Q&A Hero

Q: What is the term that describes the bright halo of a comet created when escaping gases carry dust away from the comet's surface? A) Coma B) Comma C) Corona D) Cosmos

Q: ________ are small, solid, extraterrestrial particles that will burn and glow when passing through Earth's atmosphere. A) Comets B) Asteroids C) Meteoroids D) Mesocoronas

Q: Earth's axial tilt is currently 23.5 from vertical. Uranus's axis of rotation is completely horizontal. How did this occur? A) It formed that way originally. B) Extreme volcanism realigned the planet. C) Plate tectonics shook the planet's alignment. D) Extraterrestrial bombardment knocked the planet over.

Q: What is the definition of cryovolcanism? A) Pyroclastic volcanism that ignites methane-rich atmospheres B) Cessation of volcanism because of increasing atmospheric pressures C) Increase in rate of tectonic motion due to lubrication of ice D) Eruption of magmas derived from partial melting of ice

Q: Which two satellites are the only ones in the solar system known to have substantial atmosphere? A) Neptune's moon Triton and Jupiter's moon Io B) Saturn's moon Titan and Neptune's moon Triton C) Uranus's moon Miranda and Saturn's moon Rhea D) Jupiter's moon Io and Earth's moon

Q: Which scientist first observed the rings of Saturn in 1610? A) Christian Huygens B) Isaac Newton C) Galileo Galilei D) Johannes Kepler

Q: ________ is a moon of Saturn. A) Io B) Tethys C) Ganymede D) Europa

Q: Outside of Earth, which body in the solar system is likely to have liquid water beneath its icy surface? A) Mars B) Neptune C) Rhea D) Europa

Q: The most volcanically active body in the solar system is ________. A) Mars B) Io C) Ganymede D) Earth

Q: What process produces the alternating dark-colored belts and light-colored zones visible on Jupiter? A) Convective flow B) Dust storms on the surface C) Volcanic eruptions along tectonic boundaries D) Acid rain

Q: During the formation of the solar system, which planet came the closest to starting the process of nuclear fusion, which would have resulted in a second sun? A) Saturn B) Mercury C) Jupiter D) Uranus

Q: The reason Jupiter has so many moons around it is that ________. A) these small moons are in the process of accreting to become one larger moon B) many bodies were either captured by Jupiter's gravity or were the remnants of collisions with other bodies C) the moons are an asteroid field from a planet that failed to form D) the moons are the result of massive volcanic eruptions on the planet

Q: Which planet has the most moons in orbit around it? A) Neptune B) Saturn C) Uranus D) Jupiter

Q: What gas makes up 97 percent of Venus's atmosphere? A) Carbon dioxide B) Methane C) Hydrogen D) Helium

Q: Which of the following physical features are found on both Mars and Earth? A) Active volcanoes B) Heavily cratered landscape preserved from early planetary histories C) Oceans with liquid water D) Erosional features related to flowing water

Q: Which of the following physical features has not yet been found on Mars? A) Polar ice caps B) H2O-rich atmosphere C) Extinct volcanoes D) Sand dunes

Q: Which of the following best describes the process that resulted in the Valles Marineris on Mars? A) Stream erosion carved a deep central valley. B) A comet skimmed across the surface of the planet. C) Down-faulting created grabenlike valleys. D) A violent volcanic eruption blasted out a long caldera.

Q: The largest shield volcano in the solar system is ________ and is located on ________. A) Maat Mons; Venus B) Olympus Mons; Mars C) Mauna Kea; Earth D) Sif Mons; Venus

Q: Compared to Earth's atmosphere, the Martian atmosphere has surface pressures that are ________. A) 50 times those on Earth B) 32.1 times those on Earth C) 1.5 times those on Earth D) 0.1 times those on Earth

Q: Because of an extreme ________, surface temperatures on Venus average more than 450C. A) friction B) impact C) greenhouse effect D) volcanic eruption

Q: Which planet displays retrograde rotation? A) Venus B) Mars C) Neptune D) Saturn

Q: Only a few thousand impact craters have been identified on Venus's surface, even though it, too, would have experienced the same heavy bombardment period that affected Mercury and the moon. Why does Venus appear relatively unscathed? A) Venus was not impacted. B) The gravitational forces of Mercury deflected the meteorites. C) Venus's surface was reshaped by extensive volcanism. D) Extensive stream networks buried the impact sites with sediments.

Q: The planet Mercury absorbs most of the sunlight that strikes its surface. Why is so little reflected back to outer space? A) Mercury has a great deal of frozen methane on its surface. B) The planet is covered by a thick haze. C) Mercury has little or no atmosphere. D) The surface of Mercury has not been disturbed by meteorite impacts.

Q: What is the most common igneous rock found on the lunar maria? A) Anorthosite B) Regolith C) Basalt D) Pumice

Q: Today, erosion on the moon is dominated by ________, which helps to smooth the landscape. A) Water B) Wind C) Ice D) Micrometeorites

Q: Because of the low relative mass, the gravitational attraction on the moon is ________ that of the Earth. A) 1/2 B) 1/4 C) 1/6 D) 1/8

Q: The major bombardment period that shaped much of the surface of the moon ended ________. A) 5.0 billion years ago B) 3.8 billion years ago C) 2.2 billion years ago D) 767 million years ago

Q: What kinds of rocks were most commonly retrieved from the lunar highlands? A) Flood basalts B) Granite C) Anorthosite D) Frozen hydrogen

Q: What is the age of the moon? A) 4.5 billion years B) 5.025 million years C) 3.14 million years D) 4.527 million years

Q: Which of the following processes created the lunar maria? A) Solar winds eroded wide, shallow basins, which were later filled with ejecta. B) Large impact craters were then filled with basaltic lava flows. C) Liquid water flowed across the landscape, which later froze. D) Rocks exposed to the solar winds oxidized.

Q: What was the name of the manned space missions that have successfully landed on the surface of the moon? A) Apollo B) Gemini C) Mercury D) Sputnik

Q: ________ is the speed required for an object to escape a planet's gravitational force. A) Obliquity B) Impact weathering C) Escape velocity D) Terminal velocity

Q: How many planets are in our solar system? A) 5 B) 8 C) 10 D) 13

Q: What substance makes up the core of large Jovian planets like Saturn? A) Mercury B) Hydrogen C) Iron D) Ice

Q: What is a planetesimal? A) A rotating cloud of interstellar gases B) A celestial body that orbits the sun but cannot clear its own neighborhood C) Rocky material accreted through repeated collisions D) The core of a star that has gone through a nova

Q: An estimated 99.85 percent of the mass in the solar system is concentrated in ________. A) Jupiter B) the sun C) the Kuiper Belt D) the terrestrial planets

Q: The ________ explains the formation of the solar system by describing how the sun and planets formed from a rotating cloud of interstellar gases. A) transit of Venus B) escape velocity C) nebular theory D) theory of plate tectonics

Q: ________ is the study of the formation and evolution of the bodies in our solar system. A) Astrology B) Astronomy C) Cosmology D) Planetary Geology

Q: Magmatic segregation occurs when ________. A) light minerals crystallize early and migrate through fractures in rock B) heavy minerals crystallize early and settle to the lower part of the magma chamber C) high-pressure conduits carry crystals to the surface D) hot, metal-rich fluids migrate through fractures in rock

Q: Which of the following minerals does not form as a result of magmatic segregation? A) Beryl B) Quartz C) Feldspar D) Calcite

Q: ________ collection and ________ collection are used to harness solar energy for consumption. A) Magnetic; hydraulic B) Human; mechanical C) Passive; active D) Aquatic; filtration

Q: Which of the materials below is an example of biomass fuel? A) Wood B) Uranium C) Oil D) Hot water

Q: The first country to generate electricity geothermally was ________ in 1904. A) Japan B) New Zealand C) Italy D) Mexico City

Q: Which country has the greatest installed capacity of wind turbines worldwide, creating more than 114,000 megawatts of electricity in 2014? A) United States B) Germany C) China D) Australia

Q: Photovoltaic cells are used to generate ________ energy. A) tidal B) nuclear C) solar D) hydroelectric

Q: Where was the first large-scale commercial geothermal electrical facility in the United States, built in 1960? A) The Geysers, California B) Oak Ridge, Tennessee C) Hot Springs, Arkansas D) Mammoth Lake, California

Q: Which form of renewable energy is produced by power plants in Iceland, accounting for 66 percent of Iceland's primary energy use? A) Hydroelectric power B) Solar power C) Tidal energy D) Geothermal power

Q: Where is the world's largest tidal electricity power plant? A) The California coast north of San Francisco B) Annapolis River estuary, Maryland C) Murmansk, Russia D) The mouth of the Rance River in Brittany, France

Q: The nuclear power plant in ________, Japan, suffered a catastrophic nuclear accident in 2011, consisting of a series of equipment failures, nuclear meltdowns, and releases of radioactive material. A) Chernobyl B) Mount St. Helens C) Fukushima D) Manilla

Q: Although rare in Earth's crust, some of the most important deposits of uranium are associated with ________. A) lake sediments B) placer deposits C) ancient sand dunes D) geysers

Q: Which process releases energy from radioactive materials to produce nuclear power? A) Nuclear fission B) Nuclear fusion C) Gasification D) Nuclear bombardment

Q: What radioactive material is the main fuel used to produce nuclear energy? A) Uranium-238 B) Uranium-235 C) Lead-207 D) Thorium-232

Q: The most common type of gas hydrate is ________. A) oxygen hydrate B) methane hydrate C) iron hydrate D) copper hydrate

Q: Which of the following is not a concern related to the practice of hydraulic fracturing or fracking? A) Waste injection fluids are held on the surface in open reservoirs. B) Fracking fluids may contaminate groundwater. C) Injection of fracking fluids may trigger small earthquakes. D) The reservoir rock may have low permeability.

Q: Which of the following would be a good cap rock for oil and natural gas deposits? A) Shale B) Sandstone C) Limestone D) Conglomerate

Q: Which of the following would be a good reservoir rock for oil and natural gas? A) Shale B) Slate C) Sandstone D) Granite

Q: In what environment will the plant and animal remains necessary to generate oil accumulate? A) Desert B) Swamp C) Stream D) Ocean

Q: The Canadian province of Alberta has the world's largest commercially developed deposit of which fossil fuel? A) Anthracite coal B) Natural gas C) Petroleum D) Tar sands

Q: ________ are mixtures of clay, sand, and bitumen. A) Tar pits B) Oil sands C) Oil shales D) Gas hydrates

Q: Some of the largest crude oil reserves in the world, collected in an anticline trap, are found ________. A) on land in Texas B) in the deeper waters of the Gulf of Mexico C) in Saudi Arabia D) on the continental slope in the North Sea

Q: Which U.S. state was the nation's leader in coal production as of 2014? A) Pennsylvania B) Wyoming C) Texas D) West Virginia

Q: Which of the following fossils fuels is the "cleanest" for the environment in the sense that it is most likely to have the lowest sulfur content and the smallest volume of solid ash residue? A) Natural gas B) Anthracite coal C) Heavy, asphalitic crude oil D) Lignite

Q: Approximately 91 percent of the coal use in the United States today is used for ________. A) home heating B) transportation C) construction D) electricity

Q: Which type of coal is typically found associated with tight, highly folded strata? A) Bituminous B) Lignite C) Peat D) Anthracite

Q: Together, ________, ________, and ________ provide more than 81 percent of the energy consumed in the United States. A) uranium; hydroelectricity; coal B) coal; nuclear power; wind energy C) natural gas; wind power; biofuel D) oil; coal; natural gas

Q: How does the burning of fossil fuels affect the environment? A) Greenhouse gases are released that raise global temperatures. B) Sulfur dioxide is produced, which contributes to acid rain. C) Particulates are released into the atmosphere, which collect on ice caps and glaciers to absorb more heat. D) Increased carbon dioxide in the atmosphere leads to ocean acidification. E) All of the above.

Q: Upon combustion, which naturally occurring substance in coal is released to potentially create acid rain? A) Nitrogen B) Uranium C) Oxygen D) Sulfur E) All of the above

Q: Which of the following regions is not one of the top coal-producing states in the United States? A) Idaho B) Pennsylvania C) Wyoming D) West Virginia

Q: Which of the following is not a fossil fuel? A) Coal B) Bauxite C) Natural gas D) Petroleum

Q: A ________ is an economically important material that cannot be replenished in a reasonable time frame, so once it has been consumed, there will not be any more. A) recycled material B) renewable resource C) nonrenewable resource D) plastic

Q: A ________ is an economically important material that can be replenished over a short time span to be used again. A) renewable resource B) fossil Fuel C) raw material D) nonrenewable resource

Q: Match the diagram with the appropriate oil trap term. A) Stratigraphic trap (pinchout trap) B) Salt dome C) Fault trap D) Anticline 1. 2. 3. 4.

Q: Which region would have the best potential for solar energy? A) Alaska B) Iowa C) Arizona D) Georgia

Q: Large wind systems require average wind speeds greater than or equal to 6 m/sec. Which of the following regions would be best suited for wind power? A) Georgia B) Wisconsin C) Florida D) Washington

Q: Which region has the highest annual average wind speeds? A) Washington and Oregon B) Utah, Arizona, and Nevada C) Florida and Georgia D) Kansas, Nebraska, and the Dakotas

Q: Which type of coal would have been of major economic importance in Illinois? A) Lignite B) Subbituminous coal C) Bituminous coal D) Anthracite coal

Q: Which state of the following has deposits of anthracite coal? A) Wyoming B) Pennsylvania C) Illinois D) Michigan

Q: What is the average heat value of bituminous coal? A) 12,500 Btu/lb B) 12,000 Btu/lb C) 9,000 Btu/lb D) 7,000 Btu/lb

Q: What percentage of the energy used by the industrial sector is from petroleum? A) 71 percent B) 23 percent C) 40 percent D) 20 percent

Q: For which applications (according to this image) is nuclear power used? A) Transportation B) Electric power C) Residential and commercial D) Industrial