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Space Physics Flashcards

1
Q

what is in our solar system

A

the sun
the 8 planets
dwarf planets that orbit around the sun
natural satellites

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2
Q

example of natural satellites

A

the moons that orbit planets

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3
Q

what is our solar system a small part of

A

the milky way galaxy

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4
Q

how was the sun formed

A

from a cloud of dust and gas (nebula) pulled together by gravitational attraction

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5
Q

where does the sun lie in the solar system

A

the centre as it is heliocentric

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6
Q

planets in the solar system

A

mercury
venus
earth
mars
jupiter
saturn
uranus
neptune
(pluto)

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7
Q

acronym for solar system planets

A

my very early morning jam sandwich usually nauseates (people)

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8
Q

what are smaller planets made of

A

mainly rock

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9
Q

what are larger planets made of

A

mainly gas

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10
Q

where do planets orbit the sun from

A

all planets orbit the sun on the same plane

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11
Q

what do all planets do

A

orbit the sun
rotate

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12
Q

what are the differences in rotation of planets

A

different speeds
some rotate in the opposite direction or on a skewed axis to the other planets from a past collision throwing its axis off balance

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13
Q

why do larger planets have rings

A

their gravitational field is so strong it attracts debris

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14
Q

where was the earth initially

A

in the centre
with planets our moon and the sun orbiting it

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15
Q

features of the original solar system model

A

geocentric model
everything orbited in perfect circles
with a fixed background of stars

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16
Q

when was the heliocentric model formed

A

600 years after the initial model

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17
Q

what did the heliocentric model contain

A

the sun at the centre of

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18
Q

what was the evidence for the heliocentric model

A

mars retrograde motion

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19
Q

what is mars retrograde motion

A

earth orbits the sun faster than mars so we undertake it, so it appears to reverse its direction in the sky

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20
Q

what did galileo observe

A

moons orbiting jupiter
showing not everything orbited the earth

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21
Q

what did kepler show

A

the planets orbited in ellipses and not circles

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22
Q

what happens as the planet orbits the sun

A

the gravitational force causes the planet to change direction constantly as it moves in a circle
this means the velocity is always changing so the force causes the planet to accelerate without increasing its speed

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23
Q

what is needed for a stable orbit

A

if the planet moves closer to the sun eg its orbital radius decreases
the gravitational attraction to the sun increases meaning force and acceleration increase
so the orbital speed of the planet increases

