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In the late 1800s, Kelvin and Helmholtz suggested that the sun stayed hot thanks to gravitational contraction. What was the major drawback of this idea? |
It predicated that the Sun could last only about 25 million years, which is far less than the age of Earth. |
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When is / was gravitational contraction an important energy-generation mechanism for the sun? |
when the sun was being formed from a collapsing cloud of gas |
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what do we mean when we say that the sun is in gravitational equilibrium? |
there is a balance within the sun between the outward push of pressure and the inward pull of gravity |
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what two forces are balanced in what we call gravitational equilibrium? |
outward pressure and gravity |
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what is the sun made of? |
70 percent hydrogen, 28 percent helium, 2 percent other elements |
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the phase of matter in the sun is |
plasma |
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what are the appropriate units for the sun’s luminosity? |
watts |
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what is the average temperature of the surface of the sun |
6,000 K |
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which is closest to the temperature of the core of the sun? |
10 million K |
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from the center outward, which of the following lists the "layers" of the Sun in the correct order? |
core, radiation zone, convection zone, photosphere, chromosphere, corona |
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which layer of the sun do we normally see? |
photosphere |
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the core of the sun is |
hotter and denser than the surgace |
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based on its surface temperature of 5,800K, what color are most of the photons that leave the Sun’s surface? |
green |
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why do sunspots appear dark in pictures of the sun? |
they actually are fairly bright but appear dark against the even brighter background of the surrounding sun |
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sunspots are cooler than the surrounding solar surface becasue |
strong magnetic fields slow convection and prevent hot plasma from entering the region |
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how does the sun generate energy today? |
nuclear fusion |
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how do human-built nuclear power plants on earth generate energy? |
nuclear fission |
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hydrogen fusion in the Sun requires a temperature (in Kelvin) of |
millions of degrees |
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at the center of the sun, fusion converts hydrogen into |
helium, energy, and neutrinos |
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how much mass does the sun lose through nuclear fusion per second? |
4 million tons |
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suppose you put two protons near each other. because of the electromagnetic force, the two protons will |
repel each other |
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which is the strongest of the fundamental forces in the universe |
strong force |
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the first step in the proton-proton chain produces an antielectron, or positron, what happens to the positron? |
it is rapidly converted to energy when it meets an ordinary electron, resulting in matter-antimatter annihilation |
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the overall fusion reaction by which the sun currently produces energy is |
4H –> 1 He + energy |
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why must the sun’s rate of fusion gradually rise over billions of years |
fusion reactions decrease the overall number of particles in the core, causing the core to shrink, converting gravitational potential energy into thermal energy, and increasing the rate of fusion |
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suppose that, for some unknown reason, the core of the Sun suddenly became hotter. Which of the following best describes what would happen |
higher temperature would cause the rate of nuclear fusion to rise, which would increase the internal pressure, causing the core to expand and cool until the fusion rate returned to normal. |
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how do we know what goes on under the surface of the sun? |
astronomers create mathematical models that use the laws of physics, the sun’s observed composition and mass, and computers to predict internal conditions, by measuring doppler shifts, we observe vibrations of the sun’s surface that are created deep within the sun |
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studies of sunquakes or helioseismology have revealed that |
our mathematical models of the solar interior are fairly accurate |
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which statement best describes the solar neutrino problem? |
solar neutrinos have been detected, but in fewer numbers than predicted by theoretical models |
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why are neutrinos so difficult to detect? |
because they rarely interact with matter |
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which of the following statements about neutrinos is not true? |
the mass of neutrino is 30 percent of the mass of an electron |
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what is a possible solution to the solar neutrino problem? |
the electron neutrinos created in the Sun change into another type of neutrino that we do not detect |
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the light radiated from the sun’s surface reaches earth in about 8 minutes, but the energy of that light was released by fusion in the solar core about |
a million years ago |
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what happens to energy in the convection zone of the sun? |
energy is transported outward by the rising of hot plasma and the sinking of cooler plasma |
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most of the energy produced in the sun is released in the form of visible light from the photosphere. However, some energy is released from the upper layers of the solar atmosphere. Which of the following best describes where other forms of light are released? |
the chromosphere is the source of ultraviolet light, and the corona is the source of X rays |
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what is granulation in the sun? |
the bubbling pattern on the photosphere produced by the underlying convection |
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what are the coronal holes? |
areas of corona where magnetic field lines project into space, allowing charged particles to escape the sun, becoming part of the solar wind |
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which of the following statements about the sunspot cycle is not true? |
the rate of nuclear fusion in the sun peaks about every 11 years |
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what processes are involved in the sunspot cycle? |
the winding of magnetic field lines due to differential rotation |
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what observations characterize solar maximum |
we see many sunspots on the surface of the sun |
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humans have not sent a spacecraft into the interior of the sun to confirm any models of the interior. what evidence then do we have to support our current ideas about the solar interior |
solar neutrinos |
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according to modern science, approx how old is the sun |
4.5 billion years |
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the sun will exhaust its nuclear fuel in about |
5 billion years |
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which of the following correctly describes how the process of gravitational contraction can make a star hot? |
when a star contracts in size, gravitational potential energy is converted to thermal energy |
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what two physical processes balance each other to create the condition known as gravitational equilibrium in the stars? |
gravitational force and outward pressure |
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the source of energy that keeps that sun shining today is |
nuclear fusion |
