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P1-The Earth In The Universe Flashcards

1
Q

Name the inner planets

A

Mercury
Venus
Earth
Mars

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2
Q

Name the outer planets

A

Jupiter
Saturn
Uranus
Neptune

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3
Q

What is the difference between the outer planets and the inner planets?

A

The inner planets are rocky and the outer planets are gaseous

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4
Q

What separates the inner and outer planets?

A

The asteroid belt

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5
Q

What else orbits the sun?

A 
Dwarf planets
Comets
Asteroids
Dust
Moons
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6
Q

What are the differences between stars and planets?

A 
Stars:
Larger
Hot
Further away
Give out light

Planets:
Smaller
Reflect sunlight, don’t emit it
Closer than any other star other than the sun

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7
Q

How old is the solar system?

A

5 thousand million years old

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8
Q

How was the solar system formed?

A

Big clouds of dust and gas started to get compressed and squeezed

Once the particles where close to each other gravity pulled them in closer until the cloud collapsed in on itself

At the centre of the collapse the particles formed a protostar

Increased temperature caused fusion

Fusion gives out lots of heat and light so the sun was born

Chemical elements heavier than hydrogen and helium where formed by the fusion of different nuclei

The clouds around the sun containing the elements clumped together and formed planets

Oldest rocks on earth where meteorites

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9
Q

What are the oldest rocks on earth?

A

Meteorites

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10
Q

How to we know how old the solar system is?

A

The fist rocks on earth are 4500 million years old

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11
Q

What are asteroids and comets made out of?

A

Things left over from the formation of the Big Bang

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12
Q

What are asteroids?

A

Small lumps of rubble and rock

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13
Q

What are comets?

A

Balls of rock ice and dust which orbit the sun in elongated ellipses

As the comet approaches the sun it’s ice melts leaving a bright trail of gas and debris which can be millions of kilometres long

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14
Q

What orbit do comets take?

A

Elongated ellipses

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15
Q

How many stars are in the Milky Way?

A

Thousands of millions

10*11

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16
Q

What shape is the Milky Way?

A

Has spiral arms

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17
Q

How much greater is the distance between neighbouring stars in a galaxy than the distance between planets in the solar system?

A

Millions of times greater

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18
Q

How many galaxies are in the universe?

A

Thousand million

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19
Q

What is a light year the measure of?

A

The distance light travels through a vacuum In one year

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20
Q

What is the speed of light?

A

300,000 km/s

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21
Q

Order from smallest to largest the:

Diameter of the Milky Way
Diameter of the earth
Diameter of earths orbit
Distance from the Milky Way to the nearest galaxy
Distance from the sun to the nearest star
Diameter of the sun
Diameter of the solar system

A 
Diameter of earth
Diameter of sun 
Diameter of earths orbit
Diameter of solar system
Distance of sun to nearest star
Diameter of the Milky Way 
Distance of milky way to nearest Galaxy
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22
Q

What tells us a lot about a star?

A

Electromagnetic radiation

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23
Q

How can we work out how far away a nearby star is?

A

Parallax

Pictures of the sky are taken six months apart
The apparent movement of the star between the two photos lets you work out how far away it is

Stars further away move less

Measure brightness

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24
Q

What is parallax?

