Class presentation slides for Physical Science 50 (First quarter) Spring Semester 2009

1. Physical Science
The Universe Around Us
How does it Work?
What is it made of?
How does it affect us?

2. Astronomy
The Oldest Science
navigation
calendar systems
agriculture

3. Babylon & Egypt
Planetary motion
North Celestial Pole

4. Aristotle
Geocentrism
Perfect circles
Finite
Natural motion

5. Ptolemy
Retrograde motion
epicycles

6. Retrograde motion

7. Copernicus
Heliocentrism

8. Galileo
His evidence for
Copernicanism:
Lunar valley shadows
Sunspots
Venus’ phases
Jupiter’s moons

9. Lunar Shadows

10. Sunspots

11. Venus’ Phases

12. Jupiter’s Moons

13. Johannes Kepler
Planetary orbits = Ellipses

14. Skywatching

15. The Reason for Seasons

16. Lunar phases

17. Lunar Orbit vs. Earth’s Orbit

18. Solar Eclipse

19. Solar Eclipse

20. Lunar Eclipse

21. Lunar Eclipse

22. Common Orbital Planes

23. Zodiac constellations

24. Planetary paths

25. The 7 day week
English Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday
French Vendredi
dimanche Lundi Mardi Mercredi Jeudi samedi
Spanish Domingo Lunes Martes Miercoles Jueves Viernes sabado
Domenica
Italian Luedi Martedi Mercoledi Giovedi Venerdi sabato
Donnerstag
German Sonntag Montag Dienstag Mittwoch Freitag Samstag
Donderdag
Dutch Zondag Maandag Dinsdag Woensdag Vrijdag Zaterdag

26. Ecliptic = Sun’s path

27. Sun’s Path

28. Celestial Sphere

29. Circumpolar Constellations

30. Constellations

31. Modern Constellations
Ursa Major
vs.
“Big Dipper”

32. Legend of the Bear
Hibernation?

33. The Solar System

34. Beginning of the Solar System

35. Origins of the solar system
Solar nebula
Frequent
collisions
Many fragments

36. The Sun
Chief energy source
(photosynthesis)
Nearest star
Mainly hydrogen & helium

37. Photosphere

38. Corona
1,000,000 K+
Highly ionized
Gases

39. The Solar Wind

40. Aurora Borealis
(northern lights)

41. Mercury
Smallest (4880 km)
88 day year
Synchronous orbit

42. Synchronous Rotation

43. Mercurian Magnetic Field

44. Messenger

45. Venus
“sister” of Earth
243 days = year
Atmosphere
(100x Earth)

46. Venusian Atmosphere
Greenhouse effect

47. “Backward” Rotation
Previous Collision??

48. Mars
Red planet (rust)
686 days = year
Weak atmosphere
(mainly CO2)

49. Martian Ice?

50. Martian Moons
Phobos & Deimos

51. Jupiter
12 years = year
10 hours = day
Volume = 1400
Earths
Made of H, He

52. Great Red Spot
400+ year storm

53. Jupiter’s Interior
No solid surface

54. Galilean Moons

55. Saturn
29 year cycle
10 hour day
rings

56. Titan
Largest moon
Methane
atmosphere and
lakes
Solid water on
surface

57. Uranus
First modern planet
discovered 1781
84 year cycle

58. Another collision victim

59. Neptune
Discovered
mathematically
(1846)
164 year cycle
Great Dark Spot

60. Pluto

Jan 23, 1930
Jan 29, 1930 Tombaugh

61. Pluto’s orbit

62. Plutonian Moons
Charon
Nix
Hydra

63. Kuiper Belt

64. Kuiper Belt objects

65. Oort Cloud

66. Comets

67. Meteors

68. Asteroid Belt
Ceres (1801)

69. Bode’s Law (1768)
 Anleitung zur Kenntniss des gestirnten Himmels
“Let the distance from the Sun to Saturn be taken
as 100, then Mercury is separated by 4 such parts

from the Sun. Venus is 4+3=7. The Earth 4+6=10.

Mars 4+12=16. Now comes a gap in this so orderly

progression. After Mars there follows a space of

4+24=28 parts, in which no planet has yet been seen.

Can one believe that the Founder of the universe

had left this space empty? Certainly not. From here

we come to the distance of Jupiter by 4+48=52 parts,

and finally to that of Saturn by 4+96=100 parts.”


70. Johannes Kepler
Planetary orbits = Ellipses

71. Bode’s Law
Planet K Bode’s Actual
Mercury 0 0.4 AU 0.39 AU
Venus 1 0.7 0.72
Earth 2 1.0 1.00
Mars 4 1.6 1.52
8 2.8 2.77
Jupiter 16 5.2 5.2
Saturn 32 10 9.54

72. Asteroids
Irregular shape
Cratered
small

73. Milky Way Galaxy

74. Celestial Distances
Earth - Moon 3.84 x 105 km
1.5 x 108 km
Earth-Sun
5.9 x 109 km
Sun-Pluto

75. Nearest Star
Proxima Centauri:
3.97 x 1013 Km

76. Light Year
C = 3 x 108 m/s
(3 x 108m/s) x (60 s/min) x
(60 min/hr) x (24hr/d) x (365.25 d/yr)
= 9.46 x 1015 m/yr
= 9.46 x 1012km/yr

77. Galaxies
Elliptical, spiral, irregular

78. Milky Way Galaxy

79. Stellar Characteristics
Brightness
(magnitude)
Color
(temperature)

80. Magnitude

81. Luminosity

82. Color

83. Star Sizes

84. Hertzsprung Russell diagram

85. Star Evolution

86. Star “Nursery”
Dust
+
Gas
+
Energy

87. Protostar Development

88. Fusion
4 1H ->4He

89. Equilibrium

90. Brown Dwarf
Failed Star?

91. Red Giant
Triple Alpha
process
3 He -> C

92. Planetary Nebula
Residual
“Smoke
ring”

93. White Dwarf

94. Sun Sized Star

95. Star Evolution

96. Supergiant Star
Betelgeuse

97. Supernova
SN1987A
1054
1572
1604

98. Crab Nebula

99. Pulsar
LGM project

100. Neutron Star

101. Black Holes

102. Evidence for Black holes
X-ray source
Spacetime
distortion

103. Local Cluster of Galaxies

104. Red Shift

105. Hubble’s Law
V=Hd

106. Steady State Model

107. Big Bang Theory

108. Evidence
Red shift
Hubble time (age)
Cosmic Background
radiation

109. Leftover Energy

110. The Future?

111. The Speed of Light
C = 3 x 108 m/s

112. Relativity
E = m c2
thus at c,
E=m

113. Relavitity
All motion is relative

114. Time Dilation
Time is relative
Twin paradox

115. Fitzgerald-Lorentz contraction

116. Relativistic Mass

117. Relativistic Time

118. Gravity Effect