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

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

Blue.
Red.
Green.

Question 2

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

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

Question 3

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

-1.
0.
+1.

Question 4

Object A has mass 1 kg. Object B has mass 9 kg. According to E=mc², how much rest energy does object B have compared to A?

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

Question 5

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

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

Question 6

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

Cepheid variables
Stellar parallax
RR Lyrae variables

Question 7

I see a very faint star. This could mean:

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

Question 8

A neutron is made of...

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

Question 9

What happens to the mass in electron-positron annihilation?

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

Question 10

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

7
6
8

Question 11

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

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

Question 12

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!)

1.
4.
2.

Question 13

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

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

Question 14

In an atom, the electrons are located...

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

Question 15

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

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

Question 16

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

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

Question 17

Which of the following is a main-sequence star?

B5 II
K6 V
G2 IV

Question 18

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

A planet.
A brown dwarf.
A star.

Question 19

A star is located on the top left of the H-R diagram. This star has...

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

Question 20

Which of the following is a red dwarf?

O4 III
M5 V
G2 V

Question 21

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

4 parsecs.
6 parsecs.
5 parsecs.

Question 22

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

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

Question 23

Which of the following is the longest?

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

Question 24

Which of the following stars is the coolest?

K9
K3
K5

Question 25

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

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