Time for Repairs Third Edition Test Questions & Answers - Understanding Our Universe 3e Complete Test Bank by Stacy Palen. DOCX document preview.
Mission 3: Time for Repairs
MULTIPLE CHOICE
1. Which of the following is the most widely accepted explanation for the lack of a major planet at the orbital distance of the asteroid belt?
a. The rocky nature of asteroids prevent them from having constructive collisions.
b. The gravitational influence of Jupiter kept the objects thoroughly mixed, preventing any one object from growing extremely large.
c. A couple of large protoplanets collided, destroying each other and producing the small objects we know as the asteroid belt.
d. The density of the material in the early solar nebula was unusually low in the region of the asteroid belt.
e. The Death Star blew up a planet, and the debris formed the asteroid belt.
2. Which of the following is the best estimate for the semimajor axis of asteroids in the asteroid belt?
a. 0.0–1.0 AU d. 3.5–5.0 AU
b. 1.0–2.0 AU e. 5.0–10 AU
c. 2.0–3.5 AU
3. Select all of the following constituents you would expect to find predominantly in a metal-rich asteroid (S-type).
a. silicon d. iron
b. carbon e. lithium
c. nickel
4. Astronomers at the turn of the 19th century were convinced that an undiscovered planet must be lurking in the region we know today as the asteroid belt. Which of the following was the first and largest object to be discovered in this region of the Solar System by Giuseppe Piazzi on January 1st, 1801?
a. Pallas d. Polaris
b. Vesta e. Ceres
c. Ida
5. Given a physical separation between binary asteroids of 1.5 × 103 km, what would be the apparent angular separation in arcseconds when viewed from a distance of 1.5 ×108 km?
a. 2.06” d. 2060”
b. 20.6” e. 20600”
c. 206”
6. Which of the following statements best describes why CORI chooses binary asteroids for the player to study in Mission 3?
a. Solitary asteroids are metal-poor.
b. Binary asteroids are always metal-rich.
c. It is more difficult to measure the diameter of solitary asteroids.
d. The orbital motion of the binary asteroids allows us to determine their masses.
e. None of the above.
7. Which of the following incorrectly describes what would happen to the binary asteroid systems in Mission 3 if the secondary asteroids were the nearly same mass as the primary, but maintained the same separation?
a. The orbital period would be shorter.
b. The gravitational attraction would stronger.
c. The primary asteroid would have a perceptible orbital motion.
d. Nothing. The orbit of the secondary asteroid would be unchanged.
e. The shape of the orbit of the secondary asteroid would remain circular.
1. What is particularly important about the three binary asteroid systems that CORI identifies? Can you imagine other types of systems in which this arrangement might be useful for calculating masses?
2. The primary asteroid does not appear to be moving in the animation of the game. Why not?