Physical Science Notes

CHAPTER 6
ASTRONOMY Precession of the Equinoxes
What is the difference between astronomy and astrology? - Earth is not a perfect sphere. It bulges a bit in the
ASTRONOMY- is the study of everything in the universe equator because of the pull of the moon and sun.
beyond Earth's atmosphere. That includes objects we can - Precession – Change in the orientation of the
see with our naked eyes, like the Sun, the Moon, the rotational axis of any rotating body.
planets, and the stars. It also includes objects we can only - Earth requires 26 000 yrs. to complete cycle of
see with telescopes or other instruments, like faraway precession.
galaxies and tiny particles. Hipparchus of Nicaea (Turkey) was credited for
Astrology- is a pseudoscience that claims to divine discovering precession of the equinoxes. He have made a
information about human affairs and terrestrial events by catalog of stars in the sky.
studying the movements and relative positions of celestial Lunisolar precession – Earth’s precession due to the
objects. gravitational pull of the moon and the sun.
Motions in the Sky Earth is always in motion. Diurnal motion – The apparent daily motion of stars and
other celestial bodies across the sky caused by Earth’s
Celestial Sphere- the Ancient Greeks considered Earth to rotation about its axis
be enclosed in a hollow sphere where the stars, the sun, and Earth's rotation or spin is the rotation of planet Earth
other heavenly bodies are embedded. around its own axis.
North and South Celestial Poles The point where Earth’s Earth rotates on its axis from west to east in a span of
rotational axis cuts the sphere. 24hrs.
Celestial Equator – The projection of Earth’s equator in Annual motion – The apparent motion of the sun caused
the celestial sphere. by earth’s revolution around it.
Ecliptic – The path that the sun appears to take around the For Earth to make one complete revolution around the Sun
celestial sphere. It is inclined 23.5˚. takes 365.24 days. This amount of time is the definition of
Solstices two points on the ecliptic with the greatest one year.
distance from the celestial equator. Leap years are years where an extra, or intercalary, day is
Summer solstice – the sun is at northernmost position added to the end of the shortest month, February.
above the celestial equator or at its highest in the sky. Day MODELS OF THE UNIVERSE
is longest and night is shortest during the summer solstice The early human relied on the skies as their principal
Winter solstice – the sun is at southernmost position or at means of telling the time, of navigation and of knowing
its lowest in the sky. Day is shortest and night is longest when to start planting crops.
during winter solstice.
Equinoxes two points where the ecliptic intersects the ASTRONOMY ALSO AFFECTS ARCHITECHTURE
celestial equator. - Round 2560 BCE, the pyramids of Giza in Egypt
- Autumnal equinox – near September 22 were constructed in such a way that each faced N,
- Spring equinox happens on or near March 21 E, S, and W of the compass to within a tenth of a
Constellations and Zodiacs degree
Constellations – Ecliptic traces through a series of star - The pyramids of Giza were royal tombs built for
clusters. three different pharaohs. Khufu, Khafre, and
Zodiac – the sequence of constellation. Menkaure.
THERE ARE TWELVE PRINCIPAL - How the pyramids were built has been a mystery
CONSTELLATIONS OF THE ZODIAC that archeologists have been trying to solve for
many years. It is believed that thousands of
slaves were used to cut up the large blocks and
then slowly move them up the pyramid on ramps.
The pyramid would get slowly built, one block at
a time. Scientists estimate it took at least 20,000
workers over 23 years to build the Great Pyramid
of Giza. Because it took so long to build them,
Pharaohs generally started the construction of
their pyramids as soon as they became ruler.
- Deep inside the pyramids lays the Pharaoh's
burial chamber which would be filled with
treasure and items for the Pharaoh to use in the
afterlife. The walls were often covered with
carvings and paintings
Physical Science Notes

