Spring '98 HOMEWORK
- (A) What is the estimated age of the universe?
(B) What is the
estimated age of the solar system?
(C) What constitutes the solar
system?
- (A) What are the two major constituents of the sun?
(B) What is
the solar constant? What two types of radiation
contribute most to solar constant?
- Draw and label the internal (i.e. below the photosphere) structure of
the sun. Briefly describe the physical processes occurring in each
zone.
- What are granules and supergranules? Where are they seen?
- Draw and label the solar atmosphere and describe the differences
between each zone. What is the most puzzling aspect of the solar
atmosphere?
- What do we mean by active sun and what is the cause of it?
- Briefly describe what a prominence is and how it is different from a
filament.
- What are flares and how do we classify them? What are the phases of
a flare?
- (A) What are sun spots?
(B) What is the solar cycle?
(C) What
is the butterfly diagram?
- Describe two methods that geologists use to get information about
the internal structure of planets.
- Draw and label the internal structure of the Earth. Briefly
describe the properties of each region. Why is the inner core solid but
the outer core liquid?
- What are the lithosphere and asthenosphere?
- What causes the Earth to have a dynamic geology? Explain briefly.
- What is the Earth's magnetic field strength at radial distance of
1.5RiE (Earth radii) and co-latitude of 20°? What are
the vertical and horizontal components? Note that µ=0.31 Gauss
R3E.
- What L value corresponds to invariant latitude of 70°,
50°, and 10°?
- What are the two major atmospheric constituents at altitudes below 100
Km?
- Assuming a one-dimensional hydrostatic equilibrium, derive the
variation of atmospheric pressure as a function of height. Assume a
uniform mean molecular mass and temperature.
- Describe the properties of temperature regimes in the atmosphere. What gives rise to the
observed temperature profile?
- What is the difference between the homosphere and the heterosphere?
- What is the exosphere?
- Why does the ozone layer form only at the top of the stratosphere?
- An electron with parallel energy of 10Mev and a perpendicular energy of 10Mev
at the magnetic equator moves along the L=5 magnetic field line. What are parallel and
perpendicular energies of the electron at a latitude of 20°, assuming that the first
adiabatic invariant and the total kinetic energy are conserved?
- Given that the change in the solar wind velocity with distance from the sun is given by:
Plot the corresponding four classes of solutions and
discuss which one corresponds to the actual solar wind solution.
- Assuming a constant solar wind velocity of 400Km/s and a density of 10 particles per
cm3 at 1 Au, what is the solar wind density at Jupiter?
- Assuming a radial magnetic field strength of 4 Gauss at the sun's surface and an expansion
velocity of 400 Km/s, what is the radial and the azimuthal strength of the solar wind
magnetic field at the Earth's orbit (theta = pi/2) ? Note that the angular velocity of the sun
is w = 2.7 x 10-6 radians/sec.
- How does an active comet interact with the solar wind and why is the interaction region so
large?
- How many tails does a comet have? Explain their origin.
- Which of the cometary tails are observed to disconnect and what is the most popular theory
for such events?
- What are black holes and how do we infer their existance?
- What evidence exists for other planetary systems?
- What is the Oart cloud and how was its existance inferred?
- What and where is the great red spot?
- Which moon of jupiter was observed by Voyager to be volcanicaly active?
- What is the best way to map Venus's surface? Why?
- What causes the Earth's magnetic field?
- Name a unique characteristic of Uranus.
- What are the major differences between the inner planets and the outer planets except for
Pluto?
- Where were the heavy elements in the universe believed to be formed?
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