Chapter 1.2
Notes
·
-How
big is the earth compared to our solar system?
Lets reduce the size of
the solar system by a factor of 10 billion; the sun is now the size of a large
grapefruit (14 cm diameter)
· -How
big is earth on this scale?
a. An atom
b. A tip of a ballpoint pen
c. A marble
d. A golf ball
Answer: B
· -The
scale of the solar system
On a 1 to 10 billion
scale: sun is the size of a large grapefruit; earth is the size of a tip of a
ballpoint pen, 15 meters away.
· -How
far away are the stars?
On our 1 to 10 billion
scale, it’s just a few minute walk to pluto.
· -How
far would you have to walk to reach Alpha Centauri?
a. 1 mile
b. 10 miles
c. 100 miles
d. The distance across the US (2500
miles)
Answer: D
· -How
big is the universe?
The Milky Way is one of
about 100 billion galaxies.
10^11 stars/galaxy x
10^11= 10^22
It has as many stars as
grains of dry sand on all Earth’s beaches.
· -How
do our lifetimes compare to the age of the universe?
The cosmic calendar: a
scale on which we compress the history of the universe into 1 year.
· -How
big is the earth compared to our solar system?
On a scale of 1 to 10
billion, the sun is about the size of a grapefruit. The earth is the size of a
tip of a ballpoint pen about 15 m away. The distances between planets are huge
compared to their sizes.
· -How
far away are the stars?
On the same scale, the
stars are thousands of kilometers away.
·
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