Science For Teachers.

Front 1

Name three practical things early astronomy dealt with.

Back 1

1. Keeping Time
2. Marking the arrival of seasons
3. Predicting Ecplipses of the Sun and the Moon

Front 2

What did the Egyptians base their calendar on? Explain

Back 2

They followed Sirius' helical rise (first day of a year when the star can be seen before dawn) and helical set (last day of the year when the star can be seen at dusk).

Front 3

Name the five planets that have been known since ancient times.

Back 3

Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn

Front 4

What does the word planet mean?

Back 4

Wanderer or Wandering Star

Front 5

What Astronomical prediction is Thales credited with?

Back 5

He predicted a solar eclipse that stopped the battle between warring Greek factions.

Front 6

What does retrograde motion mean?

Back 6

The apparent backward motion of a planet with respect to the background stars.

Front 7

What three important astronomical ideas was Aristotle correct about?

Back 7

1. He thought the moon was spherical.
2. He argued that the sun was farther away than the moon.
3. He thought the Earth was spherical.

Front 8

What idea was Aristotle incorrect about?

Back 8

Earth is the center of the universe.

Front 9

Ptolemy’s theory of the solar system? Explain.

Back 9

*He placed the Earth in the center then the moon, Mercury, Venus, the Sun, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn.
*He imagined the planets on small orbits, called epicycles. *The center of each small orbit moved around Earth on a larger orbit called a deferent.

Front 10

Eratosthenes contribution:

Back 10

Eratosthenes determined the size of Earth using angular geometric relations to measure Earth size.

Front 11

Stonehenge

Back 11

1. Circle of stones used to mark summer and winter solstices
2. Used to predict eclipses

Front 12

Mayan People

Back 12

1. Their cities and buildings are aligned to astronomical phenomena.
2. Their calendar was set by the sun and moon.
3. Also based on the rising and setting of Venus.

Front 13

Native Americans

Back 13

1. Medicine Wheels: major points pointed towards summer and winter solstices' sunrise and sunsets.
2. Calendar Sticks: detailed astronomical record

Front 14

What contribution did Nicolaus Copernicus make to astronomy that is considered by many astronomers to be the greatest single contribution? What mistake was he making?

Back 14

He is credited with proposing the helocentric or sun centered solar system. His theory still contained only circular orbits.

Front 15

How did Galileo help prove the heliocentric idea? (two observations)

Back 15

1. He found four satelites revolving around Jupiter - thus supplying proof that at least some bodies do not revolve around the Earth.
2. He also discovered that Venus went through an entire series of phases - another piece of evidence that the Earth was not in the center.

Front 16

Explain Kepler’s first & second laws.

Back 16

1st law - the planets orbit the Sun in ellipses, with the Sun at one focus.
2nd law - the line joining the Sun and a planet sweeps through equal areas in equal times.

Front 17

At what point in its orbit does a planet move fastest?

Back 17

when it is nearest to the sun

Front 18

Order of planets

Back 18

Sun • Mercury • Venus • Earth • Mars • Ceres • Jupiter • Saturn • Uranus • Neptune • Pluto • Haumea • Makemake • Eris

Front 19

Newton’s Law of Universal Gravitation (what happens when the distance or masses are changed?)

Back 19

The gravitational force between two bodies is equal to the product of multiplying their mass and divided by the distance between their centers squared.
If the bodies' mass doubles - the force between them doubles.
If the distance between their centers doubles, the force is 4 times weaker.
Tripling the distance makes the force 9 times weaker.

Front 20

Newton's First Law of Motion

Back 20

A body at rest will remain at rest, and a body in motion will continue in motion with a constant speed in a straight line as long as no external force acts on it.

Front 21

Newton's Second Law of Motion

Back 21

A larger mass requires a larger force to give it the same acceleration obtained for a smaller mass and a smaller force.

Front 22

Newton's Third Law of Motion

Back 22

For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. This makes rockets work.

Front 23

Archaeoastronomy

Back 23

the study of how past people have understood the phenomena in the sky, how they used phenomena in the sky and what role the sky played in their cultures.

Front 24

parallax

Back 24

a small angular shift in a star's apparent position due to the Earth's motion around the sun.

Front 25

geocentric

Back 25

theory that Earth is the center of the universe

Front 26

helical rising

Back 26

of a star occurs on the first day each year when the star can be seen just before dawn.

Front 27

helical setting

Back 27

occurs on the last day of the year when the star can be seen at dusk.

Front 28

ecliptic

Back 28

the apparent path of the sun across the sky.

Front 29

heliocentric

Back 29

sun centered solar system

Front 30

constellations

Back 30

Figures in the sky that were recorded by Sumerians as far back as 2000 BC

Front 31

astronomical unit

Back 31

The average distance from the earth to the sun.

Front 32

period

Back 32

The length of time a planet takes to orbit the sun.

Front 33

foci

Back 33

singular focus - an ellipse has two points as it's foci instead of one center point

Front 34

circle

Back 34

a curve with every point equal distance from the center

Front 35

ellipse

Back 35

a curve with two points called its foci instead of one center point

Front 36

Sidereal Period/Lunar Month

Back 36

The Moon makes a complete orbit around the Earth with respect to the fixed stars about once every 27.3 days(its sidereal period). However, since the Earth is moving in its orbit about the Sun at the same time, it takes slightly longer for the Moon to show its same phase to Earth, which is about 29.5 days

Front 37

Retrograde

Back 37

motions of some planets with respect to the background stars

Front 38

Layers of the Sun from innner most outward

Back 38

Core--Radiation Zone--Convection Zone--Photosphere--Chromosphere--Corona

Front 39

Who was the first person to discover sun spots and when?

Back 39

Galileo
1610

Front 40

Star spectral types from strongest to lightest. Which does the sun fall under?

Back 40

O
B
A
F
G (Sun, 5800 K)
K
M