TEST QUESTIONS

Multiple Choice Questions

1.

A bit of matter that enters Earth's atmosphere and survives to reach the ground is called
a. a meteor.
b. a meteoroid.
c. a meteorite.
d. a minor planet.
e. an asteroid.

2.
*

The Widmansttten patterns found in some meteorites show that the material
a. cooled very slowly.
b. cooled very rapidly.
c. was never heated to the point of being molten.
d. was molten just before it entered Earth's atmosphere.
e. is composed primarily of organic compounds.

3.

Chondrites are meteorites that have

a. never been heated.
b. been heated sufficiently to release the volatiles it contained.
c. been heated sufficiently to melt the chondrules.
d. been completely melted.
e. entered Earth's atmosphere but will be destroyed before reaching the ground.

4.

5.

*
6.

7.

A meteor shower is produced when

a. a large number of sporadic meteors are observed.
b. Earth passes through the asteroid belt.
c. massive particles are carried outward from the sun by the solar wind and enter Earth's atmosphere.
d. Earth passes through the orbital path of a comet.
e. meteors cause condensation in the upper atmosphere that leads to early morning rains.
Most of the asteroids orbit the sun in a belt between the orbits of
a. Venus and Earth.
b. Earth and Mars.
c. Jupiter and Saturn.
d. Mercury and Venus.
e. Mars and Jupiter.
Meteorites can be classified according to their
a. orbit.
b. distance from the sun.
c. impact history.
d. mineral content.
e. coma.
A(n) _____________ is a stony meteorite that contains no chondrules and no volatiles. Thay appear to
have been melted after they formed and resemble solidified lavas.
a. carbonaceous chondrite
b. achondrite
c. breccia
d. Widmansttten
e. Kuiper belt object

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8.
*

Comets falling into the inner solar system from the _____________ become long-period comets.
a. Oort cloud
b. asteroid belt
c. Roche limit
d. Kuiper belt
e. Widmansttten region

11. An asteroid could produce an iron core and a silicate mantle if it

* a. differentiated.
b. outgassed.
c. condensed.
d. accreted.
e. sublimed.
12. The gas tail of a comet always
a. trails behind the head along the orbital path.
b. extends ahead of the head along the orbital path.
c. points toward the sun.
* d. points away from the sun.
e. points perpendicular to the orbital path
13. The short-period comets do not have randomly oriented orbits because
a. they are affected by the sun's gravity.
b. they are affected by the solar wind.
* c. they formed in the Kuiper Belt, a belt shaped region in the plane of the solar system.
d. their orbits are altered by the drag of their tails in the solar wind.
e. they all were originally objects ejected from the asteroid belt.
3

15. The density of Comet Halley was found to be about 0.2 g/cm . This implies that Comet Halley
a. is composed of about 50% rock and 50% frozen water and methane.
* b. is loosely packed ices with a small amount of rocky material.
c. formed in the inner solar system and was ejected by Jupiter to the Kuiper belt.
d. is really an S-type asteroid.
e. was once a moon of Neptune and was ripped away by a large impact.
18. The ___________ is a disk-shaped cloud of icy bodies believed to extend from about 40 AU out to 100
AU. It is believed that short period comets originate from this region.
a. Oort cloud
b. Widmansttten cloud
c. Apollo-Amor
d. Kirkwood region
* e. Kuiper belt
23. The type I, or gas, tail of a comet
a. is smooth and featureless with a spectrum identical to that of the sun.
b. is present even when the comet is located in the region of the Kuiper belt.
c. is unaffected by the magnetic field of the sun.
d. always points toward the sun.
* e. is streaked and shows emission lines of ionized atoms.
24. ___________ are round bits of glass found in some stony meteorites.
a. chondrites
b. anthrosites
c. achondrites
d. Widmansttten patterns
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e.

chondrules

28. If a large comet struck the Earth,

I. large amount of molten rock would rain down on Earth and cause massive forest fires.
II. the polar ice caps would melt.
III. large amounts of radioactive material would cause the deaths of most animal life on the planet.
IV. thick clouds of carbon dioxide would form and block out the sun for an extended period.
*

a.
b.
c.
d.
e.

I & IV
II & III
I, II, & III
I, II, & IV
II, III, & IV

29. The impact of a large comet with Earth has been suggested to have caused the extinction of the
dinosaurs. The impact site of this comet is in or near
a. Iowa
b. Hudson Bay
c. Crater Lake, Oregon
d. Canberra Australia
* e. Chicxulub Mexico
30. An asteroid has an orbital period around the sun of 5.2 years. How far from the sun is this asteroid?
a. 5.2 AU
b. 10.4 AU
c. 27.0 AU
* d. 3.0 AU
e. 2.3 AU
Fill in the Blank Questions
1.

The ______-type asteroids are generally found in the outer portion of the asteroid belt and are very dark.

** C
2.

A(n) _________ occurs when a bit of material enters Earth's atmosphere and becomes incandescent due
to friction with the atmosphere.

** meteor
3.

Widmansttten patterns are found in ___________ meteorites.

** iron
4.

Long period comets are believed to originate in the ________________.

** Oort cloud
5.

A _________________ is produced when Earth passes through the debris left by a comet as it passed
through the inner solar system.

** meteor shower

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True-False Questions
F

1. Meteorites seem to be primarily composed of material very similar to the material in comets.

2. The meteors in meteor showers are believed to be the debris left behind in comet orbits.

F.

3. Carbonaceous chondrites have been heated to high temperature at least once since they formed.

4. Achondrites are rich in volatiles.

5. Jupiter was probably influential in preventing the formation of a planet at the present location of the
asteroid belt.

6. Some asteroids show evidence of surface activity such as lava flows.

7. The type II tail of a comet always points toward the sun.

8. The dirty snowball theory suggests that the head of a comet is composed of ices.

9. The Kuiper Belt is predicted to be the place where most of the short period comets formed.

10. The existence of the Oort cloud cannot be confirmed observationally from Earth because the objects
are too small.

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