5.5 Astrophysics & Cosmology Flashcards
define the term planet
- bodies that move in circular or elliptical orbits around a star to form a solar system
- an object around a star with a mass large enough for its own gravity to give it a round shape, that undergoes no fusion and that has cleaned its orbit of most other objects
define the term planetary satellite
a body in orbit around a planet (artificial or manmade)
define the term comet
a small, irregular body made of dust, ice and rock that orbits a star with a highly elliptical orbit around the sun
define the term solar system
a planetary system consisting of a star and at least one planet in orbit around it
define the term galaxy
a collection of stars, interstellar dust, and gas bound together by their mutual gravitational attractions
define the term universe
everything that exists within space and time
what is the order of the planets?
Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune
what is gravitational collapse?
gravitational collapse is the inward movement of material in a star due to the gravitational force caused by its own mass, star formation is due to the gradual gravitational collapse of a cloud of gas and dust
how does a star form? (1st step)
stars are born when a cloud of interstellar dust and gas (most of which were left when previous stars blew themselves apart in supernovae) slowly clump together due to their gravitational attraction, given enough time these areas will gradually become more dense as more matter is attracted, the inward movement of matter is called gravitational collapse.
how does a star form? (step after cloud of dust and gas)
as the gravitational force pulls more and more matter together, work is done on the particles of dust and gas which leads to an increase in KE and therefore temp also, some of the denser areas will begin to glow, the large core of material is called a PROTOSTAR
how are protostars detected?
protostars can only be detected through telescopes designed to observe infrared radiation, as the clouds of gas and dust (nebulae) absorb and scatter most of the visible light
when does a star form? (step after protostar forming)
the protostar’s gravitational force field strength will continue to attract more and more matter until the temperature at the core of the star will reach millions of degrees kelvin and this will mean nuclear fusion can start to occur
what happens as nuclear fusion occurs in a protostar?
enormous amounts of energy are released and the momentum of the photons released by the fusion reactions leads to an outwards force called the radiation pressure
define radiation pressure
radiation pressure is due to the momentum of photons released in fusion reactions, and acts outwards (in the direction of energy flow)
what happens at the point when a protostar of stable size becomes a main sequence star in terms of forces?
the radiation pressure (from the nuclear fusion reactions) and the gas pressure (force outwards caused by the star’s temperature increasing and it’s volume decreasing) is in equilibrium with the gravitational force acting inwards
what is happening when a star is a main sequence star?
it is stable and is converting hydrogen to helium through nuclear fusion, it will remain in this stage for the majority of its life
define gas pressure
- gas pressure is the outwards force caused by the star’s temperature increasing and it’s volume decreasing
- gas pressure, p, is related to the temperature, T, and volume, V, of the gas using pV = nRT, and also to the mean square speed of the gas atoms using pV = 1/3 Nmc^2(bar), gas pressure acts in all directions at a point inside a gas such as inside a star (book definition)
define main sequence star
a main sequence star is a star in the main part of its life cycle, where it is fusing hydrogen to form helium in the core, the main sequence star are shown as a curved band on a plot of a star’s luminosity against temperature
how much of the stars in the universe are main sequence stars?
they make up 90% of the stars of the stars in the universe
what stage is the Sun in its life cycle?
the sun is about half way through its life as a main sequence star
define red giant
a red giant is a star in the later stages of its life that has nearly exhausted the hydrogen in its core and is now fusing helium nuclei, it is bigger than a normal star because its surface layers have cooled and expanded
define white dwarf
a white dwarf is the end product of a low-mass star, when the outer layers have dispersed into space, a white dwarf is very dense, with a high surface temperature and low luminosity
define planetary nebula
a planetary nebulae is an expanding, glowing shell of ionised hydrogen and helium ejected from a red giant star at the end of its life
define electron degeneracy pressure
this is the pressure that stops the gravitational collapse of a low-mass star (below the chandrasekhar limit of 1.4 solar masses), this is the pressure that prevents a white dwarf from collapsing
define the chandrasekhar limit
is the maximum possible value of mass for a stable white dwarf star and is equal to 1.4 times the mass of our Sun, white dwarfs with masses above this will collapse further to become neutron stars or black holes
define red super giant
a red super giant is a star that has exhausted all of the hydrogen in its core and has a mass much higher than the sun
define supernova
a supernova is a huge explosion when the core of a red super giant collapses
define neutron star
a neutron star is the remains of the core of a red super giant after it has undergone a supernova explosion, it is incredibly dense and composed mainly of neutrons
define black hole
a black hole is the core of a massive star that has collapsed almost to a point, black holes are very dense and very small with a gravitational field so strong that light cannot escape (escape velocity is greater than the speed of light)
what is the Hertzsprung-Russel diagram (HR diagram)?
a luminosity-temperature graph, it can also be used to visualise the life cycle of a star as it moves from the Main Sequence to a Red Giant then a White Dwarf, or perhaps even a Red Supergiant.
where can you find electrons? how do electrons exist?
-they orbit the nucleus, they can only occupy certain energy levels with quantised energies
how can electrons gain and loose energy?
by moving from one allowed energy level to another, absorbing or emitting electromagnetic radiation with a frequency f, determined by the energy difference of the levels according to:
hf = ΔE or hf = E1 - E2
the energy difference ΔE can also be written as ΔE = hc / λ
why do energy levels have negative values?
- because when the electron is is infinitely away from the nucleus it has an energy of ZERO, as you move the electron closer to the nucleus because it is attracted to it, the lowest energy level has the highest magnitude of energy e.g -13.6eV because at this energy level it will require a large amount of energy to remove it from this level because of the high attraction
- an electron’s energy is taken to be zero when the electron is a very long away from the atom’s nucleus (similar to how we define gravitational potential to be zero at infinity), as the electron moves towards the nucleus from very far away, its energy decreases below zero so energy levels inside an atom have negative values
what equation should you use to work out the energy difference between energy levels?
ΔE = hc / λ or hf = ΔE and ΔE= E1 - E2
where λ = wavelength of the photon that is absorbed or emitted by the atom
h = planck’s constant
c = speed of light
what is an emission line spectrum? what does it look like?
the emission line spectrum of an element is the spectrum of frequencies of electromagnetic radiation emitted due to electron transitions from a higher energy level to a lower one within an atoms of that element
what is an emission line spectrum? what does it look like?
the emission line spectrum of an element is the spectrum of frequencies of electromagnetic radiation emitted due to electron transitions from a higher energy level to a lower one within an atoms of that element, since there are many possible electron transitions for each atom, there are many different radiated wavelengths - a line spectrum consists of a series of bright rainbow lines against a dark background