Review for Exam 2

Exam: 50 questions, mostly multiple choice Exam conducted at Pollock Testing Center Each student schedules the time for their exam sometime between 8am and 10pm Bring pencils and student IDs; no calculators allowed For testing center details: Study materials review questions slides from lectures your notes homeworks clicker questions animations at my web site Review

1)What is the order of the planets with distance from the Sun? 2)Which planet has the highest surface temperature? largest mass? largest tilt of its spin axis? largest temperature variations? rotates backwards? polar ice caps? 3)How many moons does Mercury have? Venus? Mars? 4)Which planets have no atmosphere? 5)Which moon has a thick atmosphere? 6)Which 3 factors determine if a planet holds onto an atmosphere? 7)What is the primary reason why Venus is much hotter than Earth? The Planets

1)Who discovered Pluto? How? 2)What is the distance of Pluto from the Sun in AUs? Orbital period? 3)Which spacecraft visited Pluto? 4)How does the orbit of Pluto compare to the 8 planets? 5)Why isn’t Pluto considered a planet? What is the official classification of Pluto now? Other members of this class? 6)What are the 3 regions of the solar system containing asteroids and comets? Typical orbital periods? 7)What are the largest known members of the Asteroid Belt and Kuiper Belt? 2nd largest? 8)How many asteroids are visible to the naked eye? 9)What are comets and asteroids made of? 10) Which spacecraft has visited Vesta and Ceres? Which deployed a lander onto a comet? Pluto, Asteroids, and Comets

1)What causes a cloud of gas and dust to collapse to form a star? What halts the star’s collapse? 2)What is the source of the Sun’s energy? 3)What are the products of hydrogen fusion? 4)Where does the energy produced by hydrogen fusion come from? 5)How long does it take for stars and planets to be born? 6)What is a brown dwarf? How does it change over time? 7)What is the boundary in mass between stars and brown dwarfs? 8)What 3 characteristics of the planets provide clues about how they formed? What is the explanation for each of those characteristics? 9)Why did the gas giant planets form far from the Sun? 10)What are the 4 theories for the formation of the Moon? Which one do we believe is correct? Star and Planet Formation

1)How are distances to nearby stars measured? What is the distance to the nearest star in light years? 2)What is the equation relating parallax and distance? 3)What is luminosity? How is it measured? 4)What's the equation relating luminosity, brightness seen from a given distance, and distance? 5)How are temperatures of stars measured? 6)What are the spectral classes of stars in order of temperature? 7)How are the radii of stars measured? What equation is used? 8)What's the H-R diagram? 9)What's the main sequence? 10)How are masses of stars measured? What are the minimum and maximum masses of stars? 11)How can you measure the relative masses of stars in a binary system? Properties of Stars

1)What property of a star determines how it will evolve? 2)What do all stars on the main sequence have in common? How does the time spent on the main sequence depend on mass? 3)What are the evolutionary stages of stars of high- and low-mass stars? What is the mass boundary separating the two evolutionary paths? Where are these stages on the H-R diagram? 4)What are the 2 most abundant elements in a white dwarf? 5)What prevents the collapse of a main sequence star, a white dwarf, and a neutron star? 6)What are the ranges of masses for white dwarfs, neutron stars, and black holes? 7)What is a pulsar? 8)The appearance of which element in a star’s core triggers a Type II supernova explosion? 9)What is a nova? What is a Type Ia supernova? Evolution of Stars

A B C D E OBAFGKM Luminosity For each star, what is its: name (e.g., giant) composition (e.g., H) range of possible masses size of radius (e.g., city) surface gravity earlier/later stages source of support age F

1)Define escape velocity. 2)What 2 parameters does the escape velocity depend on? 3)Define black hole, event horizon, and singularity. 4)What is the order of main sequence stars, white dwarfs, red giants, neutron stars, and black holes in terms of surface gravity? 5)To what diameter would you need to compress the earth to make it a black hole? What about the Sun? 6)How are time and light affected near a black hole? 7)Why do black holes tear apart anything that comes near them? 8)How are black holes detected? 9)How are black holes created? What are their typical masses and diameters? 10)What are gravitational waves and Hawking radiation? Black Holes