1) The document is a chapter from an astronomy textbook about Mercury, Venus, Mars and the Moon. It contains multiple choice questions about characteristics of these bodies. 2) Mercury's surface most resembles the Moon's far side because they are both heavily cratered. Mercury is hard to observe from Earth because it is always close to the Sun. 3) Neither the Moon nor Mercury have atmospheres, contributing to their cratered surfaces. The lack of atmosphere also causes extreme temperature variations on Mercury.

1. Conceptual Test
PRS-Enabled
Chapter 6
ASTRONOMY, A Beginner’s
Guide to the Universe
5th edition
Chaisson
McMillan
© 2007 Pearson Prentice Hall
This work is protected by United States copyright laws and is provided solely for
the use of instructors in teaching their courses and assessing student learning.
Dissemination or sale of any part of this work (including on the World Wide Web)
will destroy the integrity of the work and is not permitted. The work and materials
from it should never be made available to students except by instructors using
the accompanying text in their classes. All recipients of this work are expected to
abide by these restrictions and to honor the intended pedagogical purposes and
the needs of other instructors who rely on these materials.

2. Question 1
1) the Moon’s far side
Mercury’s surface most
2) Venus’ polar regions
resembles which of
3) Earth’s deserts
these?
4) the Moon’s near side
5) Mars’ deserts

3. Question 1
1) the Moon’s far side
Mercury’s surface most
2) Venus’ polar regions
resembles which of
3) Earth’s deserts
these?
4) the Moon’s near side
5) Mars’ deserts
Both Mercury & the
Moon’s far side are
heavily cratered.

4. Question 2
1) it always appears only half lit.
2) it is never more than 28° from the Sun.
Mercury is very
3) its elliptical orbit causes it to change
hard to observe
speed unpredictably.
from Earth
4) its surface reflects too little sunlight.
because
5) its surface does not allow radar to
bounce back to Earth.

5. Question 2
1) it always appears only half lit.
2) it is never more than 28° from the Sun.
Mercury is very
3) its elliptical orbit causes it to change
hard to observe
speed unpredictably.
from Earth
4) its surface reflects too little sunlight.
because
5) its surface does not allow radar to
bounce back to Earth.
Mercury’s inner orbit keeps it
close to the Sun, visible only
for an hour or two before
sunrise or after sunset.

6. Question 3
1) Mercury’s is more dense, with carbon dioxide.
How do the 2) They are similar, only 1% as dense as ours.
atmospheres of 3) The cooler Moon retains a thicker nitrogen
the Moon and atmosphere.
Mercury 4) As no spacecraft has yet landed there, no
compare? information exists about Mercury’s.
5) Neither body has a permanent atmosphere.

7. Question 3
1) Mercury’s is more dense, with carbon dioxide.
How do the 2) They are similar, only 1% as dense as ours.
atmospheres of 3) The cooler Moon retains a thicker nitrogen
the Moon and atmosphere.
Mercury 4) As no spacecraft has yet landed there, no
compare? information exists about Mercury’s.
5) Neither body has a permanent atmosphere.
The lack of an atmosphere
acting as a protective layer
contributes to their extremely
cratered surfaces.

8. Question 4
1) it is so close to the Sun.
Mercury has extreme
2) its surface rocks don’t retain heat.
high and low
3) it spins too fast to cool down.
temperatures
4) Mercury’s axis has no tilt; its
between night and equator receives direct sunlight.
day because 5) it has no atmosphere to moderate
temperatures over the globe.

9. Question 4
1) it is so close to the Sun.
Mercury has extreme
2) its surface rocks don’t retain heat.
high and low
3) it spins too fast to cool down.
temperatures
4) Mercury’s axis has no tilt; its
between night and equator receives direct sunlight.
day because 5) it has no atmosphere to moderate
temperatures over the globe.
Mercury’s very high sunlit
surface temperature of 700 K,
and low mass, explain why it
has no atmosphere.

10. Question 5
1) Our Moon keeps the same side toward us.
Which statement 2) Mercury keeps the same side sunward at
about the rotations perihelion.
of Mercury & the 3) Like our Moon, Mercury does not rotate at all,
Moon is FALSE? keeping the same side facing the Sun.
4) On Mercury, three “days” equals two “years”.
5) On the Moon, each “day” lasts about 15 Earth
days of constant sunlight.

11. Question 5
1) Our Moon keeps the same side toward us.
Which statement 2) Mercury keeps the same side sunward at
about the rotations perihelion.
of Mercury & the 3) Like our Moon, Mercury does not rotate at all,
Moon is FALSE? keeping the same side facing the Sun.
4) On Mercury, three “days” equals two “years”.
5) On the Moon, each “day” lasts about 15 Earth
days of constant sunlight.
Both Mercury and the Moon
rotate slowly, and show a “spin-
lock” created by tidal forces
from nearby large objects.

