OCR (A) A-Level Physics

5.5 Astrophysics and Cosmology

Flashcards

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Define planets.

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Define planets.
Objects with mass sufficient for their own
gravity to force them to take a spherical
shape, where no nuclear fusion occurs, and
the object has cleared its orbit of other
objects.

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Define dwarf planets.

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Define dwarf planets.
Planets where the orbit has not been cleared
of other objects.

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Define planetary satellites.

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Define planetary satellites.
Bodies that orbit a planet.

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Define asteroids.

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Define asteroids.
Objects which are too small and uneven in
shape to be planets, with a near circular orbit
around the sun.

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Define comets.

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Define comets.
Small, irregularly sized balls of rock, dust, and
ice. They orbit the sun in eccentric elliptical
orbits.

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Define Solar systems.

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Define Solar systems.
The systems containing stars and orbiting
objects like planets.

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Define galaxies.

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Define galaxies.
A collection of stars, dust, and gas. Each
galaxy contains around 100 billion stars and is
thought to have a supermassive black hole at
its centre.

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Define nebulae.

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Define nebulae.
Gigantic clouds of dust and gas. They are the
birthplace of all stars.

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How are protostars formed?

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How are protostars formed?
In nebulae, there are regions that are more dense than others.
Over time, gravity draws matter towards them and, combined
with the conservation of angular momentum, causes them to
spin inwards to form a denser centre.

GPE is The
centre. converted intosphere
resultant thermal
ofenergy, which
very hot, heats
dense dustup thegas is
and

a protostar.
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How are main sequence stars formed
from protostars?

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How are main sequence stars formed from protostars?
For a star to form, the temperature and pressure must be
high enough for hydrogen gas nuclei in the protostar to
overcome the electrostatic forces of repulsion and undergo
nuclear fusion to convert hydrogen into helium. When
fusion begins, the protostar becomes a main sequence star,
where the outward pressure due to fusion and the inward
force of gravity are in equilibrium.
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 Describe how a low-mass main
sequence star becomes a red giant.

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Describe how a low-mass main sequence star
becomes a red giant.
Low-mass stars are classed as having a core mass between 0.5M☉ and
10M☉. As these stars have a smaller, cooler core, they remain in the
main sequence for longer. Once the hydrogen supplies are low, the
gravitational forces inwards overcome the radiation and gas pressures,
so the core collapses inwards and the outer layers expand and cool. The
core of the red giant becomes hotter (as GPE becomes thermal energy)
and begins to fuse helium into heavier elements (up to carbon), as
hydrogen continues to be fused in the layers around the core.
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Describe the evolution of a red giant to a
white dwarf.

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Describe the evolution of a red giant to a white dwarf
When the star runs out of fuel, it expels its outer layers, creating a planetary
nebula. The core that remains contracts further, becoming a dense white dwarf.
The white dwarf has a temperature of around 3000K, and no fusion occurs.
Photons which were produced earlier in the evolution leak out, dissipating heat.

As the star core collapses, electron degeneracy pressure (caused as two

electrons cannot exist in the same state) prevents the core from collapsing. As

long as the core mass is below 1.44M☉, then the white dwarf star is stable –
this is the Chandrasekhar limit.

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Describe the evolution of a high-mass
main sequence star into a red
supergiant.

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Describe the evolution of a high-mass main sequence
star into a red supergiant.

Where a star’s mass in is excess of 10 M ☉, its evolution takes a

different path. As hydrogen supplies deplete, the core contracts.
Since the mass is greater, when GPE becomes thermal energy, the
core gets much hotter than a red giant, allowing helium fusion into
elements heavier than carbon (up to iron) to take place. The outer
layers expand and cool, forming a red supergiant.

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Describe the process of the death of a
high-mass star.

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Describe the process of the death of a high-mass
star.
When all of the fuel in a red supergiant is used up, fusion stops (as iron
fusion does not release energy, it is unable to fuse further). Gravity becomes
greater than the outward pressure due to fusion, so the core collapses in on
itself very rapidly and suddenly becomes rigid (as the matter can no longer be
forced any closer together). The outer layers fall inwards and rebound off of
the rigid core, launching them out into space as a shockwave. The remaining
core of a supernova is either a neutron star or black hole, depending on its
mass.

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Describe the evolution of a red supergiant to a
neutron star and black hole

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Describe the evolution of a red supergiant to a
neutron star or black hole
If the remaining core mass is greater than 1.44M☉
protons
, gravity
and
forces
electrons to combine and form neutrons. This produces an
extremely small, dense neutron star.

If the remaining core mass is greater than 3M ☉, the gravitational

forces are so strong that the escape velocity of the core becomes

greater than the speed of light. This is a black hole, which even
photons cannot escape.
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What does a Hertzsprung-Russell
diagram look like?

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What does a Hertzsprung-Russell diagram look like?

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 Annotate the Hertzsprung-Russell
diagram to show the Sun’s evolution.

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Annotate the Hertzsprung-Russell diagram to show
the Sun’s evolution.

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Describe the process of electrons exciting in
discrete energy levels.

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Describe the process of electrons exciting in discrete
energy levels.
Electrons bound to an atom can only exist in certain discrete energy
levels. The electrons cannot have an energy value that is between
two levels. Each element has its own set of energy levels.

When an electron moves from a lower energy state to a higher

energy state, it is ‘excited’. This requires the input of external energy

(e.g. heating or absorbing a photon of the exact energy required).

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All energy level values are negative.
True or false?

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All energy level values are negative. True or false?

True. All energy level values are negative, with the ground state
being the most negative. An electron that is completely free
from an atom has energy equal to 0. This negative sign is used
to represent the energy required to remove the electron from
the atom.

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What are Emission line spectra and how are
they formed?

