NAME________________________________
History of the Universe
Problem Set 5 - Short Answer Questions
Due: Apr 15, 2026 in class
Written homework in this class is intended as a learning tool. Collaboration with peers while
working on this assignment is encouraged - in fact, collaborative assignments produced by two
people are allowed for full credit. You can ask Statia for help too! Please, though, don’t copy
from someone else or have AI do your homework – this would constitute academic dishonesty
and defeat the purpose of the assignment, which is to help you practice the skills you’ll need for
exams. And do show all your work. You will need to use a calculator to complete this
assignment. Below you will find some potentially useful information. This information will also be
provided during exams!
Metric System Prefixes Table Constants, Values, and Unit Conversions
T “terra” 1012 8
𝑐 = 3. 0 × 10 𝑚/𝑠 speed of light in a vacuum
G “giga” 109 −34
ℎ = 6. 63 × 10 𝐽 · 𝑠 Planck constant
M “mega” 106
−11 3 −1 −2
k “kilo” 103 𝐺 = 6. 7 × 10 𝑚 𝑘𝑔 𝑠 Gravitational constant
c “centi” 10-2 π = 3. 14
m “milli” 10-3 1 mile = 5280 feet = 1.61 km
μ “micro” 10-6 1 inch = 2.54 cm
n “nano” 10-9 1 foot = 12 inches
p “pico” 10-12 1 𝐴𝑈 = 1. 50 × 10 𝑚
11
Astronomical Unit
24
𝑀𝐸 = 5. 97 × 10 𝑘𝑔 Mass of Earth
6
𝑅𝐸 = 6. 38 × 10 𝑚 Radius of Earth
15
1 𝑙𝑦 = 9. 5 × 10 𝑚 light-year
−2
1𝑁 ≡ 1𝑘𝑔 𝑚 𝑠 Newton
2 −2
1𝐽 ≡ 1 𝑘𝑔 𝑚 𝑠 Joule
−1
1𝑊 ≡ 1𝐽 · 𝑠 Watt
−1
1 𝐻𝑧 ≡ 1/𝑠 = 𝑠 Hertz
1 ton = 1000 kg
Potentially Useful Equations
𝑑=𝑣×𝑡 d = distance; v = speed; t = time
2
𝐴 = π𝑟 Area of a circle. A= area, r= radius (radius = ½ diameter). Can be used
for telescope collecting area.
2
𝑉𝑐𝑦𝑙 = π𝑟 ℎ Volume of a cylinder. V= volume, r= radius, h = height
3
𝑉𝑠𝑝ℎ = 4/3 π𝑟 Volume of a sphere. V= volume, r= radius
◦ λ
θ𝑚𝑖𝑛 = 69. 9 𝐷
θ𝑚𝑖𝑛= minimum distinguishable angle of separation; λ =
wavelength; D = diameter of the telescope aperture
Potentially Useful Equations (continued)
2 3
𝑃 𝑦𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑠
=𝑎 𝐴𝑈
Kepler’s Third Law. Pyears = Orbital period in years; aAU = orbital distance
(“semimajor axis”) in AU.
𝐹 = 𝑚 × 𝑎 Newton’s second law of motion. F= force, m=mass, a=acceleration
𝐹1 =− 𝐹2 Newton’s third law of motion.𝐹1= force exerted by body 1 on body 2; 𝐹2=
force exerted by body 2 on body 1
𝐺𝑚1𝑚2
𝐹𝑔𝑟𝑎𝑣 = 2 Newton’s Law of Gravitation. 𝐹𝑔𝑟𝑎𝑣= gravitational force. G = gravitational
𝑑
constant; 𝑚1, 𝑚2 = masses of objects 1 and 2, respectively; d =
separation between two objects.
2𝐺𝑀
𝑣𝑒𝑠𝑐 = 𝑟
𝑣𝑒𝑠𝑐= escape speed; G = gravitational constant; M = mass of object to
escape from; r= distance from object’s center.
