Exam 4 Part 1

Ch 4 Study Guide
Ch. 4.1 Describing Motion

Definitions:
Speed - The rate at which an object moves. Its units are distance divided by time,
such as m/s or km/hr.

Velocity - The combination of speed and direction of motion; it can be stated as a

speed in a particular direction, such as 100 km/hr due north.

Acceleration - The rate at which an object’s velocity changes. Its standard units
are m/s2.

Mass - A measure of the amount of matter in an object.

Weight - The net force that an object applies to its surroundings; in the case of a
stationary body on the surface of Earth, it equals mass × acceleration of gravity.

Force - Anything that can cause a change in momentum.

What is the difference between speed and velocity?

Speed is the time rate at which an object is moving along a path, while velocity is
the rate and direction of an object's movement.

If you have an acceleration, what does it imply about the speed or velocity?
The car has an acceleration if its velocity is changing in any way, whether in speed
or direction or both.

How is mass different from weight?

Your mass therefore depends only on the amount of matter in your body and is the
same anywhere, but your weight can vary because the forces acting on you can
vary. For example, your mass would be the same on the Moon as on Earth, but you
would weigh less on the Moon because of its weaker gravity.

How are mass and weight affected by where you are located? (e.g. does either
change if I move from the Earth to the Moon or to the middle of nowhere in
space?)
Ch. 4.2 Newton’s Law of Motion
Definitions:
Intertia -

How did Newton Change our understanding of how the universe works?
Newton showed that the same physical laws that operate on Earth also operate in
the heavens, making it possible to learn about the universe by studying physical
laws on Earth.
developed the three basic laws of motion and the theory of universal gravity

How was Newton’s understanding of motion different than the ancient Greeks?
He suddenly realized that the gravity making the apple fall was the same force that
held the Moon in orbit around Earth
the Greeks weren't accounting for forces such as friction acting on the objects
they observed.

What was different about Newton’s and Aristotle’s beliefs about physical laws on
Earth compared to in the heavens?
gravity operates in the heavens as well as on Earth

What were Newton’s three laws of motion and what do they mean?
Newton’s first law: An object moves at constant velocity if there is no net force
acting upon it.
objects at rest (velocity = 0 )tend to remain at rest, and objects in motion tend to
remain in motion with no change in either their speed or their direction.

Newton’s second law:Law stating how a net force affects an object’s motion.
Specifically,
Force = mass x acceleration (F = ma)
Force = rate of change in momentum
This law explains why you can throw a baseball farther than you can throw a shot
in the shot put. The force your arm delivers to both the baseball and the shot
equals the product of mass and acceleration.
Newton’s third law: Principle that, for any force, there is always an equal and
opposite reaction force.
Newton’s third law: For any force, there is always an equal and opposite reaction
force.
Newton’s third law also explains how a rocket works: A rocket engine generates a
force that drives hot gas out the back, which creates an equal and opposite force
that propels the rocket forward.

Ch. 4.4 The Universal Law of Gravitation

Calculations:

G is the universal gravitation constant = 6.67 x10 to the -11 Nm2/kg 2

M and m are the masses of the two objects
D is the distance between their centers

Do the practice problems posted on WebCT so you can calculate the force of
gravity between two planets or between the sun and a planet/

Definitions:
Bound orbit - Orbits on which an object travels repeatedly around another object;
bound orbits are elliptical in shape.

Unbound orbit - Orbits on which an object comes in toward a large body only
once, never to return; unbound orbits may be parabolic or hyperbolic in shape.

Escape velocity - The speed necessary for an object to completely escape the
gravity of a large body such as a moon, planet, or star.

Why is G called the universal gravitational constant?

gravitational constant
The experimentally measured constant G that appears in the law of universal
gravitation. G = 6.67 times 10 to the negative eleventh power start fraction m
cubed over kilograms times seconds squared.

What objects will experience a gravitational force?

How does the force of gravity depend on the mass? (e.g. how does the force of
gravity change if I triple ONE of the masses? What if I triple BOTH masses? Etc..)

How does it depend on the distance between the objects? (e.g. how does the
force change if I double the distance between the objects? What if the distance is
decreased by a factor of 3, how does the force change? etc..)

Does gravity pull objects together or push them apart?

How do Newton’s law of gravity relate to Kepler’s laws of planetary motion?

showed that the inverse square law for gravity leads naturally to elliptical orbits for
planets orbiting the Sun (with the Sun at one focus)
(1) Newton showed that any object going around another object will obey Kepler’s
first two laws. (2) He showed that elliptical bound orbits are not the only possible
orbital shape—orbits can also be unbound in the shape of parabolas or
hyperbolas. (3) He showed that two objects actually orbit their common center of
mass. (4) Newton’s version of Kepler’s third law allows us to calculate the
masses of orbiting objects from their orbital periods and distances.

Why do satellites in a low earth orbit eventually fall back to Earth?

What do we mean by escape velocity?

Roughly how big is the escape velocity from the surface of the Earth?

(Note tides were already covered on Exam 1 when we talked about the Moon so
they will not appear on this exam)

Exam 4 Part 2
Ch 5 Study Guide

Definitions:
Wave - The distance between adjacent peaks (or troughs) of a wave.

Frequency - The rate at which peaks of a wave pass by a point, measured in units
of 1/s, often called cycles per second or hertz.

