[Physltest] [Phys-L] Re: California standards test in physics

[Scott Goelzer <s.goelzer@COMCAST.NET>]

As long as we are having a nitpicking fest:

> Astronauts on the Moon would not be able to
> hear a landslide because
> A the lunar dust deadens sounds.
> B intensive sunlight destroys sound waves.
> C the magnetic field of the Moon is too weak to
> carry sound.
> D air molecules on the Moon are too far apart to
> carry sound.

1) Although I have no personal experience, I am willing to bet the
astronaut would hear something inside the spacesuit due to conduction.
Perhaps the question should also include the condition that the
astronaut had just jumped upwards and was not on the moon surface
before the landslide started :)

2) Based on my experience with students, the best distractor response
would be:
E without gravity on the moon there could be no landslides, which is
why the astronaut did not hear one.

3) I remember reading that the moon had no air, just a thin (very)
sodium atmosphere.
http://sirius.bu.edu/planetary/moon.html



*******************************************
Scott Goelzer
Physics Teacher
Coe-Brown Northwood Academy
Northwood NH 03261
s.goelzer@comcast.net
*******************************************
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