THE COSMIC ENGINE

OUR SUN IS JUST ONE STAR IN THE GALAXY AND OUR GALAXY IS JUST ONE
IN THE UNIVERSE

1.1: OUTLINE THE HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT OF MODELS OF THE UNIVERSE FROM THE TIME OF
ARISTOTLE TO THE TIME OF NEWTON

Aristotles: model of the universe said the earth was round. However his model
of geocentric, meaning he thought that the earth was the centre of
the universe. He also believed that the sun and the stars were in a
celestial sphere that rotated around the earth





Aristarchuss: model was heliocentric, meaning that the sun was the centre of the
Universe. Aristarchus also believed that the sun was much bigger
than the earth and that the reason why everything appeared to
rotate around the earth was because earth rotates on its axis once a
day.

Copernicus: also brought forward a heliocentric model.

Brahes: model of the universe was part geocentric and part heliocentric. He
had the planets and stars rotating around the sun. However he had
the sun rotating around earth.

Kepler: discovered 3 Laws:
1. Planets travel in elliptical orbits around the sun with
the sun at one of the two foci.






2. The speed of the orbiting planet increases as its radius
decreases, and the speed decreases as the radius
increases.

3. Law of Period: The time a planet takes to orbit is
dependent of the radius of the orbit.



Galileo: was the first person to look at the stars and planets with a telescope.
He made many observations of planets, stars and moons.

Newton: deduced the Law of Universal Gravitation. Gravity is a force that pulls
masses together. Every mass in the Universe exerts a force of gravity
on every other mass. The force of gravity between two bodies is
determined by their masses and the distance between them.


















THE FIRST MINUTES OF THE UNIVERSE RELEASED ENERGY WHICH CHANGED
TO MATTER, FORMING STARS AND GALAXIES

2.1: OUTLINE THE DISCOVERY OF THE EXPANSION OF THE UNIVERSE BY HUBBLE, FOLLOWING ITS
EARLIER PREDICTION BY FRIEDMANN

Friedmann mathematically proved that the universe was expanding, but he made
some assumptions in order to prove it.

He used Einsteins equations to determine his own solutions about the universe
and when he omitted Einsteins cosmological constant from his equations then
all his solutions suggested that the universe was expanding.

Hubble using the worlds largest telescope discovered the cosmological red shift.
When light from distant stars and galaxies is examined with a spectroscope and
compared to light from the same elements on Earth, the spectrum from the star
or galaxy shows a shift towards the red end of the spectrum.

A red shift corresponds to a shift to the lower frequency (longer wavelength).
This indicates that the light source, the galaxy is moving away from us. All
galaxies show this effect indicating that the universe is expanding. The stretching
of space causes the cosmological red shift.

2.2: DESCRIBE THE TRANSFORMATION OF RADIATION INTO MATTER WHICH FOLLOWED THE BIG
BAND

About 300,000 years after the Big Bang, the temperature of the Universe had
dropped enough for Hydrogen atoms to form from electrons and protons.

From this time the radiation was set free from matter.

At the beginning of the big bang, there was only radiation. However over time
ranging from 300 seconds to 1 million years, the particles combined to form
atoms (matter).

Radiation tends to interact with charged particles, being bounced around so that
it is not free to move through the universe.

2.3: IDENTIFY THAT EINSTEIN DESCRIBED THE EQUIVALENCE OF ENERGY AND MASS

In 1915 Einstein proposed his Special Theory of Relativity in which he deduced
the relationship between energy and mass as

This equation indicates that energy and mass are simply different forms of the
same entity; mass could be created from energy and energy could be created by
mass.

2.4: OUTLINE HOW THE ACCRETION OF GALAXIES AND STARS OCCURRED THROUGH:
O EXPANSION AND COOLING OF THE UNIVERSE
O SUBSEQUENT LOSS OF PARTICLE KINETIC ENERGY
O GRAVITATIONAL ATTRACTION BETWEEN PARTICLES
O LUMPINESS OF THE GAS CLOUD THAT THEN ALLOWS GRAVITATIONAL COLLAPSE

Expansion and cooling of the Universe

As the universe expanded, it cooled (because the energy has to be distributed
over a larger volume). The Steady State theory says that as the universe is
expanding, more matter is created to keep its density constant, however, this
theory is not supported.

About 10,000 year after the big bang, the expansion of the Universe resulted in
the temperature falling enough so that matter particles exceeded the light and
other radiation that had dominated earlier

Subsequent loss of particle kinetic energy

The temperature of a body is related to the kinetic energy in it particles. So as
the particle kinetic energy got lower the temperature decreased. This resulted in
the amount of matter in the universe exceeding the amount of radiation.

