Planetary systems

A flashlight held close to a wall produces a small, bright circle of light, while a flashlight

that is far away from the wall produces a large, dim circle of light. Using this model, what

information can you hypothesize about how the Sun’s light affects planets?

• Planets far away from the Sun receive more of the Sun’s concentrated light.

• Planets close to the Sun receive more of the Sun’s concentrated light.

• Planets far away from the Sun are warmer.

• Planets close to the Sun are colder.

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Which best describes the surface of planet Earth over billions of years?

• High mountains and flat plains remain side by side and unchanged for millions of years.

• High mountains gradually wear down until most of Earth’s surface is at sea level.

• High mountains wear down as new mountains are continuously formed.

• A flat surface is pushed up until Earth’s entire surface is covered in mountains.

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NGSS.MS-ESS2-2

Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 impacted Jupiter in 1994. Evidence of the impact was visible on

Jupiter for nearly a year. Why are no craters from the impact visible on Jupiter today?

• Jupiter is a gaseous planet and the comet impacted Jupiter’s upper atmosphere.

• The comet broke up into 21 pieces before it reached Jupiter.

• Wind and water on Jupiter eroded the craters.

• Jupiter trapped the comet in its orbit and it became a moon of Jupiter.

An apple falls from a tree to the ground. When does gravity act on the apple?

• When the apple first drops from the tree

• When the apple is halfway to the ground

• When the apple is closest to the ground

• In all three positions (A, B, and C)

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The atmosphere on Venus is made up of many gases. Which of the following gases is found

in the greatest amount on Venus and causes a runaway greenhouse effect?

• Nitrogen

• Oxygen

• Carbon dioxide

• Hydrogen

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NGSS.HS-ESS2-6

You are designing a scale model of the solar system. Mercury is 4,878 km in diameter. Using

the following scale factor, how large does your model of Mercury need to be?

SCALE: 1 cm = 300 km

• 160 cm

• 16 cm

• 146 cm

• 30 cm

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Galileo accepted Copernicus’s model of the solar system and rejected Ptolemy’s model.

Select the best reason that Galileo could have had for his decision.

• Copernicus’s model closely matched Galileo’s observations of the sky.

• Other scientists believed Copernicus’s model.

• Copernicus’s model was more recent than Ptolemy’s was.

• It was common sense to reject Ptolemy’s model.

You are in command of a cannon on a cliff near an ocean. The cannon can only fire straight ahead. You fire on a target. The cannonball curves toward the water and drops just short of the target. Which reason explains why the cannonball moved as it did?

• The force of the fired cannon caused the ball to move forward, but gravity caused the

  cannonball to curve toward the water.

• The cannonball did not have enough forward motion to overcome the gravitational

  force of Earth.

• The target was too far away for the force of the cannon.

• All of the above

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A scientist finds a fossil along the shore. It is an impression of a mollusk shell in sandstone.

What type of fossil did the paleontologist find?

• A fossil of the actual organism trapped in hardened amber.

• A mold of the organism

• A cast of the organism

• A petrified bone

A curved groove is placed on a level table, as shown. A ball is pushed in the groove at P so

that it exits the curve at Q.

How would the ball move after it leaves the groove at Q?

• It would curve from Q to P but just miss P.

• It would curve to the left.

• It would go off Q in a straight line.

• It would curve from Q to P exactly.