Transcript link to powerpoint

Can you
guess why I
am showing
you this
picture?
Electromagnetic Waves, Stars, and
The Universe
Contents:
• How we know what’s in a star (emission
spectra)
• Nuclear Fusion
• Star life cycles (our sun versus massive
stars)
• Supernovae and creation of heavy
elements
• Black Holes
Longer wavelengths (left side) have less energy. Think of these waves a
strings that are being shaken. Rapidly shaken (high energy) strings look like
the ones on the right.
These shorter wavelengths have more
energy. That’s why they’re dangerous.
The Electromagnetic Spectrum
•Visible light is just a small segment of the continuum.
•The “red end” of the spectrum has longer wavelengths. The “blue
end” has shorter wavelengths.
•Shorter wavelengths have higher energy, so we know that a red
star is cooler and a blue star is hotter.
Blue stars –
40,000 degrees
These green stars are bogus! The stars in
the middle of the “rainbow” actually look
white, because they’re a mix of the colors on
either side. When you mix all the colors of
light, you get white.
Red stars –
3,000 degrees
Why there are
no green
stars…
•Stars emit many different wavelengths of “light.”
•This light can be separated into its component
wavelengths by a prism.
A spectroscope separates radiation into its
component wavelengths in an organized way that
can be easily analyzed.
•When elements are in gas state, they absorb or emit
specific wavelengths of radiation.
•The wavelengths of radiation an element emit or absorb
depend on their electron configurations.
•Those wavelengths can be used as a “fingerprint” to
identify elements in distant stars.
Example
•The black lines are wavelengths of radiation that are
absorbed by Neon.
•If we see these black lines when we analyze
starlight with a spectroscope, we know that neon
is in the star.
Neon
Absorption
Spectra
“Fingerprints” of different elements
In the sun, nuclei fuse. When they do this, the products
of fusion have less mass than the nuclei that fused. This
“lost” mass is actually converted to energy, according to
Einstein’s famous equation…
E = Energy
produced
by nuclear
fusion
C = Speed of light
M = Mass that’s “lost”
when nuclei fuse.
In
average
9.an
Why
will thestar,
sunlike
getour
sun,
most
its energy
bigger
as of
it gets
older?
comes from the fusion of
Fusion produces
helium
Hydrogen.
Hydrogen
(heavier than
Hydrogen),
produces
helium
when it
which sinks to the sun’s
fuses.
core and displaces
This
heliumoutward.
is heavier, so it
hydrogen
sinks to the sun’s core and
10. Whythe
willhydrogen
the sun turn
pushes
redder as it gets older?
outward.
As
ages,
this outward
Asour
thesun
fusing
hydrogen
movement
of fusing
moves outward,
it
Hydrogen
willless
cause
the sun
encounters
pressure,
to
soexpand.
fusion slows down.
Temperature
drops.
This
outward movement
also
causes the rate of hydrogen
fusion to diminish (due to
lower pressure away from the
core), thus cooling the sun.
Cooling will turn it red.
Click mouse for
questions 9-10
11. AfterAtour
sun point,
burns fusion
up all of
whysun’s core. The sun
some
willitsnousable
longerhydrogen,
occur in the
will it shrink?
will cool, and that cooling will cause it to shrink. This shrinkage will
whichshrink
will, in
turn,they
cause
the sun to heat back
It will coolcreate
down.compression,
Things generally
when
cool
up (and turn from a cooler red to a hotter white). This stage is
down.
called a white dwarf.
12. Shrinking will cause the sun to turn white (becoming a
white dwarf). Why?
As the sun shrinks, it compresses itself. This causes it to
heat back up and turn from red to white.
13. Eventually, our sun will turn into a black dwarf. Why?
The energy it has as a white dwarf will slowly be lost to
space. There is no new energy source.
This stage is called a “planetary
nebula.” The super hot core creates a
“solar wind” that blasts away and
“lights up” the outer layer of gases.
With no fuel remaining, the star
will eventually radiate its heat
into space and turn to a cold,
dark “black dwarf.”
Click mouse for
questions 11-13
14. In the beginning, the massive star on the right was
mostly _________.
Hydrogen
In
a massive star, there is
enough
pressure
cause
15. Where
do the to
inner
layers of a massive star come
more
from?fusion.
Simply
the
elements
Fusion put,
of the
outer
layersin
the inner layers come from
fusion of the elements in the
outer layers. It all starts with
hydrogen fusion…
The fusion process continues
until iron is created. Even in
a massive star there is not
enough pressure for iron
nuclei to fuse.
Click mouse for
questions 14-15
Lifea massive
Cycle of
massive
star
(25 times
size of
thematerial
sun)
When
stararuns
out of fuel,
it collapses.
Thethe
collapsing
outer
16. Immediately after running out of fuel, a massive star’s
speeds toward the star’s center at an extremely high velocity. This outer material
temperature will ________.
then slams into the core and “bounces” back outward. This bounce is an explosion
Decrease
called
a supernova.
17. The temperature change of #16 will cause the volume
of the star to ________.
shrink
18. When a massive star runs out of fuel and collapses on
itself, its mass collides at its core and bounces back in an
explosion called a ____________. As a result of this
explosion, the outside layers of the massive star fly away
into space, where they can form _____________. If the
mass remaining in the dead star’s core is 3 times our
sun’s mass, it will form a ____________. If it is less, a
__________ may form.
supernova
New nebulas that can turn into new solar systems like
ours
Black Hole
Neutron Star
Click mouse for
questions 16-18
Life Cycle
of a massive
star (25that
times
theeven
sizeheavier
of thethan
sun)
A supernova
produces
such high pressures
elements
iron
are
formed
by were
fusion.
of these
elements
are scattered into space and
18.5
Where
theMany
heaviest
(heavier
than iron)
“recycled.”
They
new
nebulas that create new stars.
elements in
our form
bodies
created?
Supernova
explosions
Scientists
believe
that all of the earth’s heavy elements were created in a massive
star
ago. from dying stars sometimes
19.that
Whyexploded
does thelong
material
form “neutron stars?”
Our solar system formed
shrink
There
is so like
much
that the positive protons and
from
a nebula
thispressure
one,
the negative
electrons fuse to become neutrons.
but smaller.
20. Two characteristics of Neutron stars are:
Extreme density (3 suns compressed into the size of a city
--one spoonful would have the same mass as all of the
cars on the earth) and very rapid spinning.
Scientists believe the heavy
elements in our solar system
came from a supernova.
Lifeouter
Cycle
of aofmassive
The
portions
the star arestar
blasted outward and scattered
through space.
(25 times the size of the sun)
Ultimate Fate of A
Massive Star
(Greater than 25
Solar masses)
The core becomes so
compressed that
protons (+) and
electrons (-) fuse to
create neutrons…
If the material remaining in the
core is less than 3 solar
masses, a very dense
“neutron star” is created.
If the material
remaining in the core
is greater than 3
solar masses, its
gravitational force is
strong enough to
cause the collapse of
neutrons. The mass
compresses itself
into an infinitely
small point whose
gravity is so intense
that not even light
can escape from it.
Our Sun is an
average star like
this one.
The “Singularity”
The “Event Horizon”