Physical Science Module 11

Front 1

What are the 4 kinds of force in creation?

Back 1

gravitational, electromagnetic, weak, and strong

Front 2

gravitational force

Back 2

attractive force between any two objects which have mass. Weakest force in nature.

Front 3

electromagnetic force

Back 3

force existing between objects with electrical charge. Can attract or repel.

Front 4

weak force

Back 4

force that governs certain radioactive processes in atoms. Actually a facet of the electromagnetic force.

Front 5

strong force

Back 5

force responsible for holding the nucleus of an atom together. Strong force with very small range.

Front 6

Gravitational Principle #1

Back 6

All objects with mass are attracted to one another by the gravitational force.

Front 7

Gravitational Principle #2

Back 7

The gravitational force between two masses is directly proportional to the mass of each object.

Front 8

Gravitational Principle #3

Back 8

The gravitational force between two masses is inversely proportional to the square of the distance between those two objects.

Front 9

If the mass of two objects remains the same, but the distance between them decreases from 20 cm to 4 cm, how does the gravitational force between them change?

Back 9

Since the distance decreased by a factor of 5, the gravitational force would be 25 times stronger.

Front 10

centripetal force

Back 10

The force necessary to make an object move in a circle. It is pointed perpendicular to the velocity of the object, which means it points toward the center of the circle.

Front 11

centripetal acceleration

Back 11

Acceleration due to the constantly changing direction of velocity, even when speed is constant.

Front 12

Centripetal Motion Principle #1

Back 12

Circular motion requires centripetal force.

Front 13

Centripetal Motion Principle #2

Back 13

The larger the centripetal force, the faster an object travels in a circle of a given size.

Front 14

Centripetal Motion Principle #3

Back 14

At a given speed, the larger the centripetal force, the smaller the circle.

Front 15

centrifugal force

Back 15

No such thing exists.

Front 16

asteroid belt

Back 16

a large concentration of asteroids found betwen Mars and Jupiter.

Front 17

Why doesn't the Earth get sucked into the sun?

Back 17

The Earth has velocity perpendicular to the sun's gravitational force.

Front 18

inner planets

Back 18

Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars. They are small and made mostly of rock and iron

Front 19

outer planets

Back 19

Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune. They are large and composed mostly of gases such as hydrogen and helium.

Front 20

satellite

Back 20

Something that orbits a larger object, typically a planet.

Front 21

Name the satellites of Mars

Back 21

Phobos and Deimos

Front 22

Galilean satellites

Back 22

The 4 largest of Jupiter's at least 60 moons. Io, Europa, Callisto, and Ganymede.

Front 23

Name the planets with rings.

Back 23

Saturn (> 100,000), Uranus (~13), Neptune (~9), and Jupiter.

Front 24

Of what are the planetary rings composed?

Back 24

rock, ice, and frozen gases

Front 25

perturbation

Back 25

Variations from an object's expected orbit around the sun, caused by the gravitational force of other planets.

Front 26

Explain the progress from asteroid to meteorite.

Back 26

An asteroid gets thrown out of its orbit around the sun by a perturbation caused by Earth. When it intersects Earth's orbit, it is called a meteroid. When it hits Earth's atmosphere, it is called a meteor. When it falls to Earth, it is called a meteorite.

Front 27

Why is the impact of meteors more apparent on Mars than on Earth.

Back 27

Most meteors burn up in the Earth's atmosphere; Mars doesn't have an atmosphere. Earth's atmosphere also provides wind to erode evidence of craters.

Front 28

What is the hottest planet, and why?

Back 28

Venus is the hottest planet, due to its carbon dioxide atmosphere which traps the sun's heat.

Front 29

comet

Back 29

a "dirty snowball" made of frozen water, carbon dioxide, ammonia, and methan, as well as dirt. They have elliptical orbits around the sun.

Front 30

Describe what happens to a comet when it nears the sun.

Back 30

The heat of the sun "sublimates" the solid frozen gases straight to a gaseous state, forming a fuzzy atmosphere around the solid nucleus of the comet. The fuzzy part is called the coma. The gases are heated so much that they begin to glow and are visible as a long glowing tail, which is blown straight away from the sun by solar wind.

Front 31

What is the period of a comet?

Back 31

The amount of time that it takes for it to orbit the sun. Short period comets have an orbit of less than 200 years, long-period between 200 and 5000, and very long-period more than 5000 years.

Front 32

Oort cloud

Back 32

A big shell of icy bodies that it thought to surround the solar system, well beyond Pluto. It is hypothesized that this may be where long-period comets originate.

Front 33

Kuiper belt

Back 33

A small band of comet material just beyond Neptune. Its presence was confirmed by the Hubble telescope.

Front 34

Where are short-period comets thought to originate? What problems are there with this thought?

Back 34

In the Kuiper belt. However, most objects in the Kuiper belt are much larger than comets, and there don't seem to be enough objects in the Kuiper belt to account for the number of short-period comets.

Front 35

What are the three criteria for a planet?

Back 35

1. must orbit the sun.
2. Must be nearly round in shape.
3. must have "cleared the neighborhood" around its orbit.

Front 36

What are the criteria for a dwarf planet?

Back 36

1. must orbit the sun.
2. must be nearly round in shape.
3. has not "cleared the neighborhood" around its orbit.
4. not a satellite.

Front 37

Name the 3 currently recognized dwarf planets

Back 37

Pluto, Eris, and Ceres (in the asteroid belt.)

Front 38

What are the two most recognized theories about what causes gravity?

Back 38

Einstein's General Theory of Relativity and the Graviton Theory.

Front 39

Einstein's General Theory of Relativity, as it relates to gravity

Back 39

Gravity is caused by the bending of space in the presence of mass. Theory also states that space and light bend in the presence of mass.

Front 40

Graviton Theory

Back 40

Theory that gravity is caused by the exchange of tiny particles called gravitons between two masses.

Front 41

Name some things that support Einstein's Theory

Back 41

1. It correctly predicts Mercury's orbit.
2. It correctly predicts light bending when passing a star.
3. It correctly predicts that time will move more slowly on a satellite than on Earth.

Front 42

Name some things that support the graviton theory.

Back 42

1. It agrees with quantum mechanics.
2. Other forces in creation are due to the exchange of particles.