NATS1880 FW24-25 Life Beyond Earth Practice Fall Exam PDF

LAST NAME FIRST NAME NATS1880 FW24-25 Life Beyond Earth COURSE DIRECTOR: JEREMY WEBB PRACTICE FALL EXAM The only allowable items on your desk are:...

LAST NAME FIRST NAME NATS1880 FW24-25 Life Beyond Earth COURSE DIRECTOR: JEREMY WEBB PRACTICE FALL EXAM The only allowable items on your desk are: - Your exam booklet and crowdmark sheet - Writing tools - York Student ID or other Photo ID This exam contains: - 60 multiple-choice questions, each worth 1 mark and with only one correct answer and no penalty for guessing (60 marks total) Clearly mark your multiple-choice answers on the Crowdmark sheet provided and on your exam booklet. You may detach the Crowdmark sheet for convenience. You have 2 hours to complete this exam. During the exam, an attendance sheet will be circulated by the invigilators. Please have your Photo ID ready to show the invigilator. Upon completing the exam, bring your exam booklet and Crowdmark sheet to an invigilator. IMPORTANT - IN CASE OF FIRE ALARM: All fire alarms must be treated as emergency situations. Leave your exam papers on your desk and follow the invigilators to the nearest exit. Take your belongings with you as long as this can be done quickly. Remain with the invigilators outside the building until the exam can be resumed or the exam period is over, whichever comes first. If the exam is resumed, any students who do not return to the exam room immediately will not be allowed to complete the exam or make it up at a later date. NATS1880 FW24-25 Life Beyond Earth Practice Fall Exam Page 1 of 13 Copyright Jeremy Webb 2024 1. Extraterrestrial life elsewhere in the universe A) will live only on planets very similar to Earth B) could be similar to life on Earth or might be very different C) will be identical to life on Earth D) will certainly be completely different than life on Earth Answer: B 2. Astronomy has shown us that Earth A) occupies a special location in the universe so that life elsewhere is unlikely B) is the only planet in the universe with any kind of life C) is the only planet in the universe with advanced life D) is just one planet orbiting an ordinary star in a vast universe Answer: D 3. The discovery of exoplanets indicates that planets around other stars are A) all Earth-like B) nonexistent C) common D) relatively rare Answer: C 4. A habitable world is defined to be one that A) is identical to the Earth B) is in orbit about a solar-type star C) has an atmosphere D) has conditions suitable for life Answer: D 5. The Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) program currently involves A) broadcasting radio messages into space and hoping an alien civilization replies B) using telescopes to search for signals broadcast by advanced civilizations C) using telescopes to try to capture photos of life on planets around other stars D) trying to make contact with life on other worlds in our solar system Answer: B 6. Before the Greeks, most ancient cultures believed that Earth was A) spherical and moving through space B) flat and moving through space C) spherical and motionless D) flat and motionless Answer: D NATS1880 FW24-25 Life Beyond Earth Practice Fall Exam Page 2 of 13 Copyright Jeremy Webb 2024 7. The astronomical object in our sky without which we certainly could not survive is the A) Sun B) Moon C) nearest star D) most massive planet in our solar system, Jupiter Answer: A 8. Most of the time, planets are observed over many nights to A) be stationary with respect to background stars B) move eastward with respect to background stars C) move due south with respect to background stars D) erratically become brighter or dimmer compared to background stars Answer: B 9. In the Ptolemaic model, retrograde motion is due to A) relative motion between Earth and another planet in its orbit B) Earth reversing the direction of its orbit about the Sun C) a planet moving backwards in its smaller circular circle, the center of which moves in a larger circular orbit around Earth D) a planet reversing the direction of its orbit about the Sun Answer: C 10. Stellar parallax is the apparent A) shift in position of nearby stars as Earth moves around the Sun B) westward motion of a planet with respect to the background stars C) shift in position of nearby stars as the Sun moves about the center of the galaxy D) shift in position of nearby stars as Earth rotates on its axis Answer: A 11. According to Kepler’s Second Law of planetary motion, a planet moves fastest in its orbit when it is A) undergoing retrograde motion B) at its average distance from the Sun C) at its closest distance to the Sun D) at its farthest distance from the Sun Answer: C NATS1880 FW24-25 Life Beyond Earth Practice Fall Exam Page 3 of 13 Copyright Jeremy Webb 2024 12. The discovery of a supernova by Tycho Brahe in 1572 contradicted the commonly held belief (at the time) that the heavens were A) unchanging B) part of a great celestial sphere C) infinite D) made up of stars that are distant suns Answer: A 13. The discovery of four moons in orbit about Jupiter by Galileo proved that A) Earth moved about Jupiter B) Earth moved about the Sun C) Jupiter moved about the Sun D) Earth is not the center of everything Answer: D 14. Occam’s