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

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

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

Question 2

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

7
8
6

Question 3

A star was measured to have a parallax of 0.25 arc seconds. How far away is the star?

4 parsecs.
5 parsecs.
6 parsecs.

Question 4

A photon has a wavelength of 700 nm. What color is it?

Green.
Blue.
Red.

Question 5

Which of the following is the shortest?

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

Question 6

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

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

Question 7

A proton 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 8

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

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

Question 9

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

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

Question 10

I see a very bright 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 small 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 11

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
Cepheid variables
Stellar parallax

Question 12

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

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

Question 13

In the proton-proton chain, how many total helium nuclei do we end up with?

2.
4.
1.

Question 14

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 15

Which of the following is a bright giant?

K6 V
G2 IV
B5 II

Question 16

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

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

Question 17

Which of the following is a red dwarf?

M5 V
O4 III
G2 V

Question 18

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

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

Question 19

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

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

Question 20

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 21

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 22

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

-1.
+1.
0.

Question 23

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 24

Which of the following stars is the coolest?

K9
K3
K5

Question 25

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.