A

The apparent shift of an object when looked at from different places

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25
What is a disadvantage with using brightness to measure the distance to a star?
A star that looks very bright form earth could be Close to earth but not bright A long way and very bright
26
Name all of the planets in order from closest to the sun to furthest away
``` Mercury Venus Earth Mars Jupiter Saturn Uranus Neptune ```
27
How does the atmosphere and light pollution cause problems?
The atmosphere can absorb light coming from space Light pollution makes it hard to see dim objects
28
How long does it take for radiation from the sun to reach us and what does this mean?
8 minutes This means we see the sun as it was 8 minutes ago
29
What do we know about galaxies based on out observations of red shift?
The more distant the Galaxy, the faster it moves away from us
30
What happens when a Galaxy moves away from earth?
The wavelength of light becomes redder | This is red shift
31
What is red shift?
When the wavelength of light gets redder due to a Galaxy moving away from us
32
What evidence is there that the universe is expanding
Red shift
33
What is the Big Bang theory?
All matter in the universe was compressed into a very small space and then exploded and started expanding It is estimated to have happened 14 billion years ago based on rate of expansion This is difficult to estimate because it's hard to tell how much the rate has slowed down since the Big Bang
34
Why is it difficult to estimate how long ago the Big Bang occurred?
Because it is difficult to tell how much the rate of expansion has slowed
35
What does the universes fate depend on?
How fast it is expanding and the total mass in it
36
Why is it difficult to measure the total mass of the universe?
Most of it is invisible dark matter | It can only be detected by how it effects things we see
37
Why is it difficult to calculate how fast the universe is expanding?
Because there is large distances so it's hard to accurately measure
38
What are the two ways the universe could end?
If there is enough mass compared to how fast the galaxies are moving the universe will stop expanding and begin contracting. If there is not enough mass in the universe then it could expand forever
39
What evidence to fossils provide?
They provide evidence that rock is constantly forming | Rock built up around fossils
40
What can be estimated from rocks?
The age of the earth | Oldest rocks found are 4billion years old
41
Describe the rock cycle
1. Particles eroded from existing rock (eg by water flowing over them) get washed into the sea and settle by sediment. Overtime the sediments crush together to form sedimentary rocks 2. Sedimentary rocks can descend into the heat and pressure inside the earth or get pushed to the surface. 3. If they descend then the structure of the rock changes as it gets heated and crushed. Some rock melts but solidifies if it cools near the earths surface. 4. Rocks that are pushed up restart the cycle
42
What evidence is there that the rock cycle occurs?
The rock as been pushed, squeezed so hard it has folded.
43
What was wegeners theory?
He hypothesised that South Africa and America had previously been one continent that had split. This was continental drift 300million years ago there was one supercontinent called Pangea Pangea broke into smaller continents
44
What evidence was there for Wegeners theory?
There where matching layers in the rocks on different continents and similar fossils in South America and South Africa
45
Why wasn't wegeners theory accepted?
Wegener wasn't a geologist, he was a meteorologist Other scientists believed land bridge theory was correct The continental drift wasn't detectable He couldn't explain how the drifting occurred
46
How was continental drift proved?
In 1950s the mid Atlantic ridge was discovered Evidence that magma rises up through the sea floor solidifies and forms underwater mountains that are roughly symmetrical either side of the ridge. This suggest sea floor spreading a few cm w year Magnetic orientation of the rocks proved it Iron particles in the rocks align themselves with the earths magnetic field cools and sets in position Every half a million years, the earths polarity changes direction so the rock on either side of the ridge has bands of alternating magnetic polarity symmetrical about the ridge.
47
How much does the sea floor spread per year?
Few cm per year
48
What is the structure of the earth?
``` Thin crust Continental crust (forming the land) Oceanic crust (under oceans) ``` Mantle All of the properties of a solid but it flows very slowly Heat from the core and from radioactive decay causes the mantle to flow in convection currents Core Mainly iron and nickel
49
What are tectonic plates?
Large pieces that float on the mantle
50
What causes tectonic plates to drift?
Convection currents in the mantle
51
Where do earthquakes mostly happen?
On the edge of plates
52
How are mountains made?
When plates crash into each other
53
What are the two different types of waves?
P waves | S waves
54
What is a p wave and what does it ravel through?
Longitudinal Solids and liquids Faster than S waves
55
What are S waves?
Travel through solids only Slower than p waves Transverse
56
What happens when there is a sudden change in properties?
Reflected Change speed therefore direction (refraction) Curved path if direction changes slowly Sudden change causes a kink
57
What can p waves and S waves tell us about the structure of the earth?
There is a sudden change of properties as you go from the mantle to the core due to p waves changing direction quickly S waves are not detected in the cores shadow so the outer core is liquid P waves travel faster in the middle of the core which suggests there is a solid inner core S waves travel through the mantle so it is solid
58
What are waves?
Disturbances caused by a vibrating source
59
What to they carry?
They carry and transfer energy in the direction that the wave travels. Not matter
60
What is amplitude?
The distance from the rest position to the crest or trough
61
What does amplitude affect?
The bigger the amplitude, the more energy a wave has.
62
What is wavelength?
The length of the full cycle of the wave | Crest to crest
63
What is frequency?
The number of waves produced each second
64
What is frequency measured in?
Hertz (Hz)
65
How do you work out the distance?
Distance= speed X time
66
Describe a transverse wave
Vibrations are 90 degrees to the direction of travel Vibrations from side to side
67
Give an example of a transverse wave
Em waves Light S waves
68
What is a longitudinal wave?
Vibrations are in the same direction that the wave is travelling
69
Give an example of a longitudal wave
Sound Ultrasound P waves
70
What is the equation for wave speed?
Speed= frequencyX wavelength

Physics (1 decks)

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