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Physics Outreach Program Physics Olympiad Preparation 2012-2013

This document provides information and problems for a physics outreach program and olympiad preparation. It includes 4 practice problems related to topics like telescope resolution, blackbody radiation, electromagnetism, and Hubble's law. Problem 1 asks about the resolution of the Very Large Array radio telescope. Problem 2 provides equations for blackbody radiation and Stefan's law. Problem 3 asks about exposure times for different telescope configurations. Problem 4 asks about Hubble's law and calculating the age of the universe based on the rate of expansion.

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239 views2 pages

Physics Outreach Program Physics Olympiad Preparation 2012-2013

This document provides information and problems for a physics outreach program and olympiad preparation. It includes 4 practice problems related to topics like telescope resolution, blackbody radiation, electromagnetism, and Hubble's law. Problem 1 asks about the resolution of the Very Large Array radio telescope. Problem 2 provides equations for blackbody radiation and Stefan's law. Problem 3 asks about exposure times for different telescope configurations. Problem 4 asks about Hubble's law and calculating the age of the universe based on the rate of expansion.

Uploaded by

anand22233
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© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Physics Outreach Program Physics Olympiad Preparation 2012-2013

- University of Toronto Welcome to POPTOR!

Discovering Universe Due December 10, 2012


Problem 1 Resolution of a telescope The Very Large Array (VLA) is a set of 27 radio telescope dishes in Caton and Socorro Counties, New Mexico. The antennas can be moved apart on railroad tracks, and their combined signals give the resolving power of a synthetic aperture 36.0 km in diameter. (a) If the detectors are tuned to a frequency of 1.40 GHz, what is the angular resolution of the VLA? (b) Clouds of hydrogen radiate at this frequency. What must be the separation distance of two clouds at the center of the galaxy, 26 000 Riccardo Giovanelli and Martha Haynes, lightyears away, if they are to be resolved? Cornell University (c) As the telescope looks up, a circling hawk looks down. Find the angular resolution of the hawks eye. Assume that the hawk is most sensitive to green light having a wavelength of 500 nm and that it has a pupil of diameter 12.0 mm. (d) A mouse is on the ground 30.0 m below. By what distance must the mouses whiskers be separated if the hawk can resolve them? Problem 2 Blackbody radiation An object at any temperature is known to emit thermal radiation. Characteristics depend on the temperature and surface properties. The thermal radiation consists of a continuous distribution of wavelengths from all portions of the electromagnetic spectrum. At room temperature, the wavelengths of the thermal radiation are mainly in the infrared region. A black body is an ideal system that absorbs all radiation incident on it. The electromagnetic radiation emitted by a black body is called blackbody radiation. The total power of the emitted radiation increases with temperature. For power P Stefans law gives P = AeT4 where is the Stefan-Boltzmann constant, = 5.670 x 10-8 W / (m2.K4); A is the surface area that emits heat; e is emissivity, which is equal to 1 for the black body and is less than 1 for so called grey body. The peak of the wavelength distribution shifts to shorter wavelengths as the temperature increases. The shift is given by Wiens displacement law lmaxT = 2.898 x 10-3 (m.K), where.

2 lmax is the wavelength at which the curve peaks; and T is the absolute temperature. As the temperature increases, the peak is displaced to shorter wavelengths. Stefans law can be written in terms of intensity. For e = 1, I = P/A = T4 A star moving away from the Earth at 0.280c emits radiation that we measure to be most intense at the wavelength 500 nm. Determine the surface temperature of this star. Problem 3 Electromagnetism A certain telescope has an objective mirror with an aperture diameter of 200 mm and a focal length of 2 000 mm. It captures the image of a nebula on photographic film at its prime focus with an exposure time of 1.50 min. To produce the same light energy per unit area on the film, what is the required exposure time to photograph the same nebula with a smaller telescope, which has an objective with a diameter of 60.0 mm and a focal length of 900 mm? Problem 4 Hubbles law and density of the Universe The Big Bang theory predicts that the Universe is expanding. American Astronomer Edwin Hubble (1889 - 1953) claimed the whole universe is expanding. Furthermore, the speeds v at which galaxies are receding from the earth is directly proportional to their distance R from us. This is called Hubbles law. Hubbles law can be written as v = HR H is called the Hubble constant; H 17 x 10-3 m/(s ly). R is measured in ly (light year), the unit of length on astronomic scale, which is equal to distance light covers in one year as measured from the Earth. (a) Today, astronomers and physicists are trying to determine the rate of expansion. It depends on the average mass density of the Universe compared to a critical density c . If the average mass density of the Universe is less than c , the galaxies will slow in their outward rush but still escape to infinity. If the average density exceeds c , the expansion will eventually stop and contraction will begin. Assume that the average density of the Universe is equal to the critical density. Find the age of the Universe as a function of H and calculate it in years. (b) Hubbles law can be stated in vector form as v = HR. In this form, it sounds as if our location in the Universe is specially privileged. Prove that Hubbles law would be equally true for an observer elsewhere in the Universe. [Suppose the speeds are nonrelativistic.]

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