Due Date: Feb. 13, 2008
Instructions: Print and complete the following homework assignment. Make sure you write your name on the paper.
Name: ________________________________________
Circle wheter each statement is True or False (1 pt each).
Light years are units of time. True False
A star system can have more than one star in it. True False
Better telescopes will allow us to see objects more than 20 billion light years away. True False
The most basic motions of Earth are its daily orbit and yearly rotation. True False
The Local Cluster is in the Milky Way galaxy. True False
The Milky Way is near the center of the Universe. True False
The zenith is the point directly overhead in the local sky. True False
The words hypothesis and theory are synonomous. True False
The words speed and velocity are synonomous. True False
If an astronaut was on the moon, and dropped a 20 kg lead weight and a feather, they will fall at the same speed. True False
Green light has a shorter wavelength than red light. True False
Magnification is the most important function of a telescope. True False
Professional astronomers spend a lot of time looking through telescopes. True False
X-rays have more energy than radiowaves. True False
The Local Supercluster is bound together by gravity. True False
Fill in the blanks (2 pts each).
Our galaxy is approximately _____________ light years across.
The Andromeda galaxy is approximately _________________ light years away from us.
The ____________________ is the path the Sun follws as it appears to circle around the celestial sphere each year.
A year is _____________________ days long.
The Earth's equator is tilted __________________ degrees relative to the ecliptic plane.
Copernicus' book, De Revolutionibus Orbium Coelestium, was revolutionary because it proposed a ___________________ model for the Solar System.
A hallmark of science is that it makes _______________ predictions.
The rate at which velocity changes is called __________________.
The speed of light is __________________ m/s.
The three major categories of energy are kinetic energy, radiative energy, and _______________ energy.
Visible light is an example of an ___________________ wave.
Atoms are made of protons, neutrons, and ________________.
Solid, liguid, and gas are three examples of phases of matter; a fourth example is a ________________________.
A CCD detects _______________ .
The number 2,345 can be written as _________________________ using scientific notation.
A Joule is a unit of ________________.
Define (3 pts. each).
Lattitude
Longitude
Tropic of Cancer
Umbra
Heliocentric
Explain (attach a separate sheet for the answers in this section) each of the following. I expect complete answers.
Why we have seasons. (20 pts)
What stellar parallax is. (4 pts)
The origin of tides. (4 pts)
The difference between an absorption, and an emission, spectrum. (4 pts)
How we can determine the temperature of a planet using light. (3 pts)
Why we put telescopes in space. (3 pts)
Calculate (attach a separate sheet for the answers in this section) each of the following. Show all of your work. Note that you must explicitly write the correct units for each problem. (10 pts each).
The Earth is approximately 150,000,000 km from the Sun. What is the Earth's speed as it goes around the Sun?
The acceleration due to Earth's gravity, on (or near) the surface of the Earth, is approximately 9.8 m/s2. If I drop a baseball from the top of a building, what will it's speed be after 3 seconds?
How much energy does a photon with a wavelength of 1,064 nm have?
The gravitational force that the Earth exerts on a meteor with a mass of 100 kg, that is 500 km above the Earth's surface.
The acceleration of a 10 kg object that has a force of 10 N applied to it.
The Earth has a radius of approximately 6,000 km. Lexington has a latitude of roughly 38 degrees. How far is Lexington from the Equator?