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G108 > Class Notes- Unit 1-2 > Flashcards

Class Notes- Unit 1-2 Flashcards

1
Q

What is absolute time?

A

when an event occurred…its age, measured backwards from the present.

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2
Q

What is the range of the age of rocks on Earth?

A

from 0 years old (deposited today) to 4.1 billion years old.

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3
Q

How old is the earth?

A

about 4.57 billion years old

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4
Q

What is relative time?

A

the sequence of events, regardless of knowing the actual age.

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5
Q

What 4 things is relative time used for?

A

1) stratigraphic succession…superposition
2) cross-cutting structures
3) deformation
4) fossil succession

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6
Q

What are the 4 ways we can write the Earth’s age?

A

1) 4.57 billion
2) 4.57 x 10^9
3) 4.57 Ga
4) 5, 470 Ma

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7
Q

How far is the Earth from the sun?

A

150 million km OR Sun to Earth ~ 150 x 10^6 km

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8
Q

What does AU stand for?

A

Astronomical units

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9
Q

How far is the Sun to Earth measured with AU?

A

1 AU

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10
Q

What is the distance from Mars to Sol measured with AU?

A

1.5 AU

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11
Q

What is the distance from Jupiter to the Sun measured with AU?

A

5.2 AU

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12
Q

What are light years

A

The distance travelled by light in one Earth year of 365 1/4 days, in a vacuum.

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13
Q

What is the distance travelled in a years with light years?

A

= 9.46 trillion km

= 9.46 x 10^12 km

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14
Q

How fast does light travel?

A

300 million meters per second OR 300 x 10^6 m/s OR 300 x 10^3 km/s

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15
Q

How far apart is the sun and earth measured in light years?

A

8 min

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16
Q

What is the next closest galaxy to the Milky Way galaxy?

A

Andromeda Galaxy

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17
Q

How long does it take for us to see light from Andromeda Galaxy?

A

light left that galaxy at ~ 2.5 x 10^6 ly (2.5 million years ago)

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18
Q

How many full bodied planets are there?

A

8

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19
Q

How many planets have moons?

A

7

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20
Q

How much of the material that makes up the solar system is in the sun?

A

greater than 99%

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21
Q

How much material that makes up Jupiter of the less than 1% not in the sun?

A

about 99% of the remaining less than 1% that is not in the sun.

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22
Q

What takes up the less than 1% of the stuff not in Jupiter or the sun of our solar system?

A

the other planets

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23
Q

What is our universe composed of?

A

galaxies

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24
Q

How many galaxies is there estimated to be in our universe?

A

1 trillion

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25
Q

What is each galaxy composed of?

A

stars

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26
Q

What is the average amount of stars per galaxy?

A

300 billion

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27
Q

What are nebulae?

A

clusters in or galaxy composed of interstellar gas and dust

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28
Q

What is a supernova?

A

the result of giant stars having exploded

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29
Q

What type of galaxy is the Milky Way galaxy?

A

a spiral galaxy

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30
Q

How many exoplanets have been discovered?

A

1000 discovered

2000 probably

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31
Q

Do galaxies tighten or loosen with time?

A

tighten with time

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32
Q

What do galaxies do in the expanding universe?

A

separate from one another.

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33
Q

How far back did the galaxies converge at a common point?

A

they find that the galaxies converge at a common point 13.7 billions years ago

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34
Q

What type of factories are our stars?

A

thermo-nuclear factories

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35
Q

What do thermonuclear factories (our stars) do?

A

they manufacture energy

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36
Q

What is the explosion of stars (thermo-nuclear factories) due to?

A

the energy release by nuclear fusion.

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37
Q

Stars come in a range of___and___

A

size and mass

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38
Q

Is our sun slightly larger and heavier or smaller and lighter than the average star?

A

larger

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39
Q

Solar___is important to the job of being an element factory?

A

mass

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40
Q

What does solar mass equal?

A

1

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41
Q

What is the solar mass of our sun?

A

SM1

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42
Q

What is the solar mass of the heaviest stars?