𝑣= λ×𝑓 v = speed of a wave; λ = wavelength; f = frequency
𝐸𝑝ℎ𝑜𝑡𝑜𝑛 = ℎ × 𝑓 𝐸𝑝ℎ𝑜𝑡𝑜𝑛 = energy of a photon; h = Planck constant; f = frequency
0.0029 𝑚 ·𝐾
λ𝑝𝑒𝑎𝑘 = 𝑇
λ𝑝𝑒𝑎𝑘= wavelength peak of the blackbody curve, T = temperature,
m here is the unit of meters and K is the unit of Kelvins (m and K are not
variables in this equation!)
◦ 5 ◦ ◦ ◦
𝐶= 9
(𝐹 − 32) 𝐶= temperature in degrees Celsius, 𝐹= temperature in degrees
Fahrenheit
◦ ◦
𝐾 = 𝐶+273 K = temperature in Kelvins, 𝐶= temperature in degrees Celsius
2
𝑟𝑠 = 2𝐺𝑀/𝑐 rs =Schwarzschild radius (radius of a black hole), G = gravitational
constant; M = mass of black hole, c= speed of light
4
𝐼 = σ𝑇 I = radiation intensity (power output per square meter), T = temperature
L = SA × I L= luminosity, SA= Surface Area, I= radiation intensity
2
𝑆𝐴 = 4π𝑟 SA = surface area of a sphere, r = radius
1. Sense of Scale: Big Numbers
In discussing the numbers of galaxies, stars, and planets in our Universe, we have encountered
some very big numbers - so big that they can be hard to imagine. In this problem, you will
develop visualizations to help with your intuition of the numbers one million and one billion.
a. M&M candies are about 1 cm in diameter. If you were to place one million M&Ms in a
line, how long would your line of M&Ms be? Give your answer in a useful unit and be
sure to show all of your work, including unit conversions.
b. Come up with a way of visualizing this number:
i. Provide an object or trip of equivalent length to your answer in (a). If you
used any source other than your brain, cite it.
ii. How long (in seconds, minutes, hours, etc.) would it take you to walk your
line of 1 million M&Ms? Do not Google this - use your own estimate of your
walking speed to calculate the time, and state it clearly.
c. If you were to place one billion M&Ms in a line, how long would your line of M&Ms
be? Give your answer in a useful unit and be sure to show all of your work, including unit
conversions.
d. How long (in seconds, minutes, hours, etc.) would it take you to walk your line of 1
billion M&Ms? Do not Google this - use your own estimate of your walking speed and
state it clearly.
2. 100 Billion Stars
Let’s try to improve our sense of scale for the number of stars in our Milky Way Galaxy (about
100 billion). We’ll represent each star as one M&M, which for simplicity I will assume has
dimensions of 1cm x 1cm x 1cm. How much space (volume) would we fill if we had enough
M&Ms to represent the total number of stars in the Milky Way?
a. First, report your number in cubic centimeters (cm3).
b. Next, report your number in cubic meters (m3). Note that 1 cubic meter is 100 cm x
100 cm x 100 cm or 106 cm3.
c. Finally, compare your answer to the size of our classroom in Bobst. What fraction
of a classroom, or how many classrooms, would we fill? Note: You’ll need to
estimate the dimensions of the classroom.
3. White Dwarf Sun
At the end of its life, the Sun will become a white dwarf, with a mass of about 0.5 𝑀⊙ and a
radius of only about 1 RE.
a. Imagine you were able to stand on this white dwarf. What speed would you need to
escape from its gravitational pull?
b. When the Sun becomes a white dwarf, its surface area will be one millionth of its current
surface area. However, its surface temperature will be about 30 times as hot as it is now.
Using this information, at which stage (main sequence or white dwarf) will the Sun
be more luminous, and by what factor will its luminosity increase/decrease in the
white dwarf phase?