The Sun, the largest fusion reactor in the Solar System, but for how long?
The Sun, the largest fusion reactor in the Solar System, but for how long? Statement of Aim The Sun is globe of intensely hot gas, it is self luminous and produces energy by means of nuclear processes that occur deep within it. A substantial amount of this energy harnessed over millions of years has provided life here on planet Earth and continues to do so. But what if the life cycle of the Sun comes to an abrupt end. Will life cease to exist? The explosion of this star in the universe may be as a whole utterly insignificant but it could wipe out the human race! The aim of this report will be to carry out an investigation into the Sun, its beginnings, its state at present and its future. It will include a thorough analysis of the thermonuclear reactions that take place inside the Sun. To conclude with, my report will correlate existing information to find an estimate of the life expectancy of the Sun. How information and particular resources were identified With recent study in to the phenomenon of particles within the nucleus of an atom, I decided to research further in to the actions of such particles in thermonuclear reactions that take place inside the Sun. I started by using the Internet and the Nasa website. This proved to be most useful. I also gained the chance to look at a lecturer's notes. By using the Internet I was able to locate particular
The Ultraviolet Camera
Kenneth Carter January 3, 2003 Catholic Central School Grade 8 Social Studies The Ultraviolet Camera George Carruthers invented the Ultraviolet. Who was born in Cincinnati Ohio? His date of birth was 1939. And he had always loved Telescopes. When he was 9 he had made his own telescope. He loved science and he also loved astronomy. And the word astronomy means to study the world around us .When he went to college he studied physics watch means the study of matter. He earned his doctorate in 1964. And after that he went to work for the naval research laboratory. There he invented the Ultraviolet light. The light could let you see the sun with out hurting your eyes. After he got all the bugs out of the thing it was reedy to be sent into space and tested. So they blasted off into space. And when they got there it worked and they did their jobs. Even throw the flight was and susses him kept working on it until it was perfect. Until it was perfect he keep testing it, And it finally was perfect and it only took him 3 years to Finnish it. And a another project he worked on was the global imaging monitor. What it dose is observes the earth outer most atmosphere. This is not and air force project. And it will not revolve a round there satellite eater. The camera was
Carbon cycle
The Carbon Cycle The Biochemical Cycle is the flow of an element through the living tissue and physical environment of an ecosystem; eg, the carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, sulfur, and phosphorus cycles. The carbon cycle involves the movement of carbon from the air, into plants, animals, people, the Earth and back into the air. Carbon is cycled around the world by different physical, chemical and biological processes. Carbon is a key element on Earth because many organic molecules are made of carbon. On short time-scales carbon is transferred among living organisms, the atmosphere, the land, and the oceans by, for example, physiological processes such as photosynthesis and respiration. On longer, geological, time-scales weathering of rock releases carbon dioxide to the atmosphere. Carbon is the fourth most abundant element in the Universe and is the building block for all living things. The conversion of carbon dioxide into living matter and then back is the main pathway of the carbon cycle. Plants draw about one quarter of the carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere and photosynthesize it into carbohydrates. Some of the carbohydrate is consumed by plant respiration and the rest is used to build plant tissue and growth. Animals consume the carbohydrates and return carbon dioxide to the atmosphere during respiration. Carbohydrates are oxidized and returned to the
Are humans an infection of the planet Earth?
Are humans an infection of the planet Earth? It could be said that humans are an infection of the planet Earth. We make use of the Earth's resources, but it would be true to say that this is not being done in the most efficient or responsible way by humans. It could even be said that humans are abusing the resources, made available to them from the Earth, rather than making use of them wisely. One of the most alarming issues facing the world today is our use of the Earth's fossil fuels. Such fuels will inevitably run out one day, and the rapid use of them by humans could be called thoughtless. More efficient ways of producing energy, for our use, need to be developed further and put in to action. The preservation of our Earth's resources is important and humans are currently seriously damaging this aspect of the world. Another serious problem, caused by humans, that is damaging our planet Earth is pollution. There are numerous forms of pollution that are causing considerable damage to our environment. Industrial factories release extremely dangerous chemicals in to the atmosphere, polluting the air, land and seas. Such chemicals contaminate water, which therefore affects the creatures and humans that use and rely upon it. Poisonous gases released pollute the air humans and animals breathe, which can affect the health of those who need it. This build up of harmful gases,
One of the important features of the key stage 2 astronomy is making it apparent that the students probably knew more than they believed they did, as with regards to the teaching of how the position of the sun
EDM 212 The Exploration of Science II Assessment C: The Earth and Beyond Joseph Colledge The Solar System Astronomy is often considered the oldest of all sciences, records have been discovered dating back to 4th century BC with the ancient Greeks, Romans, Chinese, Babylonians and Arabians all documenting sightings of what was considered phenomena back then but are now called comets, planets, eclipses and supernovae. As with other science disciplines new discoveries are always being made in astronomy such as the recent discovery of what is being claimed by some experts as a new planet in the solar system, 2003 VB16 otherwise known as Sedna (the inuit goddess of the sea.) This planet/object was found 14 November 2003 when NASA funded researchers noticed a dim object moving, slightly, across the starry field. It has been estimated that this planet/object is 84 billion miles from the sun and due to the distance from the sun it has an estimated temperature which never reaches above 240 degrees Celsius. (Kutner 2003) The above picture shows an artists rendition to show the Sedna in relation to other bodies in the Solar System, including Earth and its Moon; Pluto; and Quaoar, a planetoid beyond Pluto that was until now the largest known object beyond Pluto. The diameter of Sedna is slightly smaller than Pluto's but likely somewhat larger than Quaoar. The first stumbling
Venus is the second