ASTR 121- HW 2 The Sun 51 Queries Perfectly Solved
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ASTR 121- HW 2 The Sun
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ASTR 121- HW 2 The Sun
A college friend of yours who has been postponing taking any science courses hears you talking about the generation of nuclear energy in the Sun and makes the following observation: "The whole idea of the atomic nucleus is pretty ridiculous. If an oxygen nucleus consists of eight protons and eight ...
ASTR 121- HW 2 The Sun 51 Queries
Perfectly Solved
A college friend of yours who has been postponing taking any science courses hears you talking about
the generation of nuclear energy in the Sun and makes the following observation: "The whole idea of
the atomic nucleus is pretty ridiculous. If an oxygen nucleus consists of eight protons and eight
neutrons, the charge on that nucleus is positive. Since even I learned in high school that like charges
repel, such a nucleus would find all its positive protons repelling and quickly fall apart." How would you
answer his argument? - ✔ ✔ the strong nuclear force, which is attractive over short distances like
the nucleus, and stronger than electricity, holds the nucleus together
According to the formula E=mc2 - ✔ ✔ a little bit of mass can be converted into a substantial amount
of energy
As astronomers have learned more about the structure of the Sun, they have found that it - ✔ ✔ is
made entirely of hot gas
As you go upwards from the Sun's photosphere, - ✔ ✔ the density (number of atoms in a unit
volume) decreases
Astronomers have concluded that the Sun's activity varies in an 11-year cycle. Which of the following
statements about this cycle is TRUE: - ✔ ✔ The number of sunspots gets larger and smaller over the
course of 11 years
Astronomers now realize that active regions on the Sun are connected with - ✔ ✔ loops of magnetic
field emerging from the surface of the Sun
At the end of the p-p chain of nuclear fusion in the Sun, hydrogen nuclei have been converted into: - ✔
✔ a helium nucleus
How do astronomers know how strong the magnetic field of the Sun is? - ✔ ✔ the measure the
Zeeman effect (the splitting of spectral lines)
If it takes an average of 14 billion years before any proton inside the Sun will undergo fusion, and the
Sun is only about 5 billion years old, why do astronomers believe that fusion is going on there now? - ✔
✔ there are an enormous number of protons inside the Sun, and some of them will fuse much
sooner than the average
If the "fuel" for nuclear fusion is nuclei of hydrogen, and the Earth's oceans are filled with hydrogen
atoms in water all being jostled together, why isn't there a lot of fusion happening in our oceans? - ✔
✔ for hydrogen nuclei to fuse, they must get very close to each other, which the nuclei in the oceans
cannot do
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