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Summary Notes - Topic 8 Astrophysics - Edexcel Physics IGCSE

The document summarizes key concepts in astrophysics covered in the Edexcel Physics IGCSE curriculum. It discusses the structure of the universe from galaxies to solar systems. It also covers motion in the universe including orbital mechanics. Stellar evolution from nebulae to red giants and supernovae is outlined. The properties of stars like temperature, brightness, and classification are defined. Finally, evidence for the Big Bang theory including cosmic microwave background radiation and redshift is presented.

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201 views3 pages

Summary Notes - Topic 8 Astrophysics - Edexcel Physics IGCSE

The document summarizes key concepts in astrophysics covered in the Edexcel Physics IGCSE curriculum. It discusses the structure of the universe from galaxies to solar systems. It also covers motion in the universe including orbital mechanics. Stellar evolution from nebulae to red giants and supernovae is outlined. The properties of stars like temperature, brightness, and classification are defined. Finally, evidence for the Big Bang theory including cosmic microwave background radiation and redshift is presented.

Uploaded by

FahimDayhan
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Edexcel Physics IGCSE

Topic 8: Astrophysics
Summary Notes
(Content in bold is for physics only)

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Motion in the universe
• The universe is a large collection of billions of galaxies.
• A galaxy is a large collection of billions of stars.
• Our solar system is in the Milky Way galaxy.

The gravitational field strength is the force per unit mass on a body in a gravitational field and is
measured in Newtons per kilogram (N/kg). It varies with the mass and size of the body and is
therefore different on other planets and the moon compared to the Earth.
• 𝑤𝑒𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡 = 𝑚𝑎𝑠𝑠 × 𝑔𝑟𝑎𝑣𝑖𝑡𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑎𝑙 𝑓𝑖𝑒𝑙𝑑 𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑒𝑛𝑔𝑡ℎ 𝑊 = 𝑚𝑔

Gravitational force enables the various bodies to orbit around


others. For example:
• Moons orbit planets
o The orbits are slightly elliptical with near
constant orbital speed
• Planets and comets orbit the Sun
o The orbits of planets are slightly elliptical with
near constant orbital speed. The orbits of
comets are highly elliptical with a greater
orbital speed the closer they are to the Sun.
• Artificial satellites orbit the Earth

The greater the orbital radius or the smaller the time period, the greater the orbital speed:
2×𝜋×𝑜𝑟𝑏𝑖𝑡𝑎𝑙 𝑟𝑎𝑑𝑖𝑢𝑠 2𝜋𝑟
• 𝑜𝑟𝑏𝑖𝑡𝑎𝑙 𝑠𝑝𝑒𝑒𝑑 = 𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒 𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑜𝑑
𝑣= 𝑇

Stellar evolution
• A star begins as a cloud of gas called a nebula.
The particles experience a weak attraction
towards each other due to gravity and begin to
clump together.
• They continue to clump together until the pressure
and temperature is great enough for nuclear
fusion to occur.
o Hydrogen nuclei fuse together to form
helium nuclei which releases a large
amount of energy and causes a great
outwards pressure.
o This outwards pressure balances with the
inwards pressure due to gravity and the
star is now stable and called a main
sequence star.
• Eventually the hydrogen in the star is used up.
There is no longer enough outward pressure from
nuclear fusion and it collapses under its own
gravitational attraction, becoming unstable.
o If the star has a similar mass to the Sun, it expands massively and becomes a red
giant. It then becomes a white dwarf (and finally cools into a black dwarf).
o If the star has a mass larger than the Sun, it expands and becomes a red super
giant, before exploding in a supernova. What remains is either a neutron star, or if it
was exceptionally massive, a black hole.

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Stars can be classified according to their colour. The colour of a star is related to its surface
temperature, with hotter stars being bluer and cooler stars being redder.

The brightness of a star at a standard distance can be


represented using absolute magnitude. A star’s absolute
magnitude is defined to be equal to the apparent magnitude
that the star would have if it were viewed from exactly 10
parsecs (32.6 light-years) away.

A Hertzsprung-Russell diagram (HR diagram) shows the


relationship between a star’s surface temperature and
brightness. The main components are shown in the diagram
on the right.

Cosmology

The Big Bang theory states that the universe expanded outwards from a single point.
Evidence for this theory includes:
• Red shift
o The red shift of light from galaxies shows that they are all moving away from
us and that those which are furthest away are moving the fastest, suggesting
that the universe was formed from an explosion at a single point, evidence for
the Big Bang.
• Cosmic microwave background radiation (CMBR)
o Just after the Big Bang, lots of short wavelength radiation should have been
released. This radiation, as the universe expanded over time, would have
been stretched to become microwaves.
o The fact that there is cosmic microwave background radiation present
wherever you point a telescope in the sky provides evidence for the Big Bang.
As the Big Bang theory is currently the only theory which accounts for all the experimental
evidence, it is the most accepted model.

If a wave source is moving relative to an observer, there will be a change in the observed
frequency and wavelength due to the doppler effect. An example of this is when the siren of
an ambulance is high-pitched as it approaches you, and low-pitched as it goes away.
𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒈𝒆 𝒊𝒏 𝒘𝒂𝒗𝒆𝒍𝒆𝒏𝒈𝒕𝒉 𝒗𝒆𝒍𝒐𝒄𝒊𝒕𝒚 𝒐𝒇 𝒂 𝒈𝒂𝒍𝒂𝒙𝒚 𝝀−𝝀𝟎 𝚫𝝀 𝒗
• = = =
𝒓𝒆𝒇𝒆𝒓𝒆𝒏𝒄𝒆 𝒘𝒂𝒗𝒆𝒍𝒆𝒏𝒈𝒕𝒉 𝒔𝒑𝒆𝒆𝒅 𝒐𝒇 𝒍𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕 𝝀𝟎 𝝀𝟎 𝒄
Doppler shift is responsible for the red-shift of light from galaxies which are moving away
from Earth, which is when the wavelength of the light coming from them increases. The
faster it is moving, the more its light is red-shifted.

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