Razor states that if we have two models that agree equally well with observations, we generally prefer the one that A) is simpler B) is most complex C) has been around the longest D) is accepted by most scientists Answer: A 15. Two asteroids have identical masses. However, one asteroid is twice as far from the Sun than the other. According to Newton’s Universal Law of Gravitation the force of gravity exerted by the Sun on the more distant asteroid is A) the same size as the force exerted on the closer asteroid B) one-quarter of the size of the force exerted on the closer asteroid C) twice as large as the force exerted on the closer asteroid D) one-half of the size of the force exerted on the closer asteroid Answer: B 16. One of the key lessons from astronomy is that the same physical laws that operate on Earth also operate throughout the universe. How is this fact relevant to the search for life in the universe? A) It tells us that we live in a galaxy full of life. B) It means there has been plenty of time for life to arise and evolve on suitable worlds. C) It tells us that the structure of the universe is, in some sense, designed to have abundant life. D) It means that natural processes that occurred on Earth are likely to have occurred in similar ways on other worlds. Answer: D NATS1880 FW24-25 Life Beyond Earth Practice Fall Exam Page 4 of 13 Copyright Jeremy Webb 2024 17. Suppose that, in the year 2006, we had sent a radio signal to a star system located 40 light- years away. In what year did or will the signal arrive at its destination? A) 2006 B) 2051 C) 2040 D) 2046 Answer: D 18. Strong evidence that the universe began in what we call the Big Bang comes from the fact that the theory of the Big Bang predicts, and observations verify, that the chemical composition with which the universe was born consisted of: A) an equal mixture of all the chemical elements B) mostly hydrogen gas, mixed with substantial proportions of rock and metal C) about 75% hydrogen and 25% helium D) mostly the elements carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, and nitrogen Answer: C 19. The extent of the observable universe (that is, how far the observable horizon is located from us) is determined primarily by A) the number of galaxies in the universe B) the age of the universe C) the age of the Earth D) the time since we began observing Answer: B 20. Two different isotopes of a particular element will always have a different number of A) protons and neutrons B) protons C) neutrons D) electrons Answer: C 21. What kind of energy does gasoline possess, that is then used to make a car move? A) mass-energy B) kinetic C) potential D) radiative Answer: C NATS1880 FW24-25 Life Beyond Earth Practice Fall Exam Page 5 of 13 Copyright Jeremy Webb 2024 22. How do we learn the speed at which a distant object is moving toward or away from us? A) by determining which elements create all the spectral lines in its spectrum B) by identifying the wavelength at which the object emits light most strongly C) by measuring the total amount of light emitted by the object per unit area D) by identifying the shift, due to the Doppler effect, of spectral lines in its spectrum Answer: D 23. In our solar system, jovian planets are all A) made mostly of rock and metal and orbit relatively close to the Sun B) made mostly of rock and metal and orbit relatively far from the Sun C) made mostly of hydrogen, helium, and hydrogen compounds and orbit relatively close to the Sun D) made mostly of hydrogen, helium, and hydrogen compounds and orbit relatively far from the Sun Answer: D 24. The vast majority of the material that made up the solar nebula was A) hydrogen compounds like water, methane, and ammonia. B) hydrogen and helium gas C) metals D) rocks Answer: B 25. In the outer regions of the solar nebula, where temperatures were low: A) only rock and metal could condense into solid form B) only hydrogen compounds could condense into solid form C) all gases could condense into solid form D) rock, metal, and hydrogen compounds could all condense into solid form Answer: D 26. Planetary systems discovered around other stars: A) all have exactly the same layout as the planets in our own solar system. B) all have completely different layouts as the planets in our own solar system. C) exhibit a range of different layouts, some being very similar to our solar system while others being very different. D) all have very similar but not identical layout to our solar system. Answer: C NATS1880 FW24-25 Life Beyond Earth Practice Fall Exam Page 6 of 13 Copyright Jeremy Webb 2024 27. Earth’s magnetic field is thought to be very important to Earth’s long-term habitability because of its role in: A) releasing the gas that made Earth’s atmosphere and oceans B) allowing compasses to work C) producing the aurora D) shielding the atmosphere from the solar wind Answer: D 28. The half-life of uranium-235 is 700 million years. Suppose you find a rock sample that contains 1/2 microgram of uranium-235 and 1/2 microgram of its daughter isotope lead-207. How old is this rock? (Assume that all of the lead-207 came from radioactive decay of the uranium-235.) A) 1400 million years B) 2100 million years C) 700 million years D) 350 million years Answer: C 