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Physics - Y10 + Y11 > Space Physics > Flashcards

Space Physics Flashcards

1
Q

Name the planets in order

A
  1. Sun
  2. Mercury
  3. Venus
  4. Earth
  5. Mars
  6. Saturn
  7. Uranus
  8. Neptune
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2
Q

Name the rocky planets

A

Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars

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3
Q

Which planets are the larger planets?

A

Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune

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4
Q

What comes after Neptune?

A

Dwarf planets like Pluto

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5
Q

Name other objects in the solar system

A

Moons
asteroids
comets

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6
Q

What are moons?

A

Natural satellites which orbit planets,
most planets have at least 1 but some have more

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7
Q

What is the solar system?

A

small part of the Milky Way galaxy

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8
Q

Galaxy

A

massive group of stars

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9
Q

How do stars form?

A
  1. From clouds of dust and gas - a nebula
  2. Gas is mainly Hydrogen in a nebula
  3. Gravity causes cloud of dust and gas to collapse
  4. As dust particles move faster, temp rises to millions of degrees celcius
  5. This is called a protostar
  6. If temp of protostar is high enough, hydrogen nuclei join together to form helium
  7. This is nuclear fusion
  8. Protostar has turned into a star
  9. Nuclear fusion releasing lots of energy
  10. Star is in equilibrium with gravity thats acting inwards - causes star to collapse (there are 2 opposing forces) and NF which acts outwards causing star to expand
  11. Both forces are balanced
  12. At this point, it is a main-sequence star
  13. What happens next depends on the size of the star
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10
Q

What is a nebula

A

cloud of dust and gas which is mainly hdyrogen

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11
Q

What does gravity cause the stars to do?

A

collapse

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12
Q

What does nuclear fusion cause the stars to do?

A

expand

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13
Q

What is a protostar?

A
  • Formed by a nebula experiencing gravity which causes it to collapse
  • Lots of particles moving quickly which causes a very high temp
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14
Q

What causes a protostar to turn into a star?

A
  • If the temp is high enough, the hydrgoen nuclei will do nuclear fusion and join together to form helium
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15
Q

What happens to the main sequence star if its about the same size as our Sun/ small/ medium?

A
  1. Hydrogen in star begins to run out
  2. This point, outward force due to fusion energy is less than inward force due to gravity
  3. Causes star to collapse inwards
  4. Temp increases due ot collapse
  5. Helium nuclei fuse together to create heavier elements
  6. This makes expands to make a red giant
  7. At some point, red giant stops fusing helium
  8. Star shrinks = white dwarf
  9. Since its not carrying out fusion it cools down and stops releasing energy = black dwarf
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16
Q

What happens to the main sequence star if its bigger than our Sun?

A
  1. Red super giant shine brightly again - more nuclear fusion
  2. They explode = supernova
  3. forms elements heavier than iron due to the temp high that are ejected across the universe
  4. Supernova condenses into a neutron if star was big
  5. Or black hole if star was massive
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17
Q

What is a neutron star?

A
  • Formed by a supernove if star was big
  • Neutrons densely packed together
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18
Q

What is a black hole?

A

Lots of gravity that light cant escape

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19
Q

How does the Earth orbit the Sun?

A

In a circular orbit but striclty speaking scientists say they orbit as a elliptical orbit

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20
Q

What causes the Earth to be held in its orbit?

A

Force of gravity acting between sun and earth

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21
Q

How often do geostationary satellites orbit?

A

once every 24 hrs, this means they always point to the same part of the earth, however other artifical satellites orbit more freq

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22
Q

In circular orbits, what does the force of gravity lead to?

A

A change in velocity (speed w/ direction) but not in speed

23
Q

If the satellite speed changes what also changes?

A

the radius of the orbit

24
Q

If speed of satellite increases, what happens to radius? Why?

A
  • radius of orbit decreases
  • Because at a high speed, satellite needs greater force of gravity to prevent it flying off into space
  • by moving closer, gf is greater and satellite remains in a stable orbit
25
Q

What did scientists see in 1900 when looking at light emitted from diff galaxies?

A
  • Light from v distant galaxies has an increased wavelength comapred to light from closer galaxies
26
Q

What do nearby galaxies have and what does it mean?

