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
stars are moving away from us wherever he looked.
the speed at which galaxies are moving is a function of their distance from us.
the universe is expanding.
far away galaxies are older.
2. The age of the universe
is unknown and unknowable.
can be estimated from the age of the Milky Way.
is the same as that of the Sun.
can be determined from observation of the stars in the heavens.
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.
furthest part of the universe our telescope is able to resolve.
newest bits of the universe only just become possible to be observed.
4. Which of the following Galileo did not observe through his telescope?
Venus has phases.
Sun spots.
The moon is not made of perfect celestial material.
Other planets can have moons.
5. In Ptolemy's model of the universe, the stars
have epicycles
orbit around the sun.
are features on the surface of a perfect sphere.
are just like the sun.
6. Kepler's laws show that
planets are held by the gravitational force of the star around which they orbit.
planetary orbits are elliptical.
forces acting on the planets must balance with the forces acting on the star.
the Earth is not the centre of the universe.
7. The fundamental particles are
waves not particles.
fermions and bosons.
neutrinos and gluons.
quarks and electrons.
8. Which of the following is ranked in descending order of temperature?
Planck era, Era of atoms, Particle era.
Particle era, Planck era, Era of atoms.
Particle era, Era of atoms, Planck era.
Planck era, Particle era, Era of atoms.
9. Dark matter
can potentially be detected on earth.
can not be seen.
is dark and absorbs all light incident upon it.
is made up of black holes.
10. The "flatness problem" in cosmology refers to the fact that
three space dimensions are "flattened" to two in the space-time diagram.
the universe is very close to the critical density.
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.
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