- In the 17th century, archaeologist John Aubrey they had to rely on their senses for a picture of the universe
made the claim that Stonehenge was the work of with much philosophical and religious symbolism.
the Celtic high priests known as the Druids, a DIFFERENTIATE ASTRONOMER AND AN
theory widely popularized by the antiquarian ASTRONAUT?
William Stukeley, who had unearthed primitive Astronomer is a space scientist whose main job is to
graves at the site. Even today, people who conduct research about outer space and the universe
identify as modern Druids continue to gather at through Earth-based observatories while an astronaut is a
Stonehenge for the summer solstice. However, in professional space traveler trained to do specific missions
the mid-20th century, radiocarbon dating in outer space.
demonstrated that Stonehenge stood more than NEIL ARMSTRONG
1,000 years before the Celts inhabited the region, He will be remembered in history as the first man to walk
eliminating the ancient Druids from the running. on the surface of the moon. “That’s one small step for a
- Many modern historians and archaeologists now man, one giant leap for mankind.” He stepped on the moon
agree that several distinct tribes of people on July 20, 1969 at 10:56 eastern daylight time.
contributed to Stonehenge, each undertaking a He died at age of 82 on August 25, 2012.
different phase of its construction. Bones, tools THE BIRTH OF MODERN ASTRONOMY
and other artifacts found on the site seem to Tycho Brahe was a good collector of astronomical data.
support this hypothesis. Kepler was a mathematician and pure theorist, while
- Constructed in 3000 BCE, Stonehenge in Galileo was an experimentalist.
England was thought to have been an observatory Their contributions helped prove that Earth is indeed not
used to predict solar and lunar eclipses. It was the center of the universe
constructed so that I the summer solstice, the sun
would rise above one of the main stones.
- There is strong archaeological evidence that
Stonehenge was used as a burial site, at least for
part of its long history, but most scholars believe
it served other functions as well—either as a
ceremonial site, a religious pilgrimage
destination, a final resting place for royalty or a
memorial erected to honor and perhaps spiritually
connect with distant ancestors. In the 1960s, the
astronomer Gerald Hawkins suggested that the
cluster of megalithic stones operated as an
astronomical calendar, with different points
corresponding to astrological phenomena such as
solstices, equinoxes and eclipses
- Around the spring and autumn equinoxes, the late
afternoon sun strikes off the northwest corner of
the pyramid and casts a series of triangular
shadows against the northwest balustrade,
creating the illusion of the feathered serpent
"crawling" down the pyramid. To contemporary
visitors, the event has been very popular and is
witnessed by thousands at the spring equinox, but
it is not known whether the phenomenon is a
result of a purposeful design since the light-and-
shadow effect can be observed without major
changes during several weeks near the equinoxes.
- All four sides of the pyramid have approximately
91 steps which, when added together and
including the temple platform on top as the final
"step", may produce a total of 365 steps (the steps
on the south side of the pyramid are eroded).

THE EARLY UNIVERSE

Humans have come up with several models in effort to
understand the universe. Before the inventions of telescope,
Physical Science Notes

- The squares of the periods of the planets are

proportional to the cubes of their mean distances
from the sun.
TYCHO BRAHE’S UNIVERSE - Period is the time it takes to make one complete
- Tycho Brahe was considered the last and the revolution around the sun.
greatest astronomer prior to the invention of the
telescope. ANALEMMA
- In his observatory, he accurately measured and - When viewed from affixed position on Earth, the
recorded the positions of the sun, the moon, and sun does not occupy the same position in the sky
the planets for 20 years. He proposed his own at the same time every day in a year.
model of the universe. “The sun is orbited Earth, - Reasons:
while the other planets orbited sun - Earth’s axis is tilted 23.5
- Earth’s rotation and revolution
GALILEO’S ASTRONOMICAL OBSERVATION - Earth’s orbit is elliptical
- Galileo made his own telescope and aimed it at SOLAR SYSTEM TODAY
the invention without seeing it. - The solar system is now viewed as consisting of
- The following are some of the things he saw with eight planets, with the sun as its center, and the
his telescope, all of which greatly contradicted planets revolve around the sun while spinning
the models of Ptolemy and Aristotle and provided about their individual axes. The solar system are
new data that supported the Copernican Model. made up of zones, terrestrial (inner planets) and
(1960) Jovian planets (outer planets)
- The moon has mountains, valleys, and craters. - Beyond the orbit of Neptune lies the Kuiper Belt.
This suggested that the moon is not so different - Pluto, which used to be a planet, is now classified
from Earth. as a “dwarf planet” on August 24, 2006. Aside
- The surface of the sun has blemishes, which are from Pluto, four other dwarf planets are known
now called sunspots. today- Ceres, Haumea, Makemake, and Eris.
- Jupiter has 4 moon revolving around it. This ADDITIONAL INFORMATIONS
showed that not all heavenly bodies revolve ECLIPSE
around the sun. - An eclipse is the result of the total or partial
- Venus has phases like those of the moon. This masking of a celestial body by another along an
suggested that Venus is merely illuminated by the observer's line of sight. Solar eclipses result from
light from the sun. the Moon blocking the Sun relative to the Earth;
- Many stars too faint to be seen by the naked eye thus Earth, Moon and Sun all lie on a line. Lunar
became visible with his telescope. eclipses work the same way in a different order:
- Milky way was simply made of individual stars. Moon, Earth and Sun all on a line. In this case the
Earth's shadow hides the Moon from view.
KEPLER’S LAW OF PLANETARY MOTION HIGHEST MOUNTAIN IN THE UNIVERSE
- Johannes Kepler served as an assistant to Tycho - There is a volcano on Mars three times the size of
Brahe. He inherited the numerous observational Everest.
data on planetary motion when Brahe died. Using - At 600 km wide and 21 km high, Olympus Mons
Brahe’s extensive data on Mars, Kepler was able is a volcano on Mars that may still be active,
to formulate his three laws of planetary motion. according to scientists. It is the tallest peak of any
planet. Mars is still not habitable.
LAW OF ELLIPSES - Mars has 2 moons, Phobos and Deimos
- The planet moves in ellipses having a common VENUS
focus situated at the sun. The other focus is - Venus is the hottest planet in the solar system and
empty. has an average surface temperature of around
- Perihelion – closest point to the sun in a planet’s 450° C. Interestingly, Venus is not the closest
orbit. planet to the Sun – Mercury is closer but because
- Aphelion – farthest point to the sun in a planet’s Mercury has no atmosphere to regulate
orbit. temperature it has a very large temperature
LAW OF EQUAL AREAS fluctuation.
- The planet moves around the sun in such a way - Venus has a slow axis rotation which takes 243
that a line drawn from the sun to the planet Earth days to complete its day. The orbit of
sweeps out equal areas in equal intervals of time. Venus around the Sun is 225 Earth days, making
LAW OF HARMONIES a year on Venus 18 days less than a day on
Venus.
Physical Science Notes