A

~ SM100 or more

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43
Q

Largest stars have a volume of or a___times SOL

A

a million times and over 100 times the mass

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44
Q

What is the basic unit of the entire universe?

A

stars

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45
Q

What does our solar system orbit?

A

stars

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46
Q

What are the two ways to talk about stars?

A

diameter and mass

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47
Q

What is the range of solar masses?

A

1/10M to 1M to 10M to 100M

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48
Q

True or False: Stars and dynamic, ever changing and the size can vary with time.

A

True

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49
Q

What are stars?

A

Large bodies of mostly ‘plasma’ and free electors (thermo-nuclear factories)

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50
Q

What are the features of stars that are easily seen or measured?

A
  • mass
  • size
  • colour
  • temperature
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51
Q

What controls a star?

A

its mass

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52
Q

What colour are cold stars? Hot stars?

A

cold=red

hot=blue

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53
Q

How do stars evolve?

A

form and later decay (explode)

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54
Q

What is a supernova?

A

Gravity holds particles back because they are exploding all the time. When gravity can’t hold it back, it dies.
-It is the violent, explosive death of a star.

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55
Q

What are stars made out of?

A

Mostly H (75% H, 25% HE)

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56
Q

Are all stars composed equally?

A

no

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57
Q

What are the two dominant forces in our universe?

A

gravity and thermo-nuclear energy

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58
Q

What type of force is gravity?

A

an attractive force

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59
Q

What is the main force of accretion?

A

gravity

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60
Q

What type of force is thermo-nuclear energy?

A

a repulsive force

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61
Q

True or False: thermo-nuclear energy can be fission or fusion?

A

true

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62
Q

___is important for star evolution (fission or fusion)

A

fusion

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63
Q

What are the two requirements for star evolution?

A

pressure (gravity) and high temperature.

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64
Q

What is nuclear fusion with stars?

A

Atomic nuclei fuse together to form new elements–heavier elements.

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65
Q

What goes on inside stars and produces new elements?

A

Nuclear fusion

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66
Q

Stars are___nuclear-factory.

A

thermo

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67
Q

What happens when a stars explodes?

A

Become a supernova and remnant core, these elements are scattered through a considerable volume of space.

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68
Q

How does a small star become a ‘dead star’?

A

Small stars eventually blow off H, possibly He shells, leaving a core of C–dead star.

69
Q

What leads to the explosion of a large star?

A

Large stars explode their outer shells and contract their cores. Atoms heavier than Fe are formed at this stage. Supernova and small dead core.

70
Q

What elements are formed by nuclear fusion after a star accrete ( both small star and large star)?

A

Small star H –> He –> C

Large star H –> He –> C –> Fe

71
Q

What causes more fusion and all the rest of the heavy elements to be formed? (still talking about stars)

A

The supernova explosion

72
Q

Stars are element ___.

73
Q

What is stardust?

A

The exploded dust and gas that New stars are lear created.

74
Q

Our Universe (and our galaxy) contains___stars, ___stars, and ___stars. Plus lots of interstellar___clouds.

A
  • old
  • newer
  • dead
  • dust
75
Q

What are active stars?

A

Balancing forces of nuclear explosion (H bomb) and gravity.

76
Q

What are/leads to (a) dead star(s)?

A

Nuclear explosion and core collapse results in loss of outer shells, leaving smaller dead star–or destruction of entire star and a black hole. Interstellar dust (stardust).

77
Q

What are the two dominant forces in our universe?

A

1) Gravity

2) Thermo-nuclear energy

78
Q

What type of force is gravity?

A

Attractive force

79
Q

Gravity leads to___

80
Q

What type of force is thermo-nuclear energy?

A

repulsive forse

81
Q

What are the 2 parts of the nebular hypothesis?

A
  1. Condensation (gas cools to dust)

2. Accretion begins (of dust)

82
Q

When did condensation begin with the nebular hypothesis?

83
Q

When did accretion begin with the nebular hypothesis?

84
Q

When did the Nebular Hypothesis end?

