Oceanography before the earth chapter 1

Question 1

Big Bang

Answer 1

about 13.7 billion years ago, a plethora of stars and galaxies emerged that hosted planets and possibly the ingredients necessary for life itself.

Question 2

Nebula

Answer 2

gas or dust that may either be dark or may glow. Most of the gas we see in the universe is hydrogen gas. When illuminated by nearby stars a nebula will glow.

Question 3

Galaxy

Answer 3

a collection of stars and nebula that clustered around a center of mass of very dense material. Many believe that the center of most galaxies might consist of a supermassive black hole (the collapsed remnant of a massive star from which no light can escape due to the strength of its gravitational field).

Question 4

Stars

Answer 4

massive bodies of incandescent gases like hydrogen and helium that form from the condensation of a nebula

Question 5

Thermonuclear Fusion

Answer 5

a nuclear reaction that produces so much energy that it pushes stellar material outward

Question 6

Gravity

Answer 6

a force due to the presence of a mass that pulls the mass of the star inward

Question 7

Plasma

Answer 7

is the fourth state of matter and can be described as a hot gas-like mass of ions that can be influenced by electromagnetic fields. It is the most common state of matter in the universe.

Question 8

Proto- Star

Answer 8

This phase of star formation lasts about 1 million years for a star the size of our Sun.

Question 9

Main-sequence star

Answer 9

Once gravity and fusion are balanced and the core temperature reaches 10 million degrees, the star is considered a stable main-sequence star

Question 10

Annealing

Answer 10

As the density of the larger masses increased, they melted and fused in a process called annealing.

Question 11

Red giant

Answer 11

the size of the star expands into the red giant

Question 12

White dwarf

Answer 12

The star will collapse into a very massive object (a white dwarf (defined below), in the case of our Sun)

Question 13

Planetary nebula

Answer 13

The collapse by gravity results in a blast shedding outer gases called a planetary nebula

Question 14

Supernova

Answer 14

The collapse by gravity results in a supernova blast

Question 15

Dark matter

Answer 15

Our universe contains a remarkable amount of material and much of it is not even visible to the naked eye. There is still a large amount of this matter called dark matter that has yet to be observed and explained.