SUN
- Made of three quarters hydrogen and helium for
most of its remaining mass, the Sun accounts for
99.86% of the mass in our solar system with a
mass of around 330,000 times that of Earth.

Kinematics of Translation
The term position refers to the location of an object with respect to
a frame of reference.
A frame of reference is a system that allows an observer to specify
quantitatively where and when something is observed.

Kinematics
- The motion in terms of displacement, velocity, and
acceleration.

Dynamics
- Relates force and motion.

Translation

- Physics for motion in a straight line.

- 3 quantities:
- Displacement, velocity, and acceleration.

Velocity- the rate of change of its position with respect to a

frame of reference, and is a function of time

Distance- Traveled by a body is the length of the path taken

by the body in moving from its initial to final position.

Displacement- Traveled by a body is the length of the path

Acceleration- The change in velocity with respect to time.
taken by the body in moving from its initial to final position.
Vector quantity.
Speed- measure of how fast a body moves. It is scalar
quantity.

Average Speed- The total distance traveled by a body per

unit time of travel.

Instantaneous Speed- Speed at a particular time.

Physical Science Notes

-Still a scale of 10

• Roughly speaking, temperature is a comparative

measure of hot and cold
• Kelvin is based on measuring the average kinetic
energy of atoms in a sample…
Thermal Energy- The sum of the kinetic and potential
energies of the atoms/molecules in a body. Thermal Energy
is also referred to as INTERNAL Energy.
Temperature Vs. Heat
- Temperature in the basic sense, is a measurement of hot
and cold.
- Specifically, temperature gives us a measure of the
average kinetic energy of particles in a sample
- Heat represents the total kinetic energy of particles in a
sample
Temperature: • Fahrenheit (oF)
Fahrenheit, Celsius, and Kelvin *Introduced in 1724
• Temperature- Quantity that measures how hot or cold *Defined by 2 fixed points based on the properties of water (32-
an object is. It is proportional to the average kinetic freezing pt/212-boiling point)
energy of the particles that make up a substance. *First modern thermometer (Hg)
- Operational Definition: Defined in terms of how a • Celsius (oC)
property is measured. *Introduced 18 years later (1742)
- Thermometers have a liquid that when placed in contact *Defined by setting boiling point of water to 0 o and boiling point
with another body either expands or contracts. to 100o
- To be useful, a thermometer needs a scale with major *Absolute zero in Celsius is -273.15o
and minor delineations • Kelvin
• Heat- energy that is transferred from one body to *Introduced 1848
another as the result of a difference in temperature. If *Zero point set to Absolute Zero
two bodies at different temperatures are brought
together, energy is transferred. C = 5/9(oF – 32)
o

• heat flows—from the hotter body to the colder. The F= (9/5 x o C) + 32

o

effect of this transfer of energy usually, but not always, K= oC + 273

is an increase in the temperature of the colder body and
a decrease in the temperature of the hotter body.
• Celsius thermometer – measures temp in the Celsius
unit.
- 1742 Swedish astronomer, Anders Celsius used a
mercury thermometer and defined his scale in terms of
critical points of pure water.
- Advantages:
-Reproducible
-Scale of 10
- Disadvantages:
- -Arbitrary zero value
- -Negative numbers

• Fahrenheit thermometer – 32 degrees is the freezing

point and 212 degrees is the boiling point.
- The Fahrenheit scale is a temperature scale based on
one proposed in 1724 by the physicist Daniel Gabriel
Fahrenheit (1686–1736). It uses the degree Fahrenheit
(symbol: °F) as the unit.

• Kelvin scale – calibrated according to energy. 0 is

assigned to absolute zero temperature. 0 Kelvin is equal
to -273 degree Celsius
- 1848, British scientist, William Thomson Lord Kelvin
developed a scale that relies on the average kinetic
energy of atoms.
- Advantages:
-Absolute scale
-Empirical
-No Negative