Practice Test

Please solve the following questions. This is not a real exam, it will not be graded, and you do not need to submit your solutions to anyone. The questions are simply intended to help you practice for the real exam.

These questions will not appear in the exam itself. Students who don't genuinely attempt to solve the questions on their own, and only memorize the solutions, will have a very hard time in the actual exam!

This sample exam is online, but the real exam will be given in person, at a time and place indicated on the course website.

THIS IS NOT THE ACTUAL EXAM!
THIS IS JUST A PRACTICE EXAM!
THE REAL EXAM IS IN PERSON!

If you need any clarifications for these questions, you can ask for them on the course Teams channel.

Question 1

Object A has mass 1 kg. Object B has mass 3 kg. According to E=mc², how much rest energy does object B have compared to A?

3 times less energy.
3 times more energy.
9 times more energy.

Question 2

A star was measured to have a parallax of 0.2 arc seconds. How far away is the star?

6 parsecs.
5 parsecs.
4 parsecs.

Question 3

Which of the following stars is the brightest in the sky?

A star with apparent magnitude -4.4.
A star with apparent magnitude +7.0.
A star with apparent magnitude +3.1.

Question 4

A photon has a wavelength of 530 nm. What color is it?

Red.
Green.
Blue.

Question 5

I see a very faint star. This could mean:

Either the distance to the star is small or the luminosity of the star is large.
Either the distance to the star is large or the luminosity of the star is large.
Either the distance to the star is large or the luminosity of the star is small.

Question 6

A star is located on the bottom right of the H-R diagram. This star has...

High luminosity and high temperature.
Low luminosity and low temperature.
High luminosity and low temperature.

Question 7

Compared to RR Lyrae variables, Cepheid variables typically have...

Lower luminosity and shorter period.
Higher luminosity and shorter period.
Higher luminosity and longer period.

Question 8

I found a helium-9 isotope. How many neutrons does it have?

6
7
8

Question 9

Which of the following is the shortest?

1 light-year.
1 trillion kilometers.
1 parsec.

Question 10

A proton is made of...

1 up quark and 1 down quark.
2 up quarks and 1 down quark.
1 up quark and 2 down quarks.

Question 11

I observed an object, larger than Earth but smaller than the Sun, which generates light by deuterium fusion but not hydrogen fusion. What is it?

A planet.
A brown dwarf.
A star.

Question 12

I want to measure the distance to a star that is estimated to be a few thousand light-years away. Which method should I use?

RR Lyrae variables
Stellar parallax
Cepheid variables

Question 13

Which of the following is a blue giant?

M5 V
O4 III
M2 III

Question 14

In the H-R diagram, red dwarfs can be found...

At higher luminosity and higher temperature than the main sequence.
On the main sequence.
At higher luminosity and lower temperature than the main sequence.

Question 15

In the proton-proton chain, how many total hydrogen nuclei do we start with? (Remember that steps 1 and 2 happen twice in a full chain!)

2.
1.
4.

Question 16

In an atom, the electrons are located...

Inside the nucleus.
Either inside or outside the nucleus, depending on the type of atom.
Outside the nucleus.

Question 17

What kind of mass is defined as the strength of an object's gravitational field?

Inertial mass.
Neither of the other options is correct.
Gravitational mass.

Question 18

Photon A has wavelength 1 cm. Photon B has wavelength 2 cm. Which photon has a higher frequency?

Photon B.
Both have the same frequency.
Photon A.

Question 19

Star A has brighter absolute magnitude than star B. What does that say about the luminosity of the two stars?

Star A is more luminous.
There's no way to know unless we also know the distance to each star.
Star B is more luminous.

Question 20

Which is the dominant process used in a star with 2.7 solar masses to generate light?

Deuterium fusion.
The CNO cycle.
The proton-proton chain.

Question 21

Which of the following is a bright giant?

K6 V
B5 II
G2 IV

Question 22

What happens to the mass in electron-positron annihilation?

The mass is conserved, and converted into the mass of the photons.
Its rest energy is converted into kinetic energy of the produced photons.
Its rest energy is converted into gravitational potential energy of the produced photons.

Question 23

Which of the following stars is the hottest?

K5
K3
K9

Question 24

If a particle has charge +1, what would be the charge of its antiparticle?

+1.
0.
-1.

Question 25

If the spectral lines of a star shift toward blue, this means...

The star is moving away from us.
The star is moving toward us.
The star is not moving with respect to us.