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24
Q

features of mercury venus earth and mars

A

relatively small
rocky

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25
what is a galaxy
a massive group of stars
26
how many stars does the milky way contain
hundreds of billions of stars
27
how many galaxies are in the universe
hundreds of billions of
28
what do stars form from
clouds of dust and gas called a nebula
29
what is the gas in a nebula
mainly hydrogen
30
what happens in the first stage of a star being formed
gravity causes the cloud of dust and gas to collapse
31
what happens as the dust particles move faster
the temperature rises to millions of degrees celsius
32
what is a protostar
a collapsing cloud of hot gas and dust
33
what happens if the temperature of the protostar gets high enough
hydrogen nuclei join together to form helium
34
what is nuclear fusion
hydrogen nuclei join together to form helium
35
what happens to the protostar when nuclear fusion occurs
the protostar has turned into a star
36
what is nuclear fusion doing once the protostar is a star
releasing a huge amount of energy
37
what happens within the star as it undergoes nuclear fusion
there are two opposing forces
38
what are the two opposing forces in the star
gravity energy from nuclear fusion
39
what does gravity do in the star in nuclear fusion
acts inwards to the core making the star collapse
40
what does the energy from nuclear fusion do to the star
creates a force acting outwards from the core making the star expand
41
what happens to the two opposing forces in a star during nuclear fusion
the force of gravity acting inwards is balanced by the force due to fusion energy acting outwards
42
what does it mean when the two forces in the star are balanced
the star is in equilibrium
43
what kind of star is formed after nuclear fusion
a main sequence star
44
why do stars stay in the main sequence for a long time
nuclear fusion releases a lot of energy
45
what happens to a star the same size as the sun after being a main sequence star
the hydrogen in the star begins to run out the outward force due to fusion energy is less than the inward force due to gravity so the star collapses inwards temperature increases helium nuclei fuse together to create heavier elements the star expands to form a red giant at some point the red giant stops fusing helium so the star shrinks and forms a white dwarf the white dwarf isn't carrying out fusion so it gradually cools it stops releasing any energy and forms a black dwarf
46
what happens to stars bigger than the sun after the main sequence star stage
stars run out of hydrogen leave the main sequence stage and expand into red super giants helium nuclei fuse to produce heavier elements red super giant stops carrying out nuclear fusion the star explodes (supernova) the temperature of the supernova is high enough to produce elements heavier than iron when explodes these elements are distributed throughout the universe remains of star can form a neutron star or a black hole
47
what can nuclear fusion not make
any element heavier than iron
48
what does a supernova make
elements heavier than iron
49
why do supernovas produce elements heavier than iron
the temperature is high enough
50
features of a neutron star
neutrons densely packed together
51
features of a black hole
such a large gravity that not even light can escape
52
what is the earth orbiting the sun known as
a circular orbit
53
what is the realistic orbit of the sun known as
an elliptical orbit
54
what is the earths orbit
virtually circular
55
how is the earth held in its orbit
gravity acting between the sun and the earth
56
what do planets do around the sun
orbit it
57
how do the planets stay in orbit around the sun
gravity holds the planets in their orbits
58
what is the moon an example of
a natural satellite
59
example of an artificial satellite
satellite used for satellite tv
60
who makes artificial satellites
man made
61
when do geostationary satellites orbit
once every 24 hours
62
what does geostationary satellites orbiting once every 24 hours mean
they always point to the same part of the earth
63
what is the frequency of other artificial satellites
more frequent than geostationary satellites
64
what does the force of gravity lead to in a circular orbit
a change in velocity but not a change in speed
65
what happens to the direction of a planet in orbit
it is constantly changing
66
what does the direction of the planet orbiting mean
the velocity is constantly changing as well
67
what happens if the speed of a satellite orbiting the earth changes
the radius of the orbit must also change
68
what happens if the speed of a satellite increases
the radius of its orbit decreases
69
why does the radius of an orbit decrease with an increase in satellite speed
at a higher speed the satellite needs a greater force of gravity to prevent it flying off into space
70
how does a satellite get a greater force of gravity
moves closer to earth
71
what is the impact of a satellite moving towards earth for greater force of gravity
remains in a stable orbit
72
what is the speed changing radius changing rule also true for
planets moons
73
what did astronomers detect when studying light emitted from different galaxies
light from very distant galaxies has an increased wavelength compared to light from closer galaxies
74
what happens if you put light from the sun through a prism
it creates a spectrum
75
why do dark lines appear in a spectrum
certain elements in the sun absorb light of specific wavelengths so those wavelengths appear as dark lines
76
how is red shift shown
lines from light in a different galaxy have shifted slightly towards the red end of the spectrum
77
what does red shift tell us
galaxies are moving away from eachother
78
what is the impact of galaxies moving away
the light waves are stretched so observed wavelength is increased
79
what is the red shift of galaxies further away
bigger
80
how are galaxies further away moving compared to closer ones
moving faster
81
what does distant galaxies moving faster than nearby galaxies suggest
the universe is expanding
82
how do scientists believe the universe began
from a very small region that was extremely hot and dense that expanded to form the universe
83
what had astronomers previously assumed about gravity
it would cause the expansion fo the universe to gradually slow down
84
what did observations of supernovae show
the rate of expansion is increasing
85
what have scientists recently suggested the universe contains
matter and energy that we cannot detect
86
what are matter and energy we can't detect called
dark matter dark energy
87
what could dark matter and dark energy explain
why the expansion of the universe is speeding up

Physics (19 decks)

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