Juno Cheung

History of the Universe

Problem Set 5 - Short Answer Questions

Due: Mar 28, 2024 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

1. Light, Energy, and Matter, Revisited

A traditional, incandescent lightbulb emits blackbody radiation; a 100-Watt light bulb emits 100
Joules/sec of energy (1 Joule/sec = 1 Watt). About 10% of this energy is emitted as visible light.
To keep our math relatively simple, let’s pretend that all of the visible light energy is emitted in
the form of photons with wavelength of 600 nm.

a. Calculate the energy of a single photon with a wavelength of 600 nm.

600mm 600109m
Ephrin

3.0x108m s
[Link]
E 1.989
I 3.315 10 19
2
 b. Using your answer to part (a) and the information provided above, calculate how many
photons per second are emitted by the light bulb.

10 to visible energyemitulls 0.1 10055 1055

100watts 51s
E 3.315 1019J
energyports
1IE tF
[Link]

c. LED light bulbs emit light by exciting electrons, which then emit visible light when they
fall back down to lower energy states. Based on your understanding of these two
different ways that matter can emit light, explain (in 2-3 sentences) why LED light
bulbs are more energy efficient than incandescent light bulbs.

LED lightbulbs emithigherenergyandemitphotons astheygobackto a lowstate

without heat
raisingthe
bulb Inindescentlightbulbsemitlight
the
generatingexcess temperatureinfrared
of
fromphysicallybeatingafilament tohigher temperatures Therefore
LEDscanconvertlargeramounts
ofargy
intovisible lightwithhigher
efficiency

2. Planets

One challenge in trying to determine the nature of planets is that their interiors generally are
hidden from direct view. To figure out what a planet is made of, we often look at its density,
which is, in essence, a measure of how heavy an object (such as a planet) is for its size. A
planet’s observed mass and size can be used to determine what ingredients (or combination of
ingredients) could produce the observed properties. An example of a related approach is shown
in Figure 1: researchers have modeled planets with a range of compositions (from pure iron to
pure ice) to see how large (in radius) a planet of each composition would be for a given mass
(or, conversely, how massive a planet would be given its size). The masses and radii of several
planets and moons have also been plotted. Use Figure 1 to answer the following questions.
 i
if
i

i
i i
Figure 1: Mass (in Earth masses) vs. radius (in km and Earth radii) for models of planets composed of ice,
rock and iron. The topmost thick black curve is for a pure ice planet; the middle thick curve is for pure rock
and the bottommost thick curve is for pure iron. The three thin black curves between pure ice and pure
rock are, from top to bottom, 75% ice/25% rock, 50/50, and 25/75. The three black thin curves between
pure rock and iron are, from top to bottom, 75% rock/25% iron, 50/50, and 25/75. Adapted from Fortney et
al. 2007. Small open circles represent the measured masses and radii of several Solar system planets
and moons.

a. Locate Neptune on the plot above.

i. Using the plot, find Neptune’s mass (in Earth masses) and radius (in Earth
radii).
mass 20M
radius 2.4 R
ii. Is Neptune lighter or heavier than a pure ice planet of the same size?

than
Neptune is pure in planet
a
lighter
 iii. If Neptune were its current size but made of pure ice, how would its mass
differ? Please be quantitative.

Masswouldbe larger from 20M to 40Mo

Kasswoulddouble
b. Locate Mars on the plot.
i. Using the plot, find Mars’ mass (in Earth masses) and radius (in Earth radii).

mass 0.12 M
radius 0.6 R
ii. Is Mars larger or smaller than a pure iron planet of the same mass?

Mars is larger

iii. If Mars were its current mass but made of pure iron, how would its radius
differ? Please be quantitative.

0.6 0.2 R

Radiuswould decrease
by
c. Why are there two different sets of y-axis labels? How are they related to one
another?

Thereare two y axis to represent twoways formeasuring thedata

Onemeasures in kilometersandare radii Theyrelatetoeach other
measures in Earth

through
unitconversion factors Earthsradius is 638 106m 6.38 103m