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 speed at which galaxies are moving is a function of their distance from us.
far away galaxies are older.
stars are moving away from us wherever he looked.
the universe is expanding.
2. The age of the universe
is unknown and unknowable.
is the same as that of the Sun.
can be estimated from the age of the Milky Way.
can be determined from observation of the stars in the heavens.
3. The horizon of the observable universe refers to the
furthest part of the universe our telescope is able to resolve.
newest bits of the universe only just become possible to be observed.
horizon of the sky.
edge of the universe which one can observe at any one time.
4. Which of the following Galileo did not observe through his telescope?
The moon is not made of perfect celestial material.
Other planets can have moons.
Sun spots.
Venus has phases.
5. In Ptolemy's model of the universe, the stars
have epicycles
orbit around the sun.
are just like the sun.
are features on the surface of a perfect sphere.
6. Kepler's laws show that
planetary orbits are elliptical.
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.
7. The fundamental particles are
neutrinos and gluons.
waves not particles.
fermions and bosons.
quarks and electrons.
8. Which of the following is ranked in descending order of temperature?
Particle era, Era of atoms, Planck era.
Planck era, Particle era, Era of atoms.
Planck era, Era of atoms, Particle era.
Particle era, Planck era, Era of atoms.
9. Dark matter
can not be seen.
is made up of black holes.
can potentially be detected on earth.
is dark and absorbs all light incident upon it.
10. The "flatness problem" in cosmology refers to the fact that
if we squash the universe flat, it will be no denser than the density of paper.
three space dimensions are "flattened" to two in the space-time diagram.
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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