A
  • small redshift
  • they are moving away
27
Q

What do more distant galaxies have and what does it mean?

A
  • larger red shift
  • moving away faster
28
Q

What do very distant galaxies have and what does it mean?

A
  • very large redshift
  • moving away v fast
29
Q

Evidence for universe is expanding?

A

Distant galaxies are moving faster than nearby galaxies = expanding

30
Q

2 types of satelites and explain what they are

A
  • Natural - not man made
  • Artificial - man made, communication, orbiting telescopes
31
Q

What are asteroids

A
  • made mostly of rock and metal
  • found in asteroid belt (between mars and jupiter)
32
Q

what are comets

A
  • ice and dust
  • have more of a elliptical orbit
  • outskirts of solar system
33
Q

What holds together the stars in a galaxy

A

gravity

34
Q

What changes may happen in a protostar as it grows in size and attracts more particles?

A
  • increase in temp
  • increase in density
  • nuclear fusion could intiate
35
Q

What does a change in velocity mean in orbits?

A

accelerating

36
Q

What is the asteroid belt and which 2 planets ist it found between?

A
  • region in solar system that contains millions of asteroids
  • Mars and Jupiter
37
Q

As a protostar grows and attracts more particles from the surronding nebula, what changes happen?

A
  • temp increases
  • becomes more denser
  • nuclear fusion could intiate
38
Q

What allows for a long stable period for the main sequence star?

A

When the outward pressure caused by nuclear fusion is perfectly balanced with inward pressure caused by gravity

39
Q

What law is applicable to how orbits at a certain velocity

A
  • Newtons 1st Law
  • continue to travel at that velocity unless acted upon by a resultant force
40
Q

What is required for the object to stay in orbit?

A

magnitude of the velocity must increase

41
Q

Why does red shift happen?

A
  • Because light emitted by an object moving away from us will be stretched
  • stretching = lights wavelength to increase
  • faster an object moves away from us - larger red shift
  • It is the space between the galaxy and Earth thats increasing, not the galaxy moving
42
Q

Big Bang Theory

A
  • Universe began from a very small region that was extremely hot and dense
  • Giant explosion caused universe to expand
  • still much about universe thats not understood like dark energy and dark mass
43
Q

Since 1998 onwards, what did observations of supernovae suggest?

A

distance galaxies are receding ever faster

44
Q

What is CMBR?

A
  • (Cosmic microwave background radiation) is em radiation thats observed in all direction
  • Initially, radiation from bb was hot
  • as universe expanded and cooled, the background radiation has dropped in freuqency
45
Q

Red shift equation

A

diff between observed wavelength and original wavelength
__________________________________
original wavelength of light

= recessional velocity of galaxy
_____________________________________
speed of light in a vacuum, 300,000,000 m/s

46
Q

Which side of the absorption spectra has the longer wavelength? Shortest?

A
  • longest = left side thats red
  • shortest = right side = violet
47
Q

Describe the light absoroption spectra of the Sun

A
  1. star emits light of all wavelengths
  2. However, some wavelengths of light are absorbed by chemicals in sun’s atmosphere
  3. light that reaches earth has some wavelengths of light missing
48
Q

What provides evidence for Big Bang?

A

red shift

49
Q

What side has the absoption spectra pattern from distant galaxies shifted to?

A

red side of spectra

50
Q

Strengths and weaknesses of using a balloon to represent expanding universe

A

+ = As the balloon expands the dots get further apart, which represents the galaxies moving apart

  • = The dots are only on the surface of the balloon, whereas galaxies are throughout the universe
  • = There is a limit to how far the balloon can expand before it bursts
51
Q

Why may scientists start to believe in another theory instead of the old one?

A

new evidence that cant be explained by old theory

52
Q

What info can we get if we measure the size of the red-shift the galaxy produces?

A
  • Distance from Earth
  • Speed its moving
53
Q

Explain how the scientific evidence for the “big bang” theory of the origin of the Universe

A
  • galaxies show a red-shift
  • but more distant galaxies shower bigger red shift
  • Universe is expanding
  • but more distant galaxies moving away faster
  • so all Universe once in one place

Physics - Y10 + Y11 (7 decks)

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