Topics you should know and
understand for Quiz #1
(not necessarily a complete list)
ASSIGNED READINGS FOR THIS QUIZ:
Appendix 1; Appendix 2; Sections 3.1-3.5;
Sections 4.1-4.3;
Sections 16.1-16.3, 16.6.
1) DEFINITIONS:
Astronomical Unit, light year, parsec, stellar parallax,
degree, arcminute, arcsecond,
thermal radiation (heat radiation; blackbody radiation),
photosphere, the electromagnetic spectrum, the Kelvin temperature scale,
absolute zero, wavelength, frequency, Hertz, photon,
radiative energy, kinetic energy, potential energy,
nuclear fusion, nuclear fission, proton, neutron, electron, positron,
neutrino, isotope, ion, ionization, proton-proton chain, deuterium
(deuteron; heavy hydrogen), excitation, strong force, weak force,
neutrino oscillations,
luminosity, joule, watt,
convection, excited atom, absorption-line spectrum (dark-line spectrum),
emission-line spectrum (bright-line spectrum),
vapor lamp,
Random Walk Process, granule,
Dopper shift, redshift, blueshift.
2) MATHEMATICAL RELATIONSHIPS:
Wien's Law;
Stefan's Law (the Stefan-Boltzmann Law);
E = mc2; the brightness of a star is proportional
to its luminosity and inversely proportional
to the square of its distance from us (the inverse square law
of light); mathematical relationships between degree, arcminute, and arcsecond;
the relationship between the wavelength, the frequency, and the
speed of a wave; the relationship between the energy and the wavelength
of light; the relationship between stellar parallax and distance
(p = 1/D, where D is the distance in parsecs and p is half of the total
angular shift, in arcsec).
3) OTHER THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW:
Why sunspots are dark; what prevents the Sun from gravitationally
contracting;
the six types of light
and how their wavelengths, frequencies, and energies compare;
the proton-proton chain steps; the solar neutrino problem and its
probable resolution;
Under what conditions an absorption line spectrum is produced;
what produces a continuous spectrum;
what produces an emission-line spectrum;
the seven main regions in the Sun;
why it takes so long for the energy produced in the Sun's core
to escape from the Sun.