Study Guide for Exam #2
The second in-class exam will be on Wednesday, October 20th. It will consist
of 25 multiple-choice questions, and you will fill in your answers in an accompanying "bubble" form with a #2 pencil.
Each question is worth 4 points, for a total of 100 points.
Hints for studying:
- Below is a list of the various topics we've touched on since the first exam.
You are responsible for knowing what they mean and the context in which they fit into this class.
- Remember, your book is a better REFERENCE than guide. There are some things in the various chapters that we didn't cover in class. Use your course notes (and lecture notes on the web) as a GUIDE, then the book for reference. Make sure to study the various pictures in your book.
- Remeber to work SLOWLY and CAREFULLY. There are only 25 questions, so you should have more than enough time to find the answers, put them in your bubble sheet, and then *recheck* your choices to make sure you are answering the question asked and that they MAKE SENSE!
- Make sure to READ the questions carefully. It really helps to DRAW A PICTURE if the question is complicated. Some incorrect answers are going to look very tempting, so make sure you know WHAT THE QUESTION IS ASKING. That is half the battle of finding the right answer. You can also eliminate choices by figuring out which ones are WRONG.
List of topics we've covered so far: (hint, one way way to study is
to try to define the following terms and then recall HOW it is that we
measure, detect these different objects, that is at what wavelength or
by what process do we observe these things?).
- The Sun: our Nearest Star
- Global properties of the Sun
- Heating of the Sun: nuclear fusion (proton-proton chain) types of energy generated?
- The Solar interior: layers and energy transport
- Inner layers of the Sun: core, radiative zone, convection zone
- Convection and evidence for convection?
- Neutrinos - what are they and how do they get out of the Sun?
- Can we detect neutrinos? How?
- The surface of the Sun: granulation, sunspots
- Sunspots: why are they dark? the Sunspot cycle, the Solar Cycle
- The outer layers of the Sun: chromosphere, Corona
- Coronal Mass Ejections, Prominences, Solar Wind, Space Weather
- Van Allen Radiation belts and Aurora Borealis
- How long will Sun burn H --> Helium?
- H-R Diagram
- What is an H-R diagram? What are the axes and typical values on axes?
- What is the main sequence?
- How does the luminosity change as you go "up" the main sequence?
- How does mass vary along the main sequence?
- How do "lifetimes" of stars change as you travel along the main sequence?
- What are the different parts of the H-R diagram and what physically do they represent? (i.e. Red Giants, white dwarfs, red dwarfs, etc)
- Formation of Stars and Planets
- Dark Nebulae & Molecular Clouds
- what do dark nebulae look like?
- about what size are dust grains?
- molecular cloud sizes: cores and giant molecular clouds
- temperature - high or low?
- density - high or low?
- how are molecular cloud detected?
- The formation of stars and planets:
- where do stars form?
- how do stars form (pressure, gravity, density)?
- protostars
- disks around stars
- jets
- Have we observed protostars and jets/disks?
- physical conditions in the solar nebula; formation of our SS
- Post-Main Sequence Stellar Evolution
- Red Giant Phase of Sun-like stars (what kinds of fusion?)
- White Dwarfs/Planetary Nebulae
- Supergiants/Neutron Stars/Supernova Explosions/Supernova Remnants
- What do these evolutionary paths look like on the H-R Diagram?
- Supernovae and neutrinos
- Neutron Stars/Pulsars: Stellar Corpses
- what is the origin of a neutron star?
- what is the approximate size of a neutron star?
- why is a pulsar predicted to be spinning so rapidly and have such a strong magnetic field?
- are all pulsars neutron stars? are all neutron stars pulsars?
- at what wavelength are pulsars observed? what is their "signal" like?