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when we say that the sun is a ball of plasma we mean that |
the sun consists of gas in which many or most of the atoms are ionized (missing electrons) |
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what is the sun made of (by mass) |
70% hydrogen, 28%helium, 2%other |
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from center outward, which of the following lists the "layers" of the sun in the correct order? |
core, radiation zone, convection zone, photosphere, chromosphere, corona |
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what are the appropriate units for the sun’s luminosity |
watts |
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the sun’s surface, as we see it with out eyes, is called the |
photosphere |
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the sun’s average surface (photosphere) temperature is about |
5,800 K |
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what is the solar wind? |
a stream of charged particles flowing outward from the surface of the sun |
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the fundamental nuclear reaction occurring in the core of the sun is |
nuclear fusion of hydrogen into helium |
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the proton-proton chain is |
the specific set of nuclear reactions through which the sun fuses hydrogen into helium |
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the overall result of the proton-proton chain is |
4H becomes 1He + Energy |
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to estimate the central temp of the sun, scientists… |
use computer models to predict interior conditions |
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why are neutrinos so difficult to detect? |
they have a tendency to pass through just about any material without any interactions |
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which statement best describes what was called the solar neutrino problem? |
early experiments designed to detect solar neutrinos found them, but in fewer numbers than had been expected |
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the light radiated from the sun’s surface reaches earth in about 8 minutes, but the energy of that light was released by fusion in the solar core about |
a few hundred thousand years ago |
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what happens to energy in the sun’s convection zone? |
energy is transported outward by the rising of hot plasma and sinking of cooler plasma |
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what do sunspots, solar prominences, and solar flames all have in common? |
they are all strongly influenced by magnetic fields on the sun |
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which of the following is not a characteristic of the 11 year sunspot cycle? |
the sunspot cycle is very steady, so that each 11-year cycle is nearly identical to every other 11-year cycle |
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how is the sunspot cycle directly relevant to us here on Earth? |
coronal mass ejections and other activity associated with the sunspot cycle can disrupt radio communications and knock out sensitive electronic equipment |
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in the late 1800s, kelvin and helmholtz suggested that the sun stayed hot to due to gravitational contraction. what was the major drawback to their idea? |
it predicted that the sun could shine for about 25 million years, but geologists had already found that Earth is much older than this |
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when is/ was gravitational contraction an important energy generation mechanism for the sun? |
it was important when the sun was forming from a shrinking interstellar cloud of gas |
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what do we mean when we say that the sun is in gravitational equilibrium? |
there is a balance within the sun between the outward push of pressure and inward pull of gravity |
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which of the following is the best answer to the question, "why does the sun shine?" |
as the sun was forming, gravitational contraction increased the sun’s temperature until the core became hot enough for nuclear fusion, which ever since has generated the heat that makes the sun shine |
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how does the sun’s mass compare to Earth’s mass? |
the suns mass is about 300,000 times that of the earth |
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which of the following best describes why the sun emits most of its energy in the form of visible light? |
like all objects, the sun emits thermal radiation with a spectrum that depends on its temperature and the sun’s surface temperature is just right for emitting mostly visible light |
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the sun’s surface seethes and churns with a bubbling pattern why? |
we are seeing hot gas rising and cool gas falling due to the convection that occurs beneath the surface |
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which of the following correctly compares the sun’s energy generation process to the energy generation process in human-built nuclear power plants |
the sun generates energy by fusing small nuclei into larger ones, while our power plants generate energy by the fission (splitting) of large nuclei |
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every second, the sun converts about 600 mil tons of hydrogen into 596 mil tons of helium the remaining 4 mil tons of mass is |
converted to an amount of energy equal to 4 mil tons times the speed of light squared |
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which of the following best explains why nuclear fusion requires bringing nuclei extremely close together? |
nuclei normally repel because they are all positively charged and can be made to stick only when brought close enough for the strong force to take hold |
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if the sun’s core suddenly shrank a little bit, what would happen in the sun? |
the core would heat up, fusion rates would increase, and the core would re-expand |
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why does the sun emit neutrinos? |
fusion in the sun’s core creates neutrinos |
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if the sun suddenly stopped emitting neutrinos, what might we infer (after checking that our neutrino detectors were still operational)? |
fusion reactions in the sun have ceased |
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which of the following best explains why the sun’s luminosity gradually rises over billions of years? |
fusion gradually decreases the number of independent particles in the core, allowing gravity to compress and heat the core, which in turn increase the fusion rate and the sun’s luminosity. |
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why do sunspots appear dark in pictures of the sun? |
they actually are fairly bright, but appear dark against the even brighter background of the surrounding atmosphere |
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which of the following best describes the current status of our understanding of the solar neutrino problem? |
experimental evidence indicates that the problem is solved and the expected number of solar neutrinos are indeed being produced by the sun |
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how can we best observe the sun’s chromosphere and corona? |
the chromosphere is best observed with ultraviolet telescopes and the corona is best observed with X-ray telescopes |
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the intricate patterns visible in an X-ray image of the sun generally show |
extremely hot plasma flowing along magnetic field lines |
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how can we measure the strength of magnetic fields on the sun? |
by looking for the splitting of spectral lines in the sun’s spectrum |
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satellites in low-earth orbits are more likely to crash to Earth when the sunspot cycle is near solar maximum because |
earth’s upper atmosphere tends to expand during solar maximum, exerting drag on satellites in low orbits. |
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which of the following choices is not a way by which we can study the inside of the sun? |
we can send a space probe into the suns photosphere |
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a computer accessory salesmen attempts to convince you to purchase a "solar neutrino" shield for your new computer why do you turn down the offer? |
neutrinos rarely, if ever, interact with your computer |
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