structure?                                         
  14.1c What is the Sun's structure?                                         
  14.2c How do we know what is happening inside the sun?                     
  14.2a How does nuclear fusion occur in the Sun?                            
  24.5b Where are the aliens?                                                
L 24    Life in the Universe                                                 
  24.9  Climate stability is prime, for intelligent life                     
  24.1c What are the necessities of life?