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Physics > P1-The Earth In The Universe > Flashcards

P1-The Earth In The Universe Flashcards

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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
Q

What is a disadvantage with using brightness to measure the distance to a star?

A

A star that looks very bright form earth could be

Close to earth but not bright

A long way and very bright

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26
Q

Name all of the planets in order from closest to the sun to furthest away

A 
Mercury 
Venus
Earth
Mars
Jupiter
Saturn
Uranus
Neptune
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27
Q

How does the atmosphere and light pollution cause problems?

A

The atmosphere can absorb light coming from space

Light pollution makes it hard to see dim objects

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28
Q

How long does it take for radiation from the sun to reach us and what does this mean?

A

8 minutes

This means we see the sun as it was 8 minutes ago

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29
Q

What do we know about galaxies based on out observations of red shift?

A

The more distant the Galaxy, the faster it moves away from us

30
Q

What happens when a Galaxy moves away from earth?

A

The wavelength of light becomes redder

This is red shift

31
Q

What is red shift?

A

When the wavelength of light gets redder due to a Galaxy moving away from us

32
Q

What evidence is there that the universe is expanding

A

Red shift

33
Q

What is the Big Bang theory?

A

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
Q

Why is it difficult to estimate how long ago the Big Bang occurred?

A

Because it is difficult to tell how much the rate of expansion has slowed

35
Q

What does the universes fate depend on?

A

How fast it is expanding and the total mass in it

36
Q

Why is it difficult to measure the total mass of the universe?

A

Most of it is invisible dark matter

It can only be detected by how it effects things we see

37
Q

Why is it difficult to calculate how fast the universe is expanding?

A

Because there is large distances so it’s hard to accurately measure

38
Q

What are the two ways the universe could end?

A

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
Q

What evidence to fossils provide?

A

They provide evidence that rock is constantly forming

Rock built up around fossils

40
Q

What can be estimated from rocks?

A

The age of the earth

Oldest rocks found are 4billion years old

41
Q

Describe the rock cycle

A
  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
Q

What evidence is there that the rock cycle occurs?

A

The rock as been pushed, squeezed so hard it has folded.

43
Q

What was wegeners theory?

A

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
Q

What evidence was there for Wegeners theory?

A

There where matching layers in the rocks on different continents and similar fossils in South America and South Africa

45
Q

Why wasn’t wegeners theory accepted?

A

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
Q

How was continental drift proved?

A

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
Q

How much does the sea floor spread per year?

A

Few cm per year

48
Q

What is the structure of the earth?

A 
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
Q

What are tectonic plates?

A

Large pieces that float on the mantle

50
Q

What causes tectonic plates to drift?

A

Convection currents in the mantle

51
Q

Where do earthquakes mostly happen?

A

On the edge of plates

52
Q

How are mountains made?

A

When plates crash into each other

53
Q

What are the two different types of waves?

A

P waves

S waves

54
Q

What is a p wave and what does it ravel through?

A

Longitudinal
Solids and liquids
Faster than S waves

55
Q

What are S waves?

A

Travel through solids only
Slower than p waves
Transverse

56
Q

What happens when there is a sudden change in properties?

A

Reflected
Change speed therefore direction (refraction)
Curved path if direction changes slowly
Sudden change causes a kink

57
Q

What can p waves and S waves tell us about the structure of the earth?

A

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
Q

What are waves?

A

Disturbances caused by a vibrating source

59
Q

What to they carry?

A

They carry and transfer energy in the direction that the wave travels.
Not matter

60
Q

What is amplitude?

A

The distance from the rest position to the crest or trough

61
Q

What does amplitude affect?

A

The bigger the amplitude, the more energy a wave has.

62
Q

What is wavelength?

A

The length of the full cycle of the wave

Crest to crest

63
Q

What is frequency?

A

The number of waves produced each second

64
Q

What is frequency measured in?

A

Hertz (Hz)

65
Q

How do you work out the distance?

A

Distance= speed X time

66
Q

Describe a transverse wave

A

Vibrations are 90 degrees to the direction of travel

Vibrations from side to side

67
Q

Give an example of a transverse wave

A

Em waves
Light
S waves

68
Q

What is a longitudinal wave?

A

Vibrations are in the same direction that the wave is travelling

69
Q

Give an example of a longitudal wave

A

Sound
Ultrasound
P waves

70
Q

What is the equation for wave speed?

A

Speed= frequencyX wavelength

Physics (1 decks)

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