PHY 1033 HIS 3931 IDH 331
Mid-term exam
Feb 26, 2015
Part I (30 points) Mulitple choice. Choose the best selection
1. Which of the following did Aristotle not teach?
a. Rest is a natural state and need not be explained further
b. The speed of motion is directly proportional to the mover's force (v∝F)
c. The speed of motion is inversely proportional to the resistance of the medium through
which the motion occurs (v∝1/R)
d. All motion requires a mover
e. Uniform motion is a natural state and need not be explained further.
2. Who first reached India by sailing around the South African Cape?
a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
Ferdinand Magellan
Prince Henry of Portugal
Vasco da Gama
Christopher Columbus
Bartholomew Dias
3. Who argued that God, as the coincidence of opposites, was both the center and circumference
of the universe?
a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
Nicole Oresme
Nicholas of Cusa
Galileo Galilei
Johannes Kepler
Jean Buridan
4. Which of the following mathematical devices for describing the planetary motions in the
heaven was the contribution of Ptolemy?
a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
homocentric spheres
epicycles on deferent
eccentric circles
equant point
all of the above
5. Which of the following Aristotelian elements can be found in the heavens?
a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
water
fire
air
quintessence (also called aether)
all of them
6. Kepler is known for producing a watershed moment in the history of physics. What was it?
a. He discredited Copernicus’s system by proving Tycho correct
b. He successfully dismantled the Aristotelian understanding of motion
.
c. He brought considerations of force into astronomy as the cause of planetary motions
d. His 5-solid theory accurately accounted for the individual sizes of planetary orbits
e. He showed that the period of a planet was proportional to the square of its distance
from the sun (T∝R2)
7. The comet of 1577 allowed Tycho to infer that
a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
comets had elliptical orbits
there cannot be actual crystalline spheres carrying planets in their orbits
Aristotle's theory of comets was correct
comets are warnings of calamitous events
none of the above
8. Galileo mistakenly thought he had empirical evidence that the earth moved. On what was it
based?
a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
His telescopic observations
His theory of tides
His theory of circular inertial motion
His theory of sunspots
His theory of floating bodies
9. Which of the following telescopic observations by Galileo showed that Ptolemy's system
could not be correct?
a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
The Milky Way
Phases of Venus
Mountains on the Moon
Satellites of Jupiter
None of them
10. All of the following entertained before Copernicus the possibility that the earth moved
EXCEPT:
a. Aristarchus
b. Ptolemy
c. Nicole Oresme
d. Jean Buridan
e. Martin Luther
Part II (40 points)
Short answer questions. Answer the following a briefly as possible.
You should not need more than one or two sentences and/or a small sketch, as appropriate.
1. Global wandering. A man hikes 50 miles south, 50 miles west, 50 miles north, and finds he is
back where he started. He sees a bear. What color is it? Explain.
2. Navigation. On a clear night, a sailor measures the angle Polaris, the north star, makes with
the horizon, finding 32 degrees. What is the latitude of her ship?
3. Average velocity. On I-75 heading northwest, your pickup travels 20 mi at 40 mi/h, at which
point you run out of fuel. You walk 1 mi farther, to the nearest gas station, in 30 min. What is your
average velocity, in mi/hr? Show your work.
4. Name 2 of the 4 motions of the earth identified by Copernicus.
5. Explain why, according to current understanding, the lengths of the seasons (time between
equinox and solstice) are not quite equal.
6. How long does it take the sun to complete one trip through the zodiac?
7. Acceleration. If a rocket initially at rest accelerates at a constant rate of 50 m/s2 for one
minute, what is its final speed, in m/s? Show your work.
8. Centripetal acceleration. Assume Mercury has a circular orbit around the sun, with radius
37 million miles. It takes 3 months for Mercury to complete one orbit. What is its centripetal
acceleration? Show your work.
Part III. (30 pts) Essay. Choose either A or B (Do not do both). Write in blue book.
A. Summarize what Aristotle had to say about the motion of objects, how his medieval
followers adjusted Aristotle's ideas, and how Galileo's explanation of motion differed
from both Aristotle and his medieval followers.
B.
In what ways was Copernicus the last of the ancient astronomers and in what ways was
he the first of the moderns? Which, in your view, is the stronger case?