Exploring the Cosmos - Degree Exam 2008 - Particles, Forces & the Big Bang
1. Hubble expansion refers to the discovery in the 1920s and 1930s by Edwin Hubble that
the universe is expanding.
stars are moving away from us wherever he looked.
far away galaxies are older.
the speed at which galaxies are moving is a function of their distance from us.
2. The age of the universe
can be estimated from the age of the Milky Way.
is unknown and unknowable.
can be determined from observation of the stars in the heavens.
is the same as that of the Sun.
3. The horizon of the observable universe refers to the
edge of the universe which one can observe at any one time.
furthest part of the universe our telescope is able to resolve.
horizon of the sky.
newest bits of the universe only just become possible to be observed.
4. Which of the following Galileo did not observe through his telescope?
Sun spots.
Other planets can have moons.
The moon is not made of perfect celestial material.
Venus has phases.
5. In Ptolemy's model of the universe, the stars
have epicycles
are features on the surface of a perfect sphere.
are just like the sun.
orbit around the sun.
6. Kepler's laws show that
the Earth is not the centre of the universe.
planets are held by the gravitational force of the star around which they orbit.
forces acting on the planets must balance with the forces acting on the star.
planetary orbits are elliptical.
7. The fundamental particles are
fermions and bosons.
quarks and electrons.
waves not particles.
neutrinos and gluons.
8. Which of the following is ranked in descending order of temperature?
Planck era, Era of atoms, Particle era.
Particle era, Era of atoms, Planck era.
Particle era, Planck era, Era of atoms.
Planck era, Particle era, Era of atoms.
9. Dark matter
is dark and absorbs all light incident upon it.
is made up of black holes.
can not be seen.
can potentially be detected on earth.
10. The "flatness problem" in cosmology refers to the fact that
three space dimensions are "flattened" to two in the space-time diagram.
if we squash the universe flat, it will be no denser than the density of paper.
because the universe is flat, we will never see parts of the universe.
the universe is very close to the critical density.
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