GRAHAM_ worksheet 02
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School
Georgia State University *
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Course
1000
Subject
Astronomy
Date
Apr 3, 2024
Type
docx
Pages
3
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1.
During a lab experiment, you determine that the index of refraction for some unknown material
has a value of 0.85. Your lab instructor glances at your results, tells you that value is physically
impossible, and suggests you rerun the experiment. Describe the physical reason your result
could not have been correct.
n = c/v, which is c = the speed of light in vacuum, and v = the speed of light in the
medium in question. n, being the index of refraction. The value of the index of refraction can't be 0.85 because this would imply that light
travels faster of the unknown substance in a vacuum, which is impossible as the
instructor states. The index of refraction must be greater or equal to 1 or 0, and 0.85 is
less than both values.
2.
A student claims that if the sun’s surface became much hotter (while the sun’s size remained
the same), the sun would emit more ultraviolet light but less visible light than it currently emits.
Do you agree or disagree with this statement? Explain your reasoning.
After debating this idea and weighing the information, I decided that I disagreed with
this statement. My reasoning is mostly behind the idea that ultraviolet light and visible
light do not correlate with each other. Temperature does not affect UV light, meaning
on a hot day UV light could be lower, and on a cold day it could be higher, and vice
versa. Heat doesn’t mean the UV light will be stronger. So, to say if the sun got hotter, it
would emit more UV light than visible light doesn’t sit right. However, that doesn’t mean
it would emit less than current percentages. Now, the sun emits around 6% UV light
while visible light is around 50%. If the sun did get hotter, it could hypothetically emit
more UV light than now or regular, but not more visible light in general. 3.
Describe at least two ways in which Earth’s atmosphere can hinder astronomical observations,
and why putting a telescope in space helps in each case.
Using a telescope helps to see things a lot more clearly in space. But why is that? One
problem is how our atmosphere refracts light. In the modern age where humans have
created cities that never sleep, skyscrapers that can be lit throughout the whole light,
and other modern technology, these things crowd our atmosphere which refracts light,
making it much harder to see things. Not to mention, these celestial bodies are very far
away from where we are which adds to the need for a telescope. In addition to this fact,
because of the winds within our atmosphere as well as different temperatures and
densities from different places around Earth, the stars and other celestial bodies in
space twinkle. And when they twinkle, these celestial bodies’ image starts to warp,
therefore creating an inaccurate image. Another problem with Earth’s atmosphere that
makes it difficult to see space is that the atmosphere blocks most of the radiation, and
while that is good for our survival, we won’t be able to see everything that space has to
offer. 4.
Astronomers have observed that many young, newly formed stars rotate very rapidly compared
to the sun. Using what you’ve learned about the formation of the solar system, explain why this
is not surprising.
Newly formed stars rotate very rapidly compared to the sun, which can be compared to
the formation of our solar system. The thing we must consider is angular momentum,
which is “the property of any rotating object given by moment inertia times angular
velocity.” Younger stars tend to be bigger than older stars, which would play into this
process. Every planet, as well as our star, the Sun also has the property of angular
momentum, since they are all rotating objects, which relates to our solar system.
5.
The solar system was formed from the collapse of a gas cloud called a nebula
. This nebula was
largely composed of hydrogen and helium gas, just like the sun and gas giants such as Jupiter.
Explain why these elements are rare on Earth by comparison.
Elements such as hydrogen and helium gas are much rarer on Earth for multiple reasons.
First, hydrogen and helium are light, some of the lightest elements in the universe, and
thus can escape our atmosphere easily. Temperature plays a big part in this too. Usually,
planets that are closer to stars have a higher average temperature, which causes their
elements to stay in gas form, and with how light these elements are, it just adds to the
fact that they are rarer on Earth since Earth is one of our solar systems inner planets,
which are planets much closer to the Sun compared to our outer planets.
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