29. Only a tiny fraction of living organisms leaves behind any kind of fossil remnant because: A) the minerals that replace organic material in fossils tend to dissolve in water B) the vast majority of dead organisms decay before any mineral replacement can occur C) the organic material that would have made a fossil is destroyed by radioactivity D) plate tectonics carries fossils deep into Earth where they melt Answer: B 30. The oldest Moon rocks are ______ than the oldest Earth rocks. A) younger B) older C) about the same age as D) denser Answer: C 31. Planetary scientists use crater counts to estimate the _____ of a surface region on a planet or moon. A) habitability B) age C) temperature D) chemical compositions Answer: B NATS1880 FW24-25 Life Beyond Earth Practice Fall Exam Page 7 of 13 Copyright Jeremy Webb 2024 32. Two major sources of Earth’s internal heat were the gravitational potential energy released through accretion as Earth formed and differentiation of the interior. A third important and ongoing source of internal heat is provided by: A) impact cratering B) radioactive decay C) sunlight D) convection in the mantle Answer: B 33. Plate tectonics is known to occur A) on all of the terrestrial worlds B) on Earth and Venus C) on Earth, Venus, and Mars D) only on Earth Answer: D 34. Which of the following is a leading hypothesis for why Venus does not appear to have ongoing plate tectonics? A) Venus does not have enough internal heat to support mantle convection. B) Venus’s high temperature baked out water from its lithosphere, making the rock strong enough to resist fracturing into plates C) Venus’s closer distance to the Sun bathed it in radiation that caused the lithosphere to thicken and resist fracturing into plates D) Venus’s lack of a moon meant no tidal force to help break up the lithosphere into plates. Answer: B 35. The extent to which an atmosphere loses gas to thermal escape depends on ________ of the atmosphere. A) only the temperature B) both the temperature and the atomic or molecular weight of the gases C) only the atomic or molecular weight of the gases D) both the temperature and pressure Answer: B 36. Most of the carbon dioxide emitted from volcanoes over Earth’s history: A) is locked up in carbonate rocks B) is present in the atmosphere C) escaped into space D) is dissolved in the oceans Answer: A NATS1880 FW24-25 Life Beyond Earth Practice Fall Exam Page 8 of 13 Copyright Jeremy Webb 2024 37. Earth is able to recover from a snowball phase by A) the gradual melting of snow and ice by solar radiation B) the gradual buildup of heat beneath the snow and ice layer C) the breaking up of the snow and ice layer by plate tectonics D) carbon dioxide gradually building up in the atmosphere from volcanism Answer: D 38. What do we mean when we say that living organisms display order? A) Different species arose one after another in time. B) Individuals within a species always have a particular birth order, with some born before others. C) The structures of living organisms display patterns rather than being arranged randomly. D) Cellular structures can be arranged in order of size. Answer: C 39. Viruses seem to represent something “in between” the living and nonliving because: A) They are generally much smaller than bacteria. B) They do not display order in their structures. C) They can only reproduce within a host cell, not independently. D) They do not contain DNA. Answer: C 40. All known life on Earth passes on its heredity with molecules called _________. A) lipids B) carbohydrates C) DNA D) proteins Answer: C 41. Generally speaking, biologists consider the most fundamental, defining property of life to be: A) the ability to respond to immediate environmental changes B) the ability to reproduce C) having an orderly arrangement of structure D) the ability to undergo evolutionary adaptation over time Answer: D 42. In general terms, the role of a cell in life is to: A) separate living matter from the outside world B) allow living organisms to move around C) provide a source of nutrients for living organisms D) provide a source of energy for living organisms Answer: A NATS1880 FW24-25 Life Beyond Earth Practice Fall Exam Page 9 of 13 Copyright Jeremy Webb 2024 43. The basic requirement(s) for metabolism inside cells is/are: A) a source of carbon and a source of energy B) a source of carbon only C) a source of energy only D) the presence of ATP Answer: A 44. Life on Earth can use a variety of different carbon and energy sources. However, the one thing that no organism on Earth can survive without is A) water in any form: solid, liquid, or gas B) oxygen C) a liquid medium of some kind, but not necessarily water D) liquid water Answer: D 45. A sample of an ancient rock contains a slightly lower fraction of the isotope carbon-13 (relative to carbon-12) than is found in inorganic material on Earth. This fact suggests that the rock: A) is a meteorite from Mars B) has undergone significant radioactive decay C) is igneous D) once contained living organisms Answer: D 46. Life probably did not originate on the land surface because: A) impacts would have destroyed any life that appeared B) water was not plentiful on land C) there was no ozone layer to shield the surface from solar