Science Assignment1) A supernova is an explosion, triggered by the collapse andexplosion of a massive star. There are two types of supernova explosion inthe universe, called Type I and Type II. The remains of the core of a starthat has gone supernova is a neutron star.
These stars give off radio wavescalled pulsars. When a huge star goes supernova, the gravity of the corebecomes so strong that even light cannot escape it. This is called a Blackhole. On occasion, throughout the centuries, astronomers have been puzzled by theappearance of, as they phrased it, new stars in the sky.
For instance, inJuly 1054 AD, Chinese astronomers noted the appearance of a “guest star”(as they called it) in the constellation Taurus. The guest star was visiblein broad daylight for three weeks, and was visible at night for two yearsbefore it faded into invisibility. Astronomers also study supernovae because they are rare, luminous, andfairly brief events. There are only about one per century in our galaxy. 2) Normal forces give us the sensation of having weight. If we removethe supporting force, we have the sensation of “apparent weightlessness.
“For example, a skydiver feels weightless before opening the parachute andin and the unlikely event of an elevator breaking loose, you would alsoexperience weightlessness. Certain amusement park rides are designed toremove the supporting force and induce a feeling of weightlessness. Galileo correctly concluded that in free fall, all objects must fall at thesame rate. While in orbit our astronauts are constantly falling. Sinceeverything around them is also falling and everything falls at the samerate, they have a continuing experience of weightlessness. Some of the very real effects to the human body of this “apparentweightlessness” include:1.
Loss of bone mass (similar to osteoporosis)2. Reduced total blood volume, particularly loss of red blood cells3. Giddy, light-headed feeling4. Space sickness with nausea and vomiting5. Decrease of heart size6. Nasal congestion7.
Muscle weakness3) To determine the movement of a star through the universe,scientists use a method called red shift. There are 3 different types ofred shift and two are used to find the movement of stars. The Doppler Redshift results from the relative motion of the light emitting object and theobserver. If the source of light is moving away from you then thewavelength of the light is stretched out, i. e.
, the light is shiftedtowards the red. These effects, individually called the blue shift, and thered shift are together known as Doppler shifts. The other red shift used to find the motion of stars is the CosmologicalRed shift. This is a red shift caused by the expansion of space.
Thewavelength of light increases as it traverses the expanding universebetween its point of emission and its point of detection by the same amountthat space has expanded during the crossing time. 4) Sunspots are regions on the solar surface that appear dark becausethey are cooler than the surrounding photosphere. They are believed to becaused by intense magnetic fields interfering with the bubbles of hot gas. They are only dark in a relative sense; a sunspot removed from the brightbackground of the Sun would glow quite brightly.
The largest sunspotsobserved have had diameters of about 50,000 km, which makes them largeenough to be seen with the naked eye. Sunspots often come in groups with asmany as 100 in a group, though sunspot groups with more than about 10 arerelatively rare. Sunspots develop and persist for periods ranging fromhours to months, and are carried around the surface of the Sun by itsrotation. Solar flares emit radiation that includes x-rays and ultraviolet rays,charged particles called protons and electrons, and powerful particles withno electric charge, called neutrons. This radiation surge may damageelectrical power systems, interfere with telecommunications, wreck high-tech ship navigation systems, harm an astronaut in space, or create thespectacular Northern and Southern lights, aurora.
5) The Big Bang Theory is the dominant scientific theory about theorigin of the universe. It states that the universe was created between 10and 20 billion years ago from the random, cosmic explosion of a subatomicball that hurled matter and energy in all directions. Then over a period ofapproximately 10 billion years, this newly created matter and energycoagulated into stars, galaxies and planets, including our earth. This theory was first introduced by in Albert Einstein in 1905. Anotherscientist, Edwin Hubble, observed that distant galaxies in every directionare going away from us at speeds proportional to their distance.
The bigbang concept was initially suggested because it explains why distantgalaxies are travelling away from us at great speeds. The theory alsopredicts the existence of cosmic background radiationThe Big Bang Theory has many significant problems. Besides conflicting withthe 1st and 2nd Laws of Thermodynamics, the Big Bang Theory contradicts theLaw of Conservation of Angular Momentum. Everything in the universe isspinning – planets, stars, galaxies, etc.
It would take an enormous amountof energy to start a planet spinning. Many other contradictions have alsobeen noted making this theory very unstable. 6) Most telescopes are on the ground. The advantage of this is that onthe ground, you can deploy a heavier telescope and upgrade it more easily. The trouble is that Earth-bound telescopes must look through the Earth’satmosphere. This is a problem because, firstly the Earth’s atmosphereblocks out a broad range of the electromagnetic spectrum, allowing a narrowband of visible light to reach the surface.
Second, the Earth’s atmosphereblurs the light it lets through. By orbiting above the Earth’s atmosphere,satellites in space, such as the Hubble, can get clearer images. In fact,even though Hubble has a mirror 15 times smaller than large Earth-boundtelescopes, it can still resolve detail almost 100 times finer.-SC1
