1. You sometimes see lifeguards with a white cream on their noses. This cream is called zinc
oxide.
Zinc oxide helps protect the lifeguards from damaging UV sunlight. How does this cream protect
from the UV rays of the Sun?
The cream is transparent and absorbs the UV rays after they reach the skin's surface.
A.
B.
C.
D.
The cream is opaque and reflects the UV rays before they reach the skin's surface.
The cream is transparent and transmits the UV rays as they reach the skin's surface.
The cream is opaque and allows the UV rays to pass through your skin safely.
2. Johann needs to walk down the pictured road on a hot, sunny day, and he is barefoot.
Walking on which part of the road would keep his feet the coolest?
A. the asphalt on the main part of the road
B. the yellow stripe on the left side of the road
C. the asphalt on the shoulder of the road
D. the white stripe on the right side of the road
3. The Sun radiates energy through space and to the Earth's surface. Most of this energy is in
the _______ part of the light spectrum.
A. visible
B. gamma ray
C. microwave
D. x-ray
4. Data from a weather satellite was used to generate the image below. The colored regions
represent warm portions of the atmosphere.
Image courtesy of NOAA
Which fact about electromagnetic radiation allows scientists to gather such information about the
Earth's atmosphere?
Radio waves can pass through buildings and other solid structures.
A.
B.
C.
D.
The warmer a region of the atmosphere is, the more infrared radiation it emits.
Some of the Sun's visible light is scattered as it passes through the Earth's atmosphere.
Ozone in the Earth's upper atmosphere absorbs ultraviolet radiation.
5. Many types of living cells, including human skin cells, can be damaged or killed if exposed to
ultraviolet light from the Sun. How does the Earth's atmosphere protect organisms on the surface
from exposure to ultraviolet light?
A.
B.
C.
D.
Carbon dioxide in the atmosphere absorbs most infrared light from the Sun.
Oxygen in the atmosphere scatters most ultraviolet light from the Sun.
Gaseous water reflects most ultraviolet light from the Sun back into space.
Ozone in the atmosphere absorbs most ultraviolet light from the Sun.
6. Which of the following is a type of energy that reaches the Earth from the Sun?
A. ultraviolet light
B. visible light
C. infrared light
D. all of these
7. Shanna and Cherise work on the same floor of the same office building. Shanna has a desk on
the right side of the building near a sunny window. Cherise has a desk on the left side of the
floor, which is always in the shade. The office building is using no heat or air conditioning.
Whose desk area is warmer?
A. The building is much warmer near Cherise's desk.
B. The building is much warmer near Shanna's desk.
C. Neither area is warmer because they are in the same building.
D. Shanna's desk is warmer, but only on cloudy days.
8. Light from the Sun transfers solar energy to the Earth system. Sunlight travels to Earth
as _______ waves.
A. seismic
B. electromagnetic
C. sound
D.
water
9. Solar radiation is made up of light energy. Light energy can be separated by wavelength and
frequency into the electromagnetic spectrum.
Which type of light energy found in solar radiation is most likely to reach Earth's surface?
A. microwaves
B. gamma rays
C. radio waves
D. Visible Light
10. Light waves strike a surface.
If the energy from the light is captured and stored by the surface without being reflected or
transmitted, then it has been _______.
A. absorbed
B. scattered
C. refracted
D. Bent
11. The picture shows two cars that are sitting in the Sun. They are exactly the same except
that one is black and one is white. Which of the following is true?
A.
B.
C.
D.
The black car will heat up faster than the white car.
There is not enough information to determine which car will heat up faster.
Both of the cars will heat up at the same rate.
The white car will heat up faster than the black car.
12. Of the following types of energies that the Earth receives from the Sun, which type of
energy causes sunburn?
A. microwave energy
B. light energy
C. infrared energy
D. ultraviolet energy
13. Sunlight is shining on a basketball court. This causes the surface of the court to gain
heat energy.
Which of the following factors will affect how hot the court gets?
I. how long the sun shines on it
II. the shape of the sun
III. the intensity of the sunlight
IV. the amount of light the court absorbs
A. I only
B. I, III, and IV only
C. II, III, and IV only
D. I and III only
14. Which of the following is true about the relationship between heat and light?
A.
B.
There is no relationship between light and heat.
Areas that are in full view of the sun tend to be cooler than areas in the shade.
Areas that are in full view of the sun tend to be the same temperature as areas in the
C. shade.
D.
Areas that are in full view of the sun tend to be warmer than areas in the shade.
15. If a black car and a white car are left in the Sun, the black car will tend to be hotter.
This is because the black car's surface will _______ more light energy than a white car.
A. reflect
B. refract
C. conduct
D. absorb
16. Sunlight strikes a stretch of highway.
When the light's energy is _______, this causes the highway to gain energy and warm up.
A. transmitted
B. absorbed
C. refracted
D. reflected
17. The Sun emits a wide variety of electromagnetic waves, including visible light. The
ozone layer, which is part of the atmosphere's stratosphere, helps to filter out a significant
amount of one type of electromagnetic radiation. Which type of electromagnetic radiation
does the ozone layer filter?
A. visible light rays
B. infrared rays
C. ultraviolet rays
D. microwave rays
18. Which of the following describes the bending of light due to a change in its speed?
A. absorption
B. refraction
C. transmission
D. Reflection
19. Which of the following describes when light bounces off a surface?
A. absorption
B. transmission
C. reflection
D. Refraction
20. The following images are both of the Andromeda Galaxy. One was taken with
visible light, the other with infrared. Notice how the visible image looks fuzzier
than the infrared image.
Based on the images, the Andromeda galaxy is more transparent to _______
radiation than to _______ radiation.
A. infrared; visible
B. visible; infrared
C. radio; infrared
D. visible; radio
21. Visible light that reaches the Earth from the Sun is known as white light. Which
of the following statements about white light is true?
A.
B.
C.
D.
White light is made up of a spectrum of many different colors.
White light falls within the microwave portion of the electromagnetic spectrum.
White light is made up mostly of ultraviolet and infrared light.
White light is made up of only one color.
22. The Sun can be seen because
A. it reflects light from other stars.
B. it reflects light from the Moon.
C. it produces its own light.
D. it absorbs light from other stars.