The Sun


1. What holds the Sun together?
A).. Its gravity.
B)..Its magnetic field.
C).. The pressure of the solar wind.
D)..The collective gravity of the planets.
E).. None of the above.

2. Why does the Sun give off light?
A)...It is hot..
B)... It is highly reflective.
C)...It is a hole in space through which we see many distant stars.
D)...Meteorites are constantly hitting its surface and emitting flashes of light.
E)...All of the above contribute.

Sun 3. The picture shows the Sun and Earth to scale. How big is the Sun compared to the Earth, approximately.
A)... 5 times bigger.
B)... 15 times bigger.
C)... 500 times bigger.
D)... 100 times bigger.
E)... 1000 times bigger.

Sun 4. What are the dark things (labeled A) in the figure above called?
A)... Prominences.
B)... Sunspots.
C)... Flares.
D)... Craters.
E)... Solar rilles.

5. Why are these regions dark?
A)... They absorb light better than the surrounding gas
B)... They are cooler than the surrounding gas.
C)... Cool clouds above the Sun's surface block our view.
D)... There are clouds of iron vapor ejected from the Sun's core.
E)... There are high altitude clouds in our atmosphere.

6. What powers the Sun?
A)... Chemical burning of hydrogen and oxygen.
B)... Nuclear fusion of hydrogen into helium.
C)... Nuclear fission of helium into hydrogen.
D)... The breakdown of neutrinos.
E)... Friction as it moves through the gases of space.

The following animation shows the process by which the Sun generates its energy. Movie of Sun's Energy Generation


7. Which of the following gives evidence of the solar wind?
A)... The tails of comets.
B)... Jet streams on Earth.
C)... Solar prominences.
D)... Solar flares.
E)...Sunspots.

8. How do we know sunspots have magnetic fields?
A)...The Zeeman effect.
B)... Wien's law.
C)... The Hubble effect.
D)... Compasses on Earth point toward them.
E)... Comet tails point toward them.

9. Why does heat flow from the Sun's core to its surface?
A)... Gravity of the planets pulls it up and out.
B)... Heat always flows from hot to cool regions.
C)... Magnetic repulsion in the Sun's core.
D)... The Sun's spin.
E)... The Coriolis force.

10. Why does the number of sunspots change over time?
A)...Nuclear reactions switch on and off in its core.
B)... Meteor showers that form the spots come and go.
C)... The Sun's magnetic field strengthens and weakens.
D)...The Moon's phase disturbs the Sun's surface.
E)... The Sun's rotation alternatively shows us its hot and cool side.

11. How long is it between peaks in the number of sunspots?
A)...11 months.
B)...5 years.
C)... 2.5 years.
D)...11 years.
E)... 111 years.

12. The Sun is supported against the crushing force of its own gravity by
A)...magnetic forces.
B)... its rapid rotation..
C)... the force exerted by escaping neutrinos.
D)...gas pressure.
E)... the antigravity of its positrons.



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