Atom - The basic units of the chemical elements, consisting of a nucleus made
from protons and neutrons, surrounded by a cloud of electrons.

Electron - Fundamental particles with negative electric charge; the distribution of

electrons in an atom gives the atom its size.

Proton - Particles with positive electrical charge found in atomic nuclei, built from
three quarks.

Neutron - Particles with no electrical charge found in atomic nuclei, built from
three quarks.

Isotopes - Forms of an element that have the same number of protons but
different numbers of neutrons.

Electromagnetic radiation - Another name for light of all types, from radio waves
through gamma rays.

Photon - An individual particle of light, characterized by a wavelength and a

frequency.

Ions - Atoms with a positive or negative electrical charge.

Emission - The process by which matter emits energy in the form of light.

Absorption - The process by which matter absorbs radiative energy

Reflect - The process by which matter changes the direction of light.

Scatter - Light that is reflected into random directions.

Transmission - The process in which light passes through matter without being
absorbed.
Transparent - A word used to describe a material that transmits light

Opaque - A word used to describe a material that absorbs light.

What is light?
Light is an electromagnetic wave, but it also comes in individual “pieces” called
photons. Each photon has a precise wavelength, frequency, and energy: The
shorter the wavelength, the higher the frequency and energy.

Does it behave like a wave or a particle?

How fast does light travel in space (in a vacuum)?

All light travels through empty space at the same speed—the speed of light
(represented by the letter c)—which is about 300,000 kilometers per second

How does the speed of light depend on wavelength, energy, frequency for
different types of light?

How does the energy of a photon relate to the wavelength?

What is the structure of matter?

What defines which element an atoms is (the # or protons or # of Neutrons)?

Know why we see the things we see, for example why does the snow look like such
a bright white? Why does the Sun or a light bulb look bright?

Why do we see an image in a mirror?

Why does a rose look red?

What colors are in white light?

all the colors of the rainbow

Why does a lump of coal look black?

there is no light and no color.

Know the different classes of light and how the energies/ wavelengths rank:

Gamma, X-ray, Ultra-violet, Visible, Infrared, Microwave, Radio

Also for the visible spectrum, how does the energy and wavelength compare for
different colors, for example for blue and red light?

Ch. 5.2 Learning from Light

Calculations:

Definitions:
Continuous spectrum - A spectrum (of light) that spans a broad range of
wavelengths without interruption by emission or absorption lines.

Emission spectrum - A light bulb emits visible light; the energy of the light comes
from electrical potential energy supplied to the light bulb.

Absorption spectrum - When you place your hand near an incandescent light bulb,
your hand absorbs some of the light, and this absorbed energy warms your hand.

Can electrons bound in an atom have any value for their energy levels or only
specific, discrete values?

How do the energy levels for atoms of different elements compare?

What types of objects would give off a continuous spectrum?

Why do we see only specific wavelengths of light in an emission or absorption

spectrum?

When would you observe an emission spectrum or an absorption spectrum?

How can we tell what elements are present in an interstellar cloud or a distant
star?

How is the wavelength of maximum intensity of light emitted from an object

related to its temperature?

If the temperature increases, does this wavelength increase, decrease, stay the
same?

If you increase the temperature of an object, does the amount of energy increase,
decrease, stay the same? By how much does it change if, for example increase the
temperature by (for example)

a factor of 3 ?

For an object emitting thermal radiation, how does the color of the light emitted
change as the temperature changes?

How can we tell the speed of a distant star or gas cloud?

What is the Doppler effect?

If the light coming off an object is red shifted, what does it mean?

What if the light is blue shifted?

Ch. 5.3 Telescopes

Calculations :

Definitions:
Atmospheric window -

Light gathering power -

Refracting telescope - A telescope that uses lenses to focus light.

Reflecting telescope - A telescope that uses mirrors to focus light.

Chromatic aberration -

Magnification -
Resolving power -

Angular resolution - The smallest angular separation that two pointlike objects can
have and still be seen as distinct points of light (rather than as a single point of
light).

Light pollution - Human-made light that hinders astronomical observations.

Turbulence - Rapid and random motion.

Active optics -

Interferometry - A telescopic technique in which two or more telescopes are used

in tandem to produce much better angular resolution than the telescopes could
achieve individually.

False color image -

What do we mean by an atmospheric window?

What types of light can reach the Earth’s surface?

What are the two main types of optical telescopes and which type is better?

What are the disadvantages/advantages of each type?

Can we completely correct for chromatic aberration?

What are the two most important properties of a telescope?

What do we mean by light gathering power?

How can we improve a telescopes light gathering power?

What is resolving power and how can we improve it?

What types of things cause light pollution?

What are some of the modern features used on modern telescopes to improve
their properties?

What are some of the advantages of Charge coupled devices compared to

photographic film?

How does the atmosphere effect what we see in a telescope?

What are some of the advantages and disadvantages of radio telescopes?

What types of radiation can we look at with Earth based telescopes?

What is the main advantage of a space telescope? (Why do we put telescopes in

space?)

What wavelengths have to be studied with a space-based telescope?

Why do we look at different wavelengths of light with telescopes? (i.e. x-ray, radio,
visible etc..)

What types of objects would you look at in the ultra violet or x-ray range of the
electromagnetic spectrum?

What is interferometry?

For which wavelength is interferometry easiest to use and why?