Gravitational attraction between particles

The Law of Gravitation states that every mass in the universe is attracted by
gravity to every other mass in the universe. So stars slowly attracted other stars,
which over time resulted in masses of stars clumped together, known as galaxies.

This loss in Kinetic energy meant that the increased gravitational force between
particles took effect.

Lumpiness of the gas cloud that then allows gravitational collapse

Lumpiness of gas cloud is where some parts are denser than others.

The small variations in the density of the particles would consequently grow;
leading to accretion until eventually our current universe was created

2.4: DESCRIBE THE PROBABLE ORIGINS OF THE UNIVERSE

After Hubble showed in the 1920s that the Universe was not static but expanding
then various scientists tried to explain this observation. The two best-known
explanations were the Steady State Theory and the Big Bang Theory.

The Belgian, Georges Lemaitre, put forward the Big Bang Theory, in 1927 when he
proposed that the Universe began from a primeval atom. For some reason the
primeval fireball began to expand and as it expanded matter thinned out, cooled
down and gradually condensed into stars and galaxies. In 1948 the British
astronomers Hermann Bondi, Thomas Gold and Fred Hoyle put forward an opposing
theory, namely the Steady State Theory. This suggests that the Universe has always
existed essentially the same as it is today. As the Universe expanded a new atom of
hydrogen would suddenly pop into existence in the space between galaxies.

Modern astronomers have largely rejected the steady state theory. While the
amount of matter being created would be small (less than an atom per cubic metre
per million years) it seemed to contravene the principle of conservation of energy
and mass. As telescopes improved, astronomers were able to see further and further
into the Universe. With the discovery of Quasars at great distances it was found that
the Universe was far from uniform. Also, because of the time it takes the light from
quasars to reach us, we are actually seeing what the Universe was like billions of
years ago. It appears that a lot more quasars existed in the past than are present
today.

In 1950, George Gamow predicted that radiation left over from the Big Bang should
still be present in the Universe. Just as the spectra of stars are red shifted because
they are moving away from us, so too the energy left over from the Big Bang should
still be present in the Universe but at a much longer wavelength than it had originally
because of the expanding universe. Calculations suggested that the temperature of
the Universe should be in the order of 3 kelvin as characterised by a blackbody
spectrum with a peak wavelength of around 1 mm. Arnio Penzias and Robert Wilson
confirmed this in 1965 when they discovered this radiation now called the
background microwave radiation. Its intensity is isotropic (the same in all directions)
and its wavelength is consistent with the predicted temperature of just under 3
kelvin.





STARS HAVE AN LIMITED LIFE SPAN AND MAY EXPLODE TO FORM
SUPERNOVAS
3.1: DEFINE THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE TEMPERATURE OF A BODY AND THE DOMINANT
WAVELENGTH OF THE RADIATION EMITTED FROM THAT BODY

As the temperature increases the wavelengths become longer.

Hot: more energy is being emitted: short wavelengths.

Cold: less energy is being emitted: long wavelengths.

As the temperature of a body increases the peak wavelength decreases.

3.2: IDENTIFY THAT THE SURFACE TEMPERATURE OF A STAR IS RELATED TO ITS COLOUR

A cooler star, with a surface temperature of 3000-4000 Kelvins produces most of
its visible radiation at the longer wavelength, or red side of the spectrum, hence
appearing red.

As the temperature increases to around 6000 Kelvins. The wavelengths peak in
the tallow and a star will appear yellow.

At slightly higher temperatures, around 7000 Kelvins, the distribution of the
radiation is more even and as a result, the star will appear white.

A hotter star, with a surface temperature of 8000 Kelvins or more produces
most of its visible radiation at the shorter wavelength, or blue end of the
spectrum, hence the star appears blue.

Coolest:
Dull red
Orange
Yellow
Hotter:
White Blue-White

The hotter that the star is the shorter the wavelength indicating that the hotter
the star the increased shift towards the blue end of the spectrum.


3.3: DESCRIBE A HERTZSPRUNG-RUSSELL DIAGRAM AS THE GRAPH OF A STARS LUMINOSITY
AGAINST ITS COLOUR OR SURFACE TEMPERATURE

The Hertzsprung-Russell diagram plots a stars surface temperature against its
luminosity. Each dot is a star. The stars can be classed into groups depending on
their position on the H-R diagram. A stars life cycle can also be drawn on the H-R
diagram.
























3.4: IDENTIFY ENERGY SOURCES CHARACTERISTI C OF EACH STAR GROUP, INCLUDING MAIN
SEQUENCE, RED GIANTS AND WHITE DWARFS.

Main sequence: is a diagonal band from the upper left of an hr diagram to the
lower right corner of the diagram. Most stars are in this group.

