Milky Way to
Andromeda- 2.5
million light
years away
Sun to Proxima Centauri-
4.22 light years
Light Years- The
distance travelled
by light in a year
Light
travels at
300,000km
per second
1.3
seconds
Moon--->Earth
4 years
across
Solar
System
100,000 years across MW
The finite speed of light means
that very distant objects are
observed as they were in the
past, when the light we now
see left them
Parallax- the apparent shift of a star against more
distant stars as the position of the observor
changes. The further away a star is, the the less it
appears to sift at two different intervals
However parallax is only
effective for nearer stars as at
greater distances the shift is so
small it isn't measureable
Relative Brightness-the
brighter a star, the
closer it is providing that
the comparative star is
the same type
light pollution and other
atmospheric conditions
interfere with observations
of the night sky
8 planets,
many
moons and
asteroids
orbit the
sun in
circular
motions.
Comets- large balls
of ice and dust.
Elliptical orbits
Asteroids-
Orbit the sun
between Mars
and Jupiter
Sun
One of thousands of
millions of stars in the
Milky Way galaxy
Fusion of hydrogen nuclei
produces helium and
masses of heat and energy
Helium is then
fused to make
heavier
elements such
as carbon and
oxygen
Origin
5000 million years
ago a great swirl of
dust and gas came
together
About 99% of
that material
became the Sun
Gravity pulled the
remaining particles into
smaller clumps which
continued to join to
form planets
As it formed, the Solar System
gathered debris from previous
generations of dead stars. Except
Hydrogen and Helium everything
on earth is made from stardust
Measuring
Uncertainties
First scientists had to measure the Earths orbit around the sun. Then
they had to use parallax to measure the distance to nearby stars.
After that had to use the brightness method to measure the distance
to further stars. Another method involved Cepheid variables, which
was needed to extend the measurements beyond the Milky Way
Each method
depended on the result
of the previous one so
the final results were
uncertain.
these methods have built-in
assumptions E.g. the
brightness method assumes
the stars are the same type
By making different
measurements
scientists estimated
the size of the
Universe
Universe
Big Bang- 14 Billion
Years ago
when astronomers look at light from distant
galaxies, it is shifted to the red end of the
spectrum. This is redshift and the amount of it
shows how fast galaxies are receeding
Speed of Recession= Hubble Constant * Distance
The further away a galaxy is, the faster it is moving away
A hot Big Bnag exp,lains why the the early Universe
was 76% Hyfrogen and 24% Helium by mass
The oldest stars (12 billion years) are younger
than the 14 billion year old Universe.
Earth= 4.5 billion years
the ultimate fate of the Universe is
dif cult to predict because of dif
culties in measuring the very large
distances involved and the mass of
the Universe, and studying the
motion of very distant objects.
If the Universe has a high mass,
it's gravty may cause it to
eventually colapse= Big Crunch
Rocks and
Plate
Tectonics
erosion,
sedimentation,
fossils and folding is
evidence for changes
in the Earth.
Continents would we
worn down by erosion if
not for continuous
mountain formation
Erosion and sedimentation take place very
slowly. Over periods of time these small changes
add up to great changes in the Earhs surface
Erosion makes
new soil
(essential for
humans).
Heating inside
the earth
changes rocks
and lifts land
Earth's oldest rocks were made
around 4.4 billion years old.
Earth must be = or + this age
Wegeners
Continental
drift
Proposed the theory was
that the Earth's continents
were once joined together,
but gradually moved apart
over millions of years.
Geometric
fit of
continents
matching rock
formations and
mountain chains
Identical
reptile
fossil
Rejection
Simpler
explanations
using same
evidence
movements of
continents not
detectable
too big of an idea
with limited evidence
Cooling
earth caused
mountains
Wegener
was an
outsider to
the geology
community
Land Bridge
Seafloor Spreading
Convection currents in the
mantle caused by the heating
of the Earth's core pulls the
ridge apart. Hot magma erupts
and cools to make new rock.
the seafloor spreads a few centimetres each year
seafloor spreading and the periodic reversals
of the Earth’s magnetic field can explain the
pattern in the magnetisation of seafloor
rocks on either side of oceanic ridges.
Plate
tectonics
Earthquakes
Earthquakes produce wave motions on the surface
and inside the Earth which can be detected by
instruments located on the Earth’s surface
S-waves (Transverse)- SOLIDS ONLY
In transverse waves,
the vibrations are at
right angles to the
direction of travel
and energy transfer.
P- Waves (Longitudinal)- SOLIDS AND LIQUIDS
In longitudinal waves, the vibrates are
along the same direction as the
direction of travel and energy transfer.
Transform
plate
boundary. The
friction at
fault lines
builds up to
the point
when the
locked rocks
break and the
earth moves
Mountains- collisions
between plates
Himalayas- the edges
of plates crumple and
pile up together
When one plate is
subducted under
another, mountains are
formed. The friction of
the movement can also
melt rocks and produce
volcanoes.
Volcanoes
Formed
at
oceanic
ridges
Inside the Earth
Scientists began to
notice that both
P-waves and S-waves
reached seisometers
close to the epicentre
Only P-waves reached seismometers
on the other side of the Earth
There were 'shadow zones'
where S-waves didnt reach
Scientists knew that the core
must be liquid if S-waves couldn't
pass through. From the size of
the shadow zone, he worked out
it was around 7000km thick
Scientists looked at P-wave
patterns and discovered there
must be a small liquid core
Waves
distance = wave speed × time
(metres, m) (metres per second,
m/s) (seconds, s)
a wave is a disturbance, caused by a
vibrating source, that transfers
energy in the direction that the wave
travels, without transferring matter
the frequency of waves, in hertz (Hz), is
the number of waves each second that
are made by the source, or that pass
through any particular point
the wavelength of waves is the
distance between the corresponding
points on two adjacent cycles
the amplitude of a wave is the distance
from the maximum displacement to
the undisturbed position
wave speed =
frequency ×
wavelength
(metres per
second, m/s)
(hertz, Hz)
(metres, m)
for a constant wave speed
the wavelength of the wave
is inversely proportional to
the frequency.