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

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

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

Question 2

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

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

Question 3

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

8
7
6

Question 4

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 5

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

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

Question 6

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 7

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

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

Question 8

A neutron is made of...

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

Question 9

Which of the following is the shortest?

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

Question 10

Which of the following is a red dwarf?

G2 V
M5 V
O4 III

Question 11

In an atom, the protons are located...

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

Question 12

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

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

Question 13

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

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

Question 14

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.
2.
4.

Question 15

Which of the following is a bright giant?

K6 V
G2 IV
B5 II

Question 16

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 brown dwarf.
A star.
A planet.

Question 17

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

-1.
0.
+1.

Question 18

I see a very faint star. This could mean:

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

Question 19

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

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

Question 20

Which of the following stars is the coolest?

K5
K9
K3

Question 21

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

Blue.
Red.
Green.

Question 22

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

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

Question 23

What kind of mass is defined as resistance of an object to acceleration?

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

Question 24

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?

Stellar parallax
Cepheid variables
RR Lyrae variables

Question 25

What happens in electron-positron annihilation?

An electron and a positron annihilate each other and produce 2 photons.
An electron and a positron annihilate each other and no photons are produced.
An electron and a positron annihilate each other and produce 1 photon.