GS 103 Final Quiz

1. An example of a wave that is partly longitudinal and partly transverse is a

A) sound wave.

B) light wave.

C) water wave.

D) wave in a stretched string.

2. A square foot contains approximately

A) 144 cm2.

B) 366 cm2.

C) 929 cm2.

D) 1000 cm2.

3. Of the halogens, at room temperature and atmospheric pressure

A) all are gases.

B) one is a gas and the others are liquids.

C) one is a gas and the others are solids.

D) one is a liquid and the others are gases or solids.

4. Which statement(s) apply(ies) to nuclear fusion?

A) It is the energy source of the sun and stars.

B) On the earth, its fuel supply is limited.

C) It should produce relatively little radioactive waste.

D) It has not yet produced energy in the laboratory.

E) Both A and C

5. Galaxies

A) have a variety of shapes.

B) are evenly distributed in space.

C) are moving closer to one another.

D) rarely contain more than one or two million stars.

6. The smallest of the following celestial objects is

A) a white dwarf.

B) a neutron star.

C) a planetary nebula.

D) the earth.

7. Of the following, the gas that contributes most to global warming is

A) ozone.

B) carbon monoxide.

C) carbon dioxide.

D) methane.

8. The number of sunspots

A) remains approximately constant.

B) increases and decreases at random intervals.

C) increases and decreases in a yearly cycle.

D) increases and decreases in an 11-year cycle.

9. X-rays are

A) electromagnetic waves of very short wavelength.

B) electromagnetic waves of very long wavelength.

C) matter waves of very short wavelength.

D) matter waves of very long wavelength.

10. Our galaxy is shaped roughly like a

A) bunch of grapes.

B) football.

C) fried egg.

D) salami.

11. The planet with the largest satellite is

A) Earth.

B) Mars.

C) Jupiter.

D) Neptune.

12. Considering matter and energy together, the smallest component of the universe seems to be

A) electromagnetic radiation of various kinds.

B) ordinary matter.

C) dark matter.

D) dark energy.

13. Which of the following statements is incorrect?

A) All vector quantities have directions.

B) All vector quantities have magnitudes.

C) All scalar quantities have directions.

D) All scalar quantities have magnitudes.

14. Rolling a ball up an inclined plank requires an amount of work proportional to the

A) horizontal distance the ball is shifted.

B) height the ball is raised.

C) sum of the horizontal distance the ball is shifted and the height the ball is raised.

D) length of the plank.

15. The earth’s axis is currently tilted relative to the plane of its orbit by

A) 1°.

B) 12.5°.

C) 23.5°.

D) an angle that varies with the seasons.

16. In a covalent compound

A) electrons are shifted from one atom to another.

B) only atoms of the same element are present.

C) there must be at least one carbon atom.

D) adjacent atoms share electron pairs.

17. A solution of table salt, NaCl, in water is

A) acidic.

B) basic.

C) neutral.

D) Any of these choices could be correct, depending on the concentration.

18. Compact fluorescent light bulbs are more efficient than incandescent light bulbs

A) but do not last as long.

B) and last about as long.

C) and last longer.

D) any of these depending on the bulb’s power.

19. The Oort Cloud, which lies outside the orbit of Neptune, consists mainly of

A) comets.

B) meteoroids.

C) asteroids.

D) various gases.

20. When a sound wave goes from air into water, the quantity that remains unchanged is its

A) speed.

B) amplitude.

C) frequency

D) wavelength.

21. A man whose mass is 80 kg on the earth’s surface is in a spacecraft at a height of 2 earth radii above the earth’s surface. His weight there is

A) 87 N.

B) 196 N.

C) 261 N.

D) 784 N.

22. Streams of protons and electrons from the sun do not affect

A) auroras.

B) the air glow of the night sky.

C) comet heads.

D) comet tails.

 23. The property of light waves that leads to the phenomenon of color is

A) speed.

B) amplitude.

C) acceleration.

D) frequency.

 24. Dark energy

A) is the energy equivalent of dark matter.

B) is the energy of black holes.

C) is the energy of neutrinos.

D) has an unknown nature as yet.