A

mostly ends ~ 4.55 Ga

85
Q

When were the planets of our solar system complete?

A

~ 4. 57 Ga

86
Q

What is the photo-planetary disk?

A

The disk accretes into planets

87
Q

What are the two forces at play in the nebular hypothesis specifically with the formation of planets in the proto-planetary disk?

A

centrifugal force (away from sun) vs. gravity (towards sun)

88
Q

What are the 4 types of Galaxies?

A

1) Globular
2) Elliptical
3) Spiral
4) Barred Spiral

89
Q

Where in the MWG is our solar system located? Also, how far away (in ly) is our galaxy from the galactic core?

A

Our solar system is mid-way between the two main spiral arms about half way to the end of the galaxy…about 25 000 light years from the centre of the galactic core.

90
Q

What is the diameter of the disk of the galaxy?

A

About 1000 000 ly

91
Q

What is a light year? (distance in km 2 ways as well)?

A

The distance traveled by the speed of light in a vacuum in an Earth year. This is about 10 trillion km or 1 x 10^13 km

92
Q

What is a Galactic Year (cosmic year)?

A

The time in Earth years for our solar system to rotate once about the centre of the MWG

93
Q

How many years is a Galactic Year?

A

250 million years

94
Q

How old is the Earth in both Earth years and in Galactic years?

A

Earth years: 4.55 billion years old

Galactic Years: 20.5 galactic years old

95
Q

Our North pole point approx. ___from the galactic centre and our South pole more-or-less___the centre.

A
  • away

- towards

96
Q

Galaxies are___in a complex manner.

97
Q

Groups with__of galaxies

Clusters with up to___of galaxies

A
  • 10s

- 1000s

98
Q

What are superclusters?

A

Larger groupings of clusters

99
Q

What is the relationship between galaxy clusters and the expanding universe?

A
  • *Groups and clusters are gravitationaly bound and are not expanding.
  • They stay put in the expanding universe.
  • Galaxies move with respect to each other…not expanding.
100
Q

What happens when atoms vibrate?

A

They generate heat

101
Q

What makes atoms vibrate

102
Q

What happens if there is no heat with an atom?

A

If there isn heat there is no vibration and visa versa.

103
Q

What is absolute zero (0 K or -273 C)

A

When there is no heat in an atom

104
Q

What will break some chemical bonds and cause solids to become liquids? What continues to happen?

A

With increasing temperature, increasing vibration can break some chemical bonds and solids will become liquids. With more heat and increasing vibration, more bonds break and liquids become gases.

105
Q

What is Red shifted?

A

Light from the bast majority of distant galaxies is red shifted.

106
Q

What can we calculate from the red shift?

A

velocity of movement away from Earth. Then ‘back calculate’ to determine when everything was together at one location

107
Q

When was everything together at one location?

108
Q

What happen at 13.8 Ga

A

Expansion of the universe began–matter as we know it began–the universe began.

109
Q

What is the expansion of the universe known as?

A

This point–the beginning is called the Big Bang.

110
Q

What was the initial temperature of the Big Bang?

A

billions of degrees celsius

111
Q

What happened one second after big bang expansion?

A

protons, neutrons, and electrons have formed.

112
Q

What happened ten minutes after the Big Bang?

A

the universe’s complete supply of H has formed, and some of the He and a little Li; no other elements yet

113
Q

How long after the Big Bang did the first stars begin to form?

A

380 thousand years

114
Q

How long after the Big Bang did galaxies begin to form?

A

1 billion years

115
Q

When did most of the spiral galaxies form?

A

after about 7 billion years

116
Q

How old is the MWG?

A

about 7 Ga

117
Q

What was significant about the first stars?

A

they would have been very big–bigger than current stars and made out of only H and He

118
Q

The big bang was___Ga

119
Q

Our solar system condensed/accreted by____.

A

4.55 x 10^9 years ago

120
Q

When did the supernova from which our solar system was derived occur?

A

about 7 x 10^9 years ago

121
Q

What are planets, asteroids, and comets?

