Cypress College ASTR 116 Homework
Astronomy 116, Homework CHAPTER 9 (A) The Sum. Due:
Print Last, First Name and date on the small Scantron in INK. Print
your last name in BIG BLOCK letters on the back of the Scantron.
Use a No. 2 pencil to fill out Scantron. Read the chapter.
Look at the videos and simulations in the CD-ROM. Answer all True/False and
Fill in the Blank questions. Then answer the following questions and
turn in your Scantron only. Choose the best answer.
1. Magnetic fields inside sunspots are __________ those in surrounding
regions.
- a) much stronger than
- b) slightly stronger than
- c) the same as
- d) much weaker than
2. How long is the sunspot cycle, on average?
- a) 100 days
- b) 11 years
- c) 22 years
- d) 70 years
3. How many planet Earths could fit inside the Sun?
- a) A thousand.
- b) A million.
- c) A billion.
- d) Fifty billion.
4. By what mechanism does radiation reach the Sun's surface from its interior?
- a) Ionization.
- b) Neutrinos.
- c) Convection.
- d) The solar wind.
5. Why couldn't you stand on the Sun's surface?
- a) You could stand on the surface.
- b) The Sun doesn't have a solid surface.
- c) The Sun's surface is too highly magnetized for anything to survive
there.
- d) You could stand on it, if a sufficiently protective spacesuit
could be designed.
6. What is it about the Sun's corona that astronomers find unusual?
- a) No one knows why that part of the Sun's atmosphere does not drift
away into space.
- b) During total solar eclipses, the corona sometimes disappears
from view.
- c) The Sun's corona extends to the outer reaches of the solar system.
- d) The corona is much hotter than layers of the Sun that are closer
to the solar interior.
7. How would sunspots appear if you could magically remove them from the
Sun?
- a) Because sunspots are dark spots, they would be invisible against
the blackness of space.
- b) They would shine brightly.
- c) They would not appear any differently than on the surface of
the Sun.
- d) They would shine only with reflected sunlight.
8. What natural barrier tries to prevent two protons from combining?
- a) Antigravity.
- b) Electromagnetic repulsion.
- c) They combine easily.
- d) The strong nuclear force.
9. What is the net result of the proton-proton chain?
- a) 2 heliums are fused into 1 carbon, 1 neutrinos + energy
- b) 4 hydrogens are fused into 1 helium, 2 neutrinos + energy
- c) 2 hydrogens and 1 helium are fused into 1 carbon + energy
- d) 2 protons and 2 neutrons are fused into 1 carbon + energy
10. The light we see from the Sun comes from which layer?
- a) chromosphere
- b) photosphere
- c) corona
- d) convective zone