A212H Final Exam Details

Wed Dec 15 from 10:45am-12:45 pm in our usual classroom

I. Format:

• 40-60 multiple choice questions (bring a #2 pencil for "bubble sheet")
• 3-5 matching, fill-in-the-blanks, or short answers (bring a calculator for computations)
• One essay, 1-2 pages long -- the essay will be one of the following questions (prepare for all three, I will choose one for the exam):
  1. In 2006, the IAU defined the term "planet" in a way that excluded Pluto from its traditional position in that group. What characteristics of Pluto, in comparison with the other eight "classical planets" and other objects in the Solar System, led the IAU to this decision? What is the new definition of planet and what does it mean? Do you agree with this definition -- what do you see as its strong and weak points?
  2. Describe the Solar Nebula Hypothesis in detail through each of its various stages. What evidence found in the Solar System supports this Hypothesis as the best scientific explanation for the formation and early development of the Solar System?
  3. What forces or actions can cause a planetary atmosphere to change over time after the planet forms? Give at least three examples of atmospheric changes that have occurred on planets in the Solar System.

II. Coverage:

1) About 60% of questions will be on material since Exam#2

2) About 40% of questions will review material on other "modern astronomy," between Quiz and Exam#2:

• Kepler's Laws: first, second, and third -- properties of orbits
• Newton's laws of motion, Newton's gravity & how it maintains orbits
• etc.

3) The exam will not cover "sky phenomena" like moon phases, eclipses, etc (before Quiz).

III. Study tips:

• Have read all the assigned sections in the textbook (see Reading/StudyQuestion handouts).
• I recommend you reread Units 33 (Origin of the Solar System) and 42 (Comparative Planetology) as they contain many of the high-level ideas that tie all the facts together.
• Be able to answer completely all Questions from Reading/StudyQuestion handouts. The exam questions will be drawn mainly from the concepts covered in these questions and from closely related concepts.
• Study the Activities for concepts and techniques (activities highlight some of the important ideas and most of the computational questions) -- visit activity answers [Activities 4 and 5 are sky phenomena, so are not on the final exam].
• Don't memorize facts like dates, historical details, or exact sizes or distances of celestial objects.
• Do focus on concepts (how things work, how they change, why they appear the way they do, how we gather information about astronomy).
• In order to explain concepts, you will need to know general facts (for example, Jupiter is much [over 300 times] more massive than Earth, and is composed mainly of hydrogen and helium gas, is a fact that is essential to understanding what Jupiter is and how it behaves through its gravity, magnetic field, etc.).
• I will give you any formulas you will need, though you are responsible for understanding what they mean and how to use them -- do bring a calculator, there may be a few computation questions, though they will account for less than 15% of the possible points.
• You may want to browse the links on this page to reinforce some ideas and see better pictures/movies than I could show in class.
• Feel free to visit my Office Hours (or make an appointment if they don't suit you) to answer any questions that arose while studying.