A

merely left-over debris that missed getting accreted to their star

122
Q

How much of the mass of our solar system is in the sun?

123
Q

How much of the mass of our solar system is in Jupiter?

124
Q

What are the rocky planets?

A

mercury
venus
earth
mars

125
Q

What are the gas giants?

A

jupiter
saturn
uranus
neptune

126
Q

What is the AU of Earth?

127
Q

What is the AU of the Asteroid Belt?

128
Q

What is the AU of Neptune?

129
Q

What is the average density of the rocky planets?

130
Q

What is the average density of the gas giants?

131
Q

What is the average density of the dwarf planets and comets in the Kuiper Belt?

132
Q

What is density controlled by?

A

What elements are made of and how closely pack the atoms are.

133
Q

What is the source of heat for atmosphere and surface water of earth?

134
Q

What is the source of heat for the solid earth and ground water?

135
Q

Where can comets be found?

A

Kuiper Belt and Oort Cloud

136
Q

What is the end of the Universe in AU?

A

After the Oort Cloud at 50 000 AU

137
Q

What indicates the end of the universe?

A

Limit of the sun’s gravitational pull

138
Q

Where are dwarf planets found?

A

The asteroid belt and Kuiper Belt.

139
Q

What is the diameter (in km), the density (g/cm3), and the escape velocity (km/sec) of the Earth?

A

12 700 km

  1. 52 g/cm3
  2. 0 km / 150 sec
140
Q

What is the structure of planets that have a diameter of ~200-4000 km?

141
Q

What are the planets and in space that are ~200-4000 km?

A

Mercury, and moons of Rock planets, and small moons of Giant planets and dwarf planets.

142
Q

What is the structure of planets and moons that have a diameter of ~400-13 000?

A

Rock and an Atmosphere or ice

143
Q

What are the moons and planets that have a diameter of ~4000-13 000?

A

Venus, Earth, Mars, large moons of Giant planets.

144
Q

What is the structure of rocks and moons that have a diameter of ~40 000-140 000 km?

A

Core: unknown but it is assumed to be rocky

Liquid gas

145
Q

What are the planets that have a diameter of ~40 000-140 000?

A

Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune

146
Q

What are the two types of meteors?

A
  1. Asteroid

2. Comets

147
Q

Can a meteorite form from a comet?

148
Q

Are meteorites possible from an asteroid?

149
Q

What is the atmosphere of the fas giants? What do Saturn and Jupiter have, additionally?

A

All four: CH4 (methane), H, He

Jupiter and Saturn: Ammonia as well-NH3

150
Q

What is the atmosphere of Earth?

A

O- 80%
N- 20%
H2O & CO2- 1%

151
Q

What is the atmosphere of venus?

A

H2O, CO2, SO2, H2SO4

152
Q

What is the atmosphere of Mars?

153
Q

Which planet is surrounded by sulphuric acid?

154
Q

What is a meteoroid ablation?

A

Melting on the surface and then shedding the melt, producing a “smoke” trail. Fusion crust.

155
Q

What is the density of the Earth?

156
Q

What is the density of common continental crustal rock?

157
Q

What is the density of common oceanic crustal rock?

158
Q

What is the density of iron?

159
Q

What is the density gold?

160
Q

What is the density of diamond?

161
Q

What is the density of limestone?

162
Q

What is specific gravity?

A

Is a ration of the densities of two different matters, one of which is usually water.
Specific gravity = D (rock) / D (water)

163
Q

Since the density of water (by definition) is 1, the numbers for specific gravity are the same as the___numbers.

164
Q

What is the speed of sound at sea level?

A

1000 ft/sec = 1 km/s = 340 m/s

165
Q

What is the velocity of Earth’s spin at a quarter (night and day)?

A

0.5 km/s (@ equator)

166
Q

What is the velocity of Earth’s revolution around Sol?

167
Q

What is the velocity of a cosmic year revolution speed?

168
Q

Intergalactic velocities are highly variable. Near the MWG a few___/km/s.

G108 (23 decks)

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