Universe and global climate — Foundational

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Level 1: Foundational

Identify, describe, state, calculate — recall facts and use standard relationships (typical early Year 10).

1. Redshift of light from distant galaxies is most often interpreted as evidence that:

   A)The universe is steadily shrinking and galaxies are falling inwardB)The observable universe has expanded and galaxy light is stretched in transitC)Stars inside one nearby galaxy jostle at random with no wider patternD)The Sun’s apparent daily path across the sky drags distant spectra with it

2. The cosmic microwave background is important because it:

   A)Marks a unique point in space that was once hotter than everywhere elseB)Matches a once-hot, dense universe that cooled as space expanded, leaving faint sky-wide microwavesC)Maps only sea-surface temperature for weather offices, not wider astronomyD)Shows that stars never formed and galaxies are mirages in telescopes

3. The Big Bang model in science primarily describes:

   A)A bomb-like blast into pre-existing empty space from one definite locationB)Only Earth’s formation and geology, not matter, space, and time on cosmic scalesC)Expansion and evolution of the observable universe from an extremely hot, dense stateD)Earth’s spin causing day and night, relabelled as a story about cosmic origins

4. Light-element abundances (especially hydrogen and helium) support early-universe ideas because:

   A)Measured proportions broadly match what early-universe nuclear processes predictB)They fix Earth’s age by themselves without geology or other dating methodsC)They prove heavier elements could never form later inside starsD)They pick one cosmology while making redshift, the CMB, and structure checks unnecessary

5. Which set names the four spheres used in energy-flow models related to climate?

   A)Troposphere, stratosphere, mesosphere, and thermosphere onlyB)Geosphere, biosphere, hydrosphere, and atmosphereC)Lithosphere, asthenosphere, outer core, and inner core onlyD)Mantle, outer core, ionosphere, and magnetosphere as the full climate set

6. Greenhouse gases in the atmosphere matter for climate mainly because they:

   A)Block nearly all sunlight so almost no solar energy reaches the surfaceB)Destroy outgoing infrared instantly with no absorption or re-emission in betweenC)Absorb and re-emit infrared, changing how energy is retained in the Earth–atmosphere systemD)Apply only to other planets, not to Earth’s overall radiation balance

7. Albedo refers to:

   A)Ocean depth, with deeper water always reflecting more shortwave radiationB)The fraction of incoming radiation a surface reflects (e.g. bright ice vs dark ocean)C)Mean wind speed over the hydrosphere, not how reflective a surface isD)Geological age of a rock sample, treated as an optical property

8. The hydrosphere includes:

   A)Liquid water, ice, and water in oceans, rivers, groundwater, and similar storesB)Water vapour in one cloud only, with liquid and frozen pools excludedC)Subsurface magma confused with the planet’s water reservoirsD)Refined liquid fuels counted as part of the natural water cycle

9. Stars are important in models of the universe partly because they:

   A)Prove that large-scale cosmic expansion cannot be detectedB)Emit only X-rays that meteorologists use for short-range weather forecastsC)Build heavier elements over generations and can be observed across huge distancesD)Prevent galaxy assembly so that no new large structures could ever appear

10. Fossil fuels connect to the carbon cycle because they:

    A)Hold no carbon, so burning them cannot add CO₂ to the airB)Store carbon from ancient life; burning returns that carbon as CO₂ to the fast surface cycleC)Participate only in nitrogen cycling, not in carbon exchange with air or oceanD)Form only in the mantle with no biological carbon in the source material

11. In Earth-systems models of climate, the geosphere refers broadly to:

    A)The ozone layer and upper air only, with rocky materials left outB)Living cells only, with no role for rock, soil, or land ice in the labelC)Fresh water in one lake only, excluding groundwater, ice sheets, and riversD)Solid Earth materials such as rock, soil, and minerals (and often land ice)