12. Question 6
1) Mercury
Which of the following
2) Venus
inner solar system
3) Earth
bodies has the
4) Moon
densest atmosphere?
5) Mars

13. Question 6
1) Mercury
Which of the following
2) Venus
inner solar system
3) Earth
bodies has the
4) Moon
densest atmosphere?
5) Mars
Venus’ atmosphere has a pressure
about 90 times larger than Earth’s.
Many of its surface features are
affected by this immense pressure.

14. Question 7
1) nitrogen
The Greenhouse 2) hydrogen
Effect on Venus is due 3) carbon dioxide
to ______ in its 4) oxygen
atmosphere. 5) sulfuric acid

15. Question 7
1) nitrogen
The Greenhouse 2) hydrogen
Effect on Venus is due 3) carbon dioxide
to ______ in its 4) oxygen
atmosphere. 5) sulfuric acid
Venus’ atmosphere is over 96% CO2
resulting in a surface temperature
exceeding 900 °F.

16. Question 8
1) many impact craters of all sizes.
Venus’ surface 2) shield volcanoes.
shows all of the 3) a continent-sized plateau.
following EXCEPT 4) huge circular volcanic coronae.
5) lava domes.

17. Question 8
1) many impact craters of all sizes.
Venus’ surface 2) shield volcanoes.
shows all of the 3) a continent-sized plateau.
following EXCEPT 4) huge circular volcanic coronae.
5) lava domes.
Venus’ thick atmosphere
shields the planet from
smaller meteor impacts.

18. Question 9
1) little or no effect
2) about the same as on Earth
What effect does the
3) It has reduced the surface temperature
Greenhouse Effect
by about 30 degrees Celsius.
have on the surface
4) It has raised the surface temperature
environment of
by hundreds of degrees Celsius.
Venus?
5) It causes the surface temperature of
Venus to become hotter than Jupiter.

19. Question 9
1) little or no effect
2) about the same as on Earth
What effect does the
3) It has reduced the surface temperature
Greenhouse Effect
by about 30 degrees Celsius.
have on the surface
4) It has raised the surface temperature
environment of
by hundreds of degrees Celsius.
Venus?
5) It causes the surface temperature of
Venus to become hotter than Jupiter.
Even though Venus is farther from the
Sun than Mercury, it actually has a
higher surface temperature because of
the Greenhouse Effect.

20. Question 10
1) Mercury
Which of the following
2) Venus
inner solar system
3) Earth
bodies has the largest
volcanoes? 4) Mars
5) Moon

21. Question 10
1) Mercury
Which of the following
2) Venus
inner solar system
3) Earth
bodies has the largest
volcanoes? 4) Mars
5) Moon
Mars’ largest volcano, Olympus
Mons, rises more than 25 km
(75,000 ft.) above the
surrounding plains.

22. Question 11
1) they are slightly bigger than Earth.
Venus and Mars
2) they are more massive than Earth.
probably evolved
3) they have thicker atmospheres than Earth.
differently from
4) they formed sooner than Earth.
Earth because
5) they orbit at different distances from the Sun.

23. Question 11
1) they are slightly bigger than Earth.
Venus and Mars
2) they are more massive than Earth.
probably evolved
3) they have thicker atmospheres than Earth.
differently from
4) they formed sooner than Earth.
Earth because
5) they orbit at different distances from the Sun.

24. Question 12
1) it spins much slower than Earth does.
The weakness
2) its core may no longer be molten.
of the magnetic
3) its core contains less iron than our Earth.
field of Mars is
because 4) Both 2 and 3 are probable.
5) All of the above are correct.

25. Question 12
1) it spins much slower than Earth does.
The weakness
2) its core may no longer be molten.
of the magnetic
3) its core contains less iron than our Earth.
field of Mars is
because 4) Both 2 and 3 are probable.
5) All of the above are correct.
Mars is smaller,
and would have
cooled more
quickly.
Earth Mars

26. Question 13
1) rainfall
What was the most 2) catastrophic but rare flooding
likely source of the 3) annual melting of the seasonal
water that formed the ice caps
huge outflow channels 4) large comets that struck Mars
of Mars? 5) a collision with one of Jupiter’s
frozen moons

27. Question 13
1) rainfall
What was the most 2) catastrophic but rare flooding
likely source of the 3) annual melting of the seasonal
water that formed the ice caps
huge outflow channels 4) large comets that struck Mars
of Mars? 5) a collision with one of Jupiter’s
frozen moons
Flooding on Mars appears
to have occurred about 3
billion years ago.