Tag Archives: blog3

Equal and Opposite

Posted on February 17, 2014 by hindsolar

Newton’s third law of motion tell us that for any force that is applied there is always an equal and opposite force. Physics and Astronomy are tightly intertwined. I thought the example of a plane captures this idea and is quite interesting. Planes must maintain certain altitudes. This is controlled by the wing of the […] Continue reading →

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Zero Gravity

Posted on February 17, 2014 by colepospisil

Planets are like ogres, they have layers. As you approach the center of the planet, mass is skimmed off until the effective mass of the planet is zero at the center. At this point, the planet’s gravity affects you in equal and opposite directions, so there is essentially no gravitational force. Everywhere other than the […] Continue reading →

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Archaeoastronomy

Posted on February 17, 2014 by Leigh

Archaeoastronomy is a relatively new field that combines the disciplines of archaeology and astronomy; in it, scientists piece together the astronomical discoveries of ancient people by analyzing the remains from their civilizations. It is a very interesting and informative field … Continue reading → Continue reading →

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Mass, Space-Time, and Light

Posted on February 16, 2014 by zkorman

Mass, as we know, bends space-time. Examples of such bending (in 2 dimensions for ease of comprehension) can be seen here for our sun, a white dwarf, a neutron star, and a black hole. A good question was asked recently, and I would like to clear up some misconceptions. The question, which was very insightful, … Continue reading Mass, Space-Time, and Light → Continue reading →

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Light in the Universe

Posted on February 16, 2014 by Chad F

Light is a very meaningful aspect of the universe that allowed us to make the observations about space that we have made so far.  The light that stars produce allows us to determine many things about them.  Their absorption line spectra allow us to determine their composition and the Doppler effect allows us to determine […] Continue reading →

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Travel Inside a Black Hole

Posted on February 16, 2014 by gradytlynch

Although we usually think of black holes as extremely massive objects, anything in the universe with mass can theoretically become a black hole. As this video discusses, it is mathematically possible for a black hole to form with the mass of the earth, or even Mount Everest. However, the object’s Schwarzschild radius, the size it […] Continue reading →

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Why is gravity so weak?

Posted on February 16, 2014 by bsturge93

Gravity is a fundamental force that holds together our solar system, our galaxy, and every person to Earth. It must be pretty strong to hold something as massive as Jupiter in orbit right? Actually, compared to the three other fundamental forces, gravity is unimaginably weak. To demonstrate this, use a common refrigerator magnet to pick … Continue reading Why is gravity so weak? → Continue reading →

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The Celestial Compass

Posted on February 16, 2014 by paanvaannd

For millennia, humans have known that the movements of certain celestial objects repeat in a predictable pattern, and for millennia humans have mapped the movements of stars and other objects in the heavens and tried to make predictions about the cycles for these objects.  Most humans probably didn’t care about what might be up in … Continue reading The Celestial Compass → Continue reading →

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Gravitation and the theory of everything

Posted on February 16, 2014 by Drew Hamilton

Over the last several class periods, we have talked a lot about the force of gravitation. Incidentally, gravitation is considered one of the four fundamental forces of nature, along with weak force, strong force, and electromagnetic force. Interestingly, though, gravitation is the only one of these that is explained by a separate theory—the general theory… Continue reading →

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Tides

Posted on February 16, 2014 by katiew

Many people know that tides rise and fall as a result of the Moon, but often times people are unaware that the Sun also exerts a tidal force on the Earth. Tides are caused by gravitational force, which depends on the mass of the objects pulling on each other and the distance between them. The […] Continue reading →

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