Red giants: is the group of stars in the upper right corner. These are cool giant
stars.

White dwarfs: is the group close to the lower left corner of the Hr diagram. These
are exceptional small, hot stars.

















THE SUN IS A TYPICAL STAR, EMITTING ELECTROMAGNETIC RADIATION AND
PARTICLES THAT INFLUENCE THE EARTH

4.1: IDENTIFY THAT ENERGY MAY BE RELEASED FROM THE NUCLEI OF ATOMS

The nuclei of many atoms are unstable.

They try to achieve stability by releasing energy.

They do this in the form of alpha particles, beta particles and gamma rays.

Energy can also be released in the form of nuclear fusion reactions.

In the proton-proton chain, most of the energy is released in the form of the
kinetic energy of the products of the reaction. These include Alpha and beta
particles and gamma rays.

This is the nuclear binding energy, and may be released in two ways:

o (a) fusion from the combination of light elements into heavier ones (for
instance hydrogen into helium);

o (b) fission from the splitting of heavy elements into lighter ones (such
asuranium being split into barium and krypton when bombarded by
neutrons)

4.2: DESCRIBE THE NATURE OF EMISSIONS FROM THE NUCLEI OF ATOMS AS RADIATION OF ALPHA
ALPHA AND BETA PARTICLES AND GAMMA RAYS IN TERMS OF:
IONIZING POWER
PENETRATING POWER
EFFECT OF MAGNETIC FIELD
` EFFECT OF ELECTRIC FIELD






4.3: IDENTIFY THE NATURE OF EMISSIONS REACHING THE EARTH FROM THE SUN

Emissions from the sun include:
Electromagnetic radiation however most of it is not allowed through
our atmosphere.

Charged Particles Protons and electrons, this is known as solar wind.|

Neutrinos very small neutral particles.

The wavelengths of electromagnetic waves emitted by an object are related to
the objects temperature.

The sun has a surface temperature of about ~5700K and thus emits primarily in
the visible portion of the electromagnetic spectrum in a band from 4 x 10
-9
to 4 x
10
-9
.

This radiation, along with short wave infrared passes through the Earths
atmosphere without being absorbed although some is reflected back into Space
by the clouds.

About 7% of the suns radiation is below 400nm that is in the Ultra-Violet.

Electromagnetic radiation is visible and invisible.
4.4: DESCRIBE THE PARTICULATE NATURE OF THE SOLAR WIND

Solar wind consists of a stream of ionised particles, mostly protons and electrons
that flow from the sun in all directions at speeds of about 400 km.s-1.

The source of the wind is the suns hot corona the outer atmosphere of the sun
extending a distance of a few solar radii into space.

Most of the corona consists of vast arches of hot gas solar flares that are
millions of kilometres in length and are caused by the suns magnetic field.

The Solar wind comes from regions called coronal holes, regions of cooler, less
dense gas. As the sun rotates there is a periodic variation in Solar wind activity
every 27 days.

The Solar wind is responsible for pushing the tail of comets away from the sun.


4.5: OUTLINE THE CYCLIC NATURE OF SUNSPOT ACTIVITY AND ITS IMPACT ON EARTH THROUGH
SOLAR WINDS






Sunspot cycle is a pattern of increasing and decreasing sunspots.

Sunsport is a dark spot on the sun with lower temperatures and intense magnetic
activity.

Cycle is between 7-13 years.

Two types of emission reaching Earth from the sun: electromagnetic radiation
and solar winds.

Earths atmosphere and magnetic field shelters as from theses emissions.

The sunspots themselves last for several days although larger ones may last up to
a few weeks.

The number of particles and their velocity increases following sunspot activity
and solar flares meaning that the solar wind is greater in the time of maximum
sunspots.

Sunspot Activity follows an 11 year cycle. They release large amounts of
electromagnetic radiation, which affects the earth in way such as:

o Causes aural displays.
o Affects earths magnetic field.
o Overloading electrical power lines, which causes blackouts
o Disruption of radio/telephone communication.




4.6: DESCRIBE SUNSPOTS AS REPRESENTING REGIONS OF STRONG MAGNETIC ACTIVITY AND LOWER
TEMPERATURE

A sunspot is an area on the sun that has strong magnetic activity and a lower
temperature. They appear as dark regions, with an irregular shape.

Sunspots are relatively cool areas (~4500K), with magnetic field strengths some
thousands of times stronger than the Earths magnetic field, that appear as dark
imperfections in the photosphere.

They result from the penetration of magnetic field lines through the photosphere
and are ~8000km across. Except for the smaller ones, all sunspots have a dark
inner region the umbra where the magnetic field is strongest surrounded by a
less dark region the penumbra where the magnetic field is weakest