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Flashcards in Week 6 Deck (29)
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1
Q

Telescope Collecting area

A

Bigger area = can collect more photons

2
Q

Focusing device

A
  • depends on wavelength
    visible = curved mirror
    x-ray = nested mirror
3
Q

Detector

A

records photons, visible

4
Q

Einstein’s Theory of Special Relativity relies on what 2 principles

A
  1. The laws of physics are the same for everyone

2. The speed of light is measured by everyone to be the same

5
Q

Lunar eclipse

A

Earth passes between the Sun and the Moon, so that Earth’s shadow passes across the Moon

6
Q

solar eclipse

A

Moon passes between Earth and Sun blocking out the Sun

7
Q

what kind of telescopes are used on earth?

A

optical and radio (some infrared)

8
Q

Effects of Earth’s Atmosphere

A

most wavelengths of light are filtered out, optics can alter image (effect of seeing)

9
Q

What affects telescope resolution?

A

Size of the collecting area, Wavelength of light, atmosphere/ionosphere

10
Q

Special relativity

A

describes the motion of one object relative to another, when both are moving with constant velocity

11
Q

General relativity

A

Acceleration feels like gravity

12
Q

consequences of special relativity

A
  • Time dilation (fast clocks tick slower)
  • Relativity of simultaneity (order of events)
  • Length contraction (fast objects appear to shrink)
  • Mass increase (fast objects gain mass)
13
Q

Reference frames

A

Measured velocity depends on frame of reference, There is no such thing as a stationary frame of reference

14
Q

inertial frame of reference

A

moving at constant velocity

15
Q

Accelerated frame of reference

A

accelerating or in a gravitational field

16
Q

Why can’t we reach the speed of light?

A
  • All observers must see light travelling a c, and you moving more slowly
  • Thus you cannot accelerate to a velocity greater than or equal to the speed of light
17
Q

Time dialation

A

Time appears to pass more slowly as you move faster

18
Q

Consequences of general relativity

A
  • Space and Time are linked as spacetime
  • Time Dilation due to gravity
  • Gravity is curved spacetime
  • Black Holes
  • Tests: GPS, Orbits and Gravitational Lenses
19
Q

Curved spacetime

A

Spacetime in the presence of masses is curved

20
Q

Equivalence principle

A

-gravitational acceleration and acceleration due to a
force produce the same effect
-You cannot tell the difference between being in a
closed room on Earth, and in a closed room in space accelerating

21
Q

Gravitational Lensing

A

Matter capable of bending the light from the source as the light travels towards the observer due to curved space time

22
Q

Gravitational waves

A

‘ripples’ moving at the speed of light in the fabric of space-time, Generated by lopsided, moving masses

23
Q

In 2030, the Australian Space Agency launches a spaceship to our nearest neighbour Alpha Centauri (4 lightyears away).

How long will the journey take according to a clock on the spaceship if it travels at v=0.999 c=299482km/s (where ‘c’ is the speed of light equal to 299782km/s).

A

Just over 2 months.

24
Q

If the Sun was shrunk to fit the same mass into a smaller volume what would happen to the curvature of spacetime near the surface of the Sun?

A

decrease volume + same mass = density increases,

which causes spacetime curvature to increase

25
Q

Would would happen to Spacetime at the surface of the Sun if you kept the volume the same but increased the mass?

A

increase mass + same volume = density increases,

which causes spacetime curvature to increase

26
Q

Einstein’s Theory of General Relativity is based around the principle that gravity is indistinguishable from what?

A

acceleration

27
Q

light and intense gravitational field

A

A light ray is bent more by an intense gravitational field.

28
Q

GR tell us that clocks run slower in a gravitational field. If you take two clocks, one on the surface of Earth, and one orbiting 100km above, and check what time they say a year later what would you see?

A

The clock on earth will run slower, as clocks run slower in intense gravitational fields, and the stength of gravity increases as you get closer to the surface on the Earth,

29
Q

Curvature Near Black Hole

A

radius keeps reducing