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Earth and Space Science > Spectroscopy > Flashcards

Spectroscopy Flashcards

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1
Q

Define gravity.

A

The force that attracts a body to the center of another body. The weakest of the fundamental forces. The attraction that keeps Earth in orbit around the sun is gravity.

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2
Q

What are gamma rays?

A

Shortest wavelength with the highest energy. Kills all living cells. Used in cancer cell treatment and the sterilization of medical equipment.

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3
Q

What are X-rays?

A

Small wavelength and high-energy waves. Can harm cells in moderate doses. Used in airport security and medical imaging.

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4
Q

What is ultraviolet light?

A

Between visible light and X-Rays. Can cause skin cancer in high amounts. Used in black light, sterilizing medical equipment, and security images.

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5
Q

What is visible light?

A

White light. Only type of EM wave detectable by the unaided human eye.

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6
Q

What is infrared light?

A

Wavelength between microwaves and visible light. Used in remote controls and night vision goggles.

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7
Q

What are microwaves?

A

Wavelengths vary from 1mm - 1m. Used in GPSs, Bluetooth, radars, and microwave ovens.

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8
Q

What are radio waves?

A

The longest EM waves. Used in TV/Radio broadcasting, MRIs, cell phones, and heart rate monitors.

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9
Q

What are crests?

A

The top part of a wave.

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10
Q

What are troughs?

A

The bottom part of a wave.

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11
Q

What are wavelengths?

A

The distance from one wave crest/trough to the one adjacent to it. Represented by the symbol λ.

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12
Q

What is frequency?

A

The number of crests that pass a given point per second. Measured in hertz.

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13
Q

What is reflection?

A

When light bounces off of a surface instead of going through it or being absorbed by it. By shining a lamp on a mirror, the light will reflect.

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14
Q

What is absorption?

A

When light enters an object and doesn’t leave it. Heat is transmitted in this process.

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15
Q

What is a prism?

A

A transparent optical device that can refract light.

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16
Q

What is an absorption spectrum?

A

The spectrum of frequencies that an atom of an element can absorb.

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17
Q

What is the visible light spectrum?

A

The spectrum of frequencies that can be observed with the visible eye. Known as the colors ROY G. BIV.

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18
Q

What is dispersion?

A

The phenomenon in which white light is split into its component colors due to the refractive index of the surface and the wavelength of the light.

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19
Q

What is the index of refraction?

A

The index of refraction (n) of a substance is equal to the ratio of the speed of light in a vacuum (c) to the speed of light in the medium (v): n = c/v.

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20
Q

What is a medium?

A

The material or object through which something happens through. Copper is the medium of electricity in copper wires.

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21
Q

What are the parts of a simple wave?

A

The crest (rise), the trough (the fall), the wavelength (length between crest/trough to the one adjacent to it), the positive amplitude (distance from the middle of the wave to the top of the wave), and negative amplitude (distance from the middle of the wave to the top of the wave).

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22
Q

What happens to light when it encounters an object?

A

The light is either transmitted, reflected, or absorbed.

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23
Q

How does redshift occur?

A

Redshift occurs when a star is moving away from your point of reference.

24
Q

How does blueshift occur?

A

Blueshift occurs when a star is approaching your point of reference.

25
Q

What is a binary star?

A

A system of stars in which a star revolves around a more massive star or around a common center.

26
Q

What is a Cepheid variable?

A

A type of star that brightens and dims periodically due to expansion and contraction.

27
Q

What is an emission spectrum?

A

A spectrum of the electromagnetic radiation emitted by a source.

28
Q

What is a star?

A

A luminous ball of gas, mostly hydrogen and helium, held together by its own gravity.

29
Q

What is Doppler shift?

A

The phenomena in which a frequency appears to have a higher or lower wavelength due to the movement of the source relative to the point of observation or vice versa.

30
Q

What is electromagnetic radiation?

A

The waves of the electromagnetic field, propagating through space, carrying electromagnetic radiant energy. Solar energy.

31
Q

What is white light?

A

Colorless light (daylight). Contains all the wavelengths of the visible spectrum at equal intensity.

32
Q

What are cataracts?

A

The clouding of the normally clear lens of the eye. Occurs when dead cells collect within the lens of the eye.

33
Q

What are the layers of the sun?

A

Core, radiation zone, convection zone, photosphere, chromosphere, and corona.

34
Q

What is the core of the sun?

A

Where nuclear fusion occurs. Center point of gravity.

35
Q

What is the sun’s radiation zone?

A

Where heat transfers mostly through light energy.

36
Q

What is the sun’s convection zone?

A

Where heat transfers through hot gas.

37
Q

What is the sun’s photosphere?

A

The visible “surface” of the sun. Reaches 6,000 degrees Celsius.

38
Q

What is the sun’s chromosphere?

A

The atmosphere of plasma at 5,000-10,000 degrees Celsius.

39
Q

What is the sun’s corona?

A

The outer atmosphere extending several million kilometers beyond the sun at 5,000-10,000 degrees Celsius.

40
Q

What happens to light as it passes through a prism?

A

When (white) light passes through a prism, all the colors of the visible spectrum get separated as the light refracts.

41
Q

What is refraction?

A

When an object causes a ray of light to change directions when it enters the object at an angle.

42
Q

What is the effect of giant stars on their spectral lines?

A

Spectral lines will be broadened or look “smeared out”.

43
Q

What is the effect of a star being orbited by a large planet on it’s spectral lines?

A

The star will move in a small circle which means that the spectral lines will appear to blueshift at moments then redshift at others.

44
Q

What is the effect of binary stars on their spectral lines?

A

Spectral lines will appear to move towards and away from each other from element to element.

45
Q

What is the effect of Cepheid variables on their spectral lines?

A

Some spectral lines will appear to be less intense than others.

46
Q

Does a nebula have an emission spectrum or an absorption spectrum?

A

Emission spectrum.

47
Q

What is luminosity?

A

A star’s intrinsic brightness.

48
Q

What is the equation to find redshift?

A

Redshift (Z) is equal to the quotient of the wavelength of the observed spectra (λobs) and the wavelength of the reference spectra (λref) subtracted from one. Z=(λobs/λref)-1.

49
Q

What is a spectrograph?

A

An instrument used to obtain and record an astronomical spectrum.

50
Q

What is Hubble’s Law?

A

A law stating that the redshifts in the spectra of distant galaxies (and hence their speeds of recession) are proportional to their distance.

51
Q

What is the Hubble constant?

A

The Hubble constant gives the rate of the recessional velocity of a galaxy as the movement from our galaxy increases which today is estimated to be about 70 km/s per Mpc.

52
Q

What is the Big Bang theory?

A

The idea that the universe began as just a single point, then expanded and stretched to grow as large as it is right now (and it could still be stretching).

53
Q

What is absolute brightness?

A

The luminosity of a star or other celestial object as it would be as seen from a standard distance (usually ten parsecs).

54
Q

What apparent brightness?

A

The measure of the luminosity of a star as seen from Earth.

55
Q

Why is Hubble’s Law correct?

A

The doppler effect also applies to light waves. Since blue light have shorter wavelengths and higher frequencies, compressed light appears bluer when the source of light is moving towards your point of reference. When a light source is moving away from your point of reference, the light waves are stretched, appearing red.

Earth and Space Science (7 decks)

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