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What are emission line spectra and how are they formed?
● A series of coloured lines on a black background.
●When light passes through the outer layers of a star, the
electrons in the atoms absorb photons and become
excited. They then de-excite, releasing photons of specific
wavelengths. These photons are detected on Earth and
have wavelengths characteristic of the elements in the
outer layers, shown as emission line spectra.

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What are continuous line spectra?

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What are continuous line spectra?
Continuous line spectra – where all visible
wavelengths of light are present. They are
produced by atoms of solid heated metals.

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What are absorption line spectra?

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What are absorption line spectra?
A series of dark spectral lines against the background of
the continuous spectrum, with each line corresponding to
a wavelength of light absorbed by atoms in the outer
layers of a star. The dark lines are at wavelengths that are
characteristic of the elements in the outer layers (as with
emission spectra)

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What happens when an electron is
de-excited?

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 What happens when an electron is de-excited?

When an electron is de-excited, it releases energy as a

photon with a specific wavelength. The energy released
is the difference between the initial energy level of the
electron, and the final energy level of the photon. This
means that transitions between different energy levels
produce photons with different wavelengths.
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What are diffraction gratings?

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What are diffraction gratings?
Components with regularly spaced slits that can
diffract light. Different colours of light have
different wavelengths, and so will be diffracted at
different angles.

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State Wien’s displacement law.

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State Wien’s displacement law.
The wavelength of emitted radiation at peak intensity is
inversely proportional to the temperature of the black
body.

λma T = 2.9 x 10-3

x
mK

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State Stefan’s law.

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State Stefan’s law.
The power output of a star is directly
proportional to its surface area and to its
(absolute temperature)4.

P= 4

σAT
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Define light year.

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Define light year.
The distance travelled by light in a vacuum
in one year. In metres this is 9.46x1015m
(speed of light multiplied by the number of
seconds in a year).

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What is the Doppler effect?

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What is the Doppler effect?
The change in wavelength and frequency
of a wave as the source moves away from
or towards the observer.

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What is Stellar parallax?

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What is Stellar parallax?
The apparent shift in position of an object
against a backdrop of distant objects due to
the orbit of the Earth.

It can be
100pc. used tothis
Beyond calculate distances
point, the of up to
angles involved

are so small they are hard to accurately

measure.

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Define parsec.

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Define parsec.
The distance from which 1 AU (average
distance between the Earth and Sun)
subtends an angle of 1 arcsecond
(1/3600th of a degree).

In the diagram,
would if θ was 1 arcsecond, d
be 1 parsec.

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What is the Cosmological principle?

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What is the Cosmological principle?
The cosmological principle states that the universe is
isotropic and homogeneous, and the laws of physics
are universal.
Isotropic means that the universe is the same in all directions to
every observer, and it has no centre or edge.

Homogenous means that matter is uniformly distributed – for a

large volume of the universe the density is the same.

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What is red-shift?

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What is red-shift?
Red shift (z) is the shift in wavelength and frequency of
waves from a retreating source towards/beyond the red end
of the electromagnetic spectrum. Cosmological redshift is
evidence for the Big Bang.

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State Hubble’s law

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State Hubble’s law
The velocity of receding objects is directly proportional to their
distance from Earth.

v=H
0
d
v = recession velocity (km s-
1)
ubble’s(Mpc)
d 0= distance Constant ≈ 65 km s-1Mpc -1

H=H https://bit.ly/pmt-
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Use Hubble’s law to estimate the age of
the universe

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Use Hubble’s law to estimate the age of the universe
Time = distance / velocity (since
H0d) v =
=1/H 0

The units of Hubble’s constant must be converted to SI units

65 km s-1 Mpc-1 x103 gives
0 H= 65,000 m s-1
Mpc-1
Divide by 1 Mpc (3.08 x 1022 m) to get the units for 0 H as

H0= 2.11 x 10- 1017 so 1 / H= 4.74 x s

0
s-1
1
Age (convert to years) = 4.74 x 1017 / 3600 / 24 / 365 = 1.5 x
18 s-1 0
(or 15 billion 10 years
years). https://bit.ly/pmt-edu
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Draw a simplified light curve for a binary
star system.

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Draw a simplified light curve for a binary star system.

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What are quasars? What suggests that
they are extremely distant objects?

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What are quasars? What suggests that they are
extremely distant objects?
A quasar is a nucleus of an active galaxy; a supermassive black hole
surrounded by a disc of matter. As matter falls into the black hole, jets of
radiation are emitted from the poles of the quasar.

Large optical
objects. Fromred
theshift shows
inverse quasars
square areintensity
law for the mostwe
distant
knowobservable
they are

extremely powerful, with the same energy output as several galaxies. They
were initially found to be powerful radio sources but with further telescope

developments we now know they emit all wavelengths of EM radiation.

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 What is the Big Bang theory? State
evidence that lead us to believe this is
true.

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What is the Big Bang theory? State evidence that lead us to
believe this is true.
Scientists believe that, 13.8 billion years ago, the universe exploded from an
extremely hot and dense point and is still expanding now.

CMBR (Cosmological
from the bigMicrowave
bang. TheBackground
EM radiationRadiation)
is the
the explosion
heat signature
left behind released in

shifted
universefrom extremely
expanded, high energy
stretching waves
out the intoCMBR
waves. the microwave region
has a black bodyas the

distribution with a peak that corresponds to a temperature of 2.7K. There was

nuclear fusion of hydrogen into helium which explains the large abundance of

helium in today’s universe.

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What is dark energy?

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What is dark energy?
●When astronomers calculated the distance to some Type Ia
supernovae, they discovered them to be dimmer than
expected. This suggested the expansion of the universe is
accelerating, which has been attributed to dark energy.

●Dark energy is thought to be energy that has an overall

repulsive effect throughout the universe.

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