12. Hubble’s law links galaxy recession speed to distance in a linear picture. It supports:

    A)A large-scale static cosmos with no systematic recession patternB)Large-scale expansion, with more distant galaxies receding faster on averageC)Ocean tides driven mainly by the Moon’s gravity on Earth’s hydrosphereD)Earth-centred orbits for every object in the observed universe

13. Astronomers use galaxies and their spectra across the sky when studying cosmic history because:

    A)Only one galaxy’s interior motion settles every question about the whole universeB)Visible galaxies contain no gas or dust, so spectra carry no distance informationC)Many objects and directions sample large-scale motion, structure, and light stretching togetherD)Cosmological redshift is absent, so spiral distances cannot be estimated at all

14. The lower atmosphere is mostly nitrogen and oxygen by volume; trace gases such as CO₂ still matter for climate because:

    A)Their colour controls how much sunlight the surface receives each seasonB)They block essentially all incoming sunlight before it reaches the groundC)They absorb and emit infrared in bands that shape the planetary greenhouse effectD)They chemically replace tropospheric nitrogen whenever concentrations rise

15. Thermal expansion of seawater as it warms contributes to:

    A)Inland lake levels only, with no measurable effect on the open oceanB)Pleistocene ice-age cycles only, not modern warming of the water columnC)No contribution to global mean sea level in instrumental recordsD)Observed sea-level rise together with melting land ice and glacier loss

16. Photosynthesis moves CO₂ into organic matter; respiration and decay return carbon. In the fast surface carbon cycle this mainly affects:

    A)Earth’s solid inner core, where biological carbon stays locked foreverB)The atmosphere and living biosphere over seasonal to multi-year time scalesC)The cosmic microwave background through direct coupling with leaf chemistryD)Only long-buried fossil fuels, not the active surface carbon reservoirs

17. Latitude affects climate partly because:

    A)Every latitude receives identical annual insolation when averaged over the yearB)Low latitudes contain no oceans, so climate there ignores water heat storageC)Solar elevation and day length vary with latitude, changing how energy arrivesD)Latitude alone fixes surface albedo to one global constant everywhere

18. Permafrost thaw can feed back to climate because it may release:

    A)Oxygen in amounts that strongly amplify the greenhouse effectB)Carbon as CO₂ or CH₄ from organic matter once locked in frozen groundC)Primordial helium trapped since Earth’s formation, unrelated to carbon cyclingD)Sea-salt aerosols only, with no influence on carbon-containing gases

19. Ocean acidification is tied to rising atmospheric CO₂ because more CO₂ dissolves and shifts seawater carbonate chemistry, lowering pH. This mainly concerns the:

    A)Hydrosphere and carbonate chemistry that many marine ecosystems depend onB)Solid mantle convection rather than surface fluid reservoirsC)Stratospheric ozone thickness over land, independent of dissolved CO₂D)Geodynamo and magnetic field, said to set ocean pH through charge balance

20. The Coriolis effect influences large-scale winds and currents because:

    A)Earth does not rotate, so deflection is purely an optical illusionB)Gravity reverses at the equator, bending winds into closed loopsC)The Moon’s disk blocks zonal wind, creating trade-wind gapsD)Planetary rotation deflects moving air and water in a rotating reference frame

21. El Niño–Southern Oscillation is an example of:

    A)A local land–sea breeze repeating every afternoon along one coastlineB)Milankovitch orbital pacing of ice ages over tens of thousands of yearsC)Interannual shifts in tropical Pacific ocean–atmosphere heat exchangeD)Light-element nucleosynthesis minutes after the Big Bang, unrelated to oceans

22. Deforestation can alter climate forcing partly by changing:

    A)Soil pH in one lab sample, with no wider surface energy consequencesB)Surface albedo, evapotranspiration, and carbon held in living biomassC)The Moon’s orbital eccentricity through canopy drag on ocean tidesD)The vacuum speed of light, modulated through photosynthesis rates

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