ultraviolet radiation D) organic molecules were not present on the land Answer: C 47. Experiments to investigate the possibility that RNA was the first hereditary molecule of life on Earth have found that: A) Short strands of RNA can spontaneously form with the aid of clay minerals that were likely common in the early oceans. B) Self-replicating RNA molecules appear spontaneously whenever you combine lipids in water with ultraviolet light. C) very old fossils contain RNA rather than DNA. D) RNA strands in laboratory vessels will spontaneously team up with other RNA strands to form DNA. Answer: A NATS1880 FW24-25 Life Beyond Earth Practice Fall Exam Page 10 of 13 Copyright Jeremy Webb 2024 48. Scientifically, the possibility that life first arose on Venus or Mars and then migrated to Earth is considered to be: A) impossible, because neither of those planets has surface life today B) possible for Venus but not for Mars C) possible for Mars but not for Venus D) possible, because it is reasonable to think that both planets had conditions favorable for life in their early histories Answer: D 49. Which of the following is not considered to be one of the four factors that may have contributed to the Cambrian explosion? A) the rise of oxygen in the atmosphere B) genetic complexity reaching a critical level C) climate change due to the end of the last snowball Earth episode D) the nearly sudden appearance of the first eukarya E) the lack of predators Answer: D 50. Which moved from the oceans to the land first, plants or animals, and why? A) plants, because animals need plants to eat B) plants, because they do not require oxygen C) animals, because they spread plant seeds through their excrement D) animals, because they could obtain oxygen more easily on land Answer: A 51. Assuming that a giant impact was responsible for the dinosaur mass extinction, when and how did most of the extinctions occur? A) Immediately, as animals were hit on the head by fragments from the impact. B) Over months to years, as forest fires burned and ash and dust blocked sunlight. C) Over about a century, because the impact made animals sterile and unable to reproduce. D) Over about a million years, as species gradually died out due to after effects of the impact. Answer: B 52. Did all dinosaurs go extinct 66 million years ago? A) No, some evolved into birds. B) No, some evolved into mammals and ultimately into us. C) No, only meat-eating dinosaurs went extinct. D) Yes. Answer: A NATS1880 FW24-25 Life Beyond Earth Practice Fall Exam Page 11 of 13 Copyright Jeremy Webb 2024 53. Which of the following is not considered a possible cause of any past mass extinctions on Earth? A) episodes of widespread volcanism B) impacts of asteroids C) nearby supernovas D) a change in Earth’s distance from the Sun Answer: D 54. The chemical elements necessary for life are likely to be A) found only on Earth and Mars B) widespread in the solar system but not elsewhere in our Milky Way galaxy C) widespread throughout the universe D) widespread in our Milky Way galaxy but not in other galaxies Answer: C 55. Given that asteroids and comets apparently contain organic molecules beneath their surfaces, why don’t we expect these molecules to have undergone chemical evolution that could lead to life? A) Asteroids and comets are too far from the Sun. B) Asteroids and comets lack liquids or gases that would allow the molecules to move about and react with each other. C) Chemical evolution requires a carbon dioxide atmosphere, which asteroids and comets don’t have. D) Chemical evolution requires seasonal changes that asteroids and comets don’t have. Answer: B 56. Ammonia, methane, and ethane are all considered to be at least potential liquid mediums for life. Why don’t we expect to find life on Earth that can make use of any of these liquids? A) These compounds are all gases at Earth’s temperatures. B) These compounds are all frozen at Earth’s temperatures. C) None of these compounds are present on Earth. D) None of these compounds are present in sufficient quantities on Earth. Answer: A 57. Most of the carbon dioxide that has been outgassed through Venus’s history: A) is chemically locked up in rocks B) is frozen at the poles C) escaped into space D) is still present in the atmosphere Answer: D NATS1880 FW24-25 Life Beyond Earth Practice Fall Exam Page 12 of 13 Copyright Jeremy Webb 2024 58. The biggest obstacle to life being present in the atmosphere of Jupiter is likely to be: A) a complete absence of liquid water B) high levels of radiation from Jupiter’s strong magnetic field C) strong vertical winds D) Jupiter’s distance from the Sun, which is too far for photosynthesis Answer: C 59. Where might liquid water be found on some of Jupiter’s moons? A) on their surfaces near their equators B) on their surfaces near their poles C) in their clouds D) underground Answer: D 60. Which of the following is not an advantage of a flyby over an orbiter or lander? A) A flyby can get closer to a world we are studying. B) A flyby can visit more than one world. C) A flyby does not require fuel for slowing down. D) A flyby is generally cheaper to build and launch. Answer: A NATS1880 FW24-25 Life Beyond Earth Practice Fall Exam Page 13 of 13 Copyright Jeremy Webb 2024