25. Earthquakes are least likely to occur

A) in California.

B) along the west coast of South America.

C) in Japan.

D) in Russia.

26. The volume of the earth’s core is

A) less than 1/5 of the earth’s volume.

B) about 1/3 of the earth’s volume.

C) about 1/2 of the earth’s volume.

D) about 3/4 of the earth’s volume.

27. The scientist who first established the relative masses of different elements was

A) Mendeleev.

B) Maxwell.

C) Priestley.

D) Dalton.

28. The asteroids are probably similar in composition to

A) stony meteorites.

B) iron meteorites.

C) comets.

D) Jupiter.

29. The process by which air heated by contact with a warm part of the earth’s surface rises upward is called

A) the Coriolis effect.

B) conduction.

C) convection.

D) insolation.

30. The formula for iron(II) hydroxide is

A) FeOH.

B) Fe2OH.

C) Fe(OH)2.

D) Fe2(OH)2.

31. Stars whose intrinsic brightness and period of variation are related are called

A) pulsars.

B) Cepheid variables.

C) main-sequence stars.

D) red giants.

32. At room temperature, bromine is a

A) colorless gas.

B) greenish-yellow gas.

C) reddish-brown liquid.

D) steel-gray solid.

33. Glass is

A) amorphous.

B) crystalline.

C) covalent.

D) polar.

34. Below a thin sedimentary layer, the ocean floors consist of

A) basalt.

B) granite.

C) marble.

D) chert.

35. The stars in the disk of our galaxy are mostly distributed

A) uniformly.

B) at random.

C) in 1 spiral arm.

D) in 2 spiral arms.

36. An isobar is

A) a line of constant pressure on a weather map.

B) a line of constant temperature on a weather map.

C) a unit of atmospheric pressure.

D) the path followed by a wind.

37. In order to double the average energy of the molecules in a gas at 200 K, its temperature must be changed to

A) 100 K.

B) 400 K.

C) 800 K.

D) 1600 K.

38. An insoluble solid that results from a chemical reaction is called

A) a solute.

B) a colloid.

C) an electrolyte.

D) a precipitate.

39. The Gulf Stream is an ocean current that warms the

A) Gulf coast of the United States.

B) west coast of the United States.

C) west coast of Europe.

D) west coast of Africa

40. Sunspots

A) are hotter than the rest of the solar surface.

B) are dark clouds floating in the solar atmosphere.

C) occur at random intervals.

D) are correlated with a number of terrestrial effects.

41. The main sequence on the HR diagram includes

A) the sun.

B) white dwarfs.

C) red giants.

D) pulsars.

42. The chief reason why reaction rates increase with temperature is that a rise in temperature increases the number of

A) ions.

B) polar molecules.

C) fast-moving molecules.

D) activated molecules.

43. The measurements of a room are given as length = 5.28 m and width = 3.1 m. Since (5.28)(3.1) = 16.368, the room’s area is correctly expressed as

A) 16 m2.

B) 16.0 m2.

C) 16.4 m2.

D) 16.368 m2.

44. The mass of a sack of potatoes whose weight is 200 N is

A) 20.4 kg.

B) 91 kg.

C) 210 kg.

D) 440 kg.

45. The time at which a given star rises above the horizon each night is

A) earlier than the night before.

B) the same as the night before.

C) later than the night before.

D) Any of the choices, depending on which star is involved.

46. An enzyme is a

A) gasoline additive that reduces pollution.

B) constituent of natural gas.

C) solvent used in electrolysis.

D) biological catalyst.

47. Polar ice caps are found on

A) Mercury.

B) Venus.

C) Mars.

D) Jupiter.

48. The scientist who showed that gravity accounts for Kepler’s laws of planetary motion was

A) Newton.

B) Brahe.

C) Einstein.

D) Galileo.

49. A molecule that has lost an electron becomes a

A) positive ion.

B) negative ion.

C) nucleus.

D) superconductor.

50. The ozone in the stratosphere

A) reflects radio waves.

B) reflects solar ultraviolet radiation.

C) absorbs solar ultraviolet radiation.

D) is responsible for the blue color of the sky.