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.
stars are moving away from us wherever he looked.
far away galaxies are older.
the universe is expanding.
2. The age of the universe
can be estimated from the age of the Milky Way.
can be determined from observation of the stars in the heavens.
is unknown and unknowable.
is the same as that of the Sun.
3. The horizon of the observable universe refers to the
horizon of the sky.
edge of the universe which one can observe at any one time.
newest bits of the universe only just become possible to be observed.
furthest part of the universe our telescope is able to resolve.
4. Which of the following Galileo did not observe through his telescope?
The moon is not made of perfect celestial material.
Sun spots.
Venus has phases.
Other planets can have moons.
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
planets are held by the gravitational force of the star around which they orbit.
planetary orbits are elliptical.
the Earth is not the centre of the universe.
forces acting on the planets must balance with the forces acting on the star.
7. The fundamental particles are
neutrinos and gluons.
fermions and bosons.
quarks and electrons.
waves not particles.
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.
Planck era, Particle era, Era of atoms.
Particle era, Planck era, Era of atoms.
9. Dark matter
is dark and absorbs all light incident upon it.
can potentially be detected on earth.
can not be seen.
is made up of black holes.
10. The "flatness problem" in cosmology refers to the fact that
because the universe is flat, we will never see parts of the universe.
the universe is very close to the critical density.
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.
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