Preparing for the first midterm exam
The class decided last week to go with Monday, September 22, for the date of the first midterm exam. Here are some hints on preparing:
1. Review the notes and reading. Pay particular attention to the material covered in class. That material will be emphasized on the exam.
2. Try the sample questions given on the web page.
3. Try to start reviewing early enough so that you can come to my office hours on Wednesday or Monday if you have questions.
4. Make sure you review the following subjects:
a. What causes the seasons?
b. What causes the tides? Why are some high tides higher than others?
c. What is a circumpolar constellation? Why are some but not all constellations circumpolar?
d. What is an astronomical unit? What is a light year?
e. How far away is the nearest star to the sun?
f. How far away is the Andromeda Galaxy?
g. Be able to explain why the moon shows phases.
h. What causes an eclipse of the moon and an eclipse of the sun?
i. How did the conception of the solar system change in going from Ptolemy
to Copernicus to Tycho to Kepler?
j. How did Galileo’s observations of Venus help to disprove Ptolemy’s model
of the solar system?
k. Why are
l.
Understand and be able to apply (as in the sample questions)
m. What is the electromagnetic spectrum?
n. What is thermal radiation?
o. How might one produce a continuous spectrum, an emission line spectrum, and an absorption line spectrum?
p. How can spectra help us determine what a gas is made of?
q. What is the Doppler effect? What can it tell us about stars and galaxies?
r. What are the light gathering power, the magnifying power, and the resolution of a telescope?
s. What advantages does a telescope in space have over a telescope on the ground?
t. Why are the largest optical telescopes reflecting telescopes rather than refracting telescopes?
u. What are terrestrial planets and what are Jovian planets? Which planets of the solar system fall into which of those two groups?
v. What is the difference between astrology and astronomy?
w. What are the hallmarks of a science, as opposed to a pseudoscience?
5. The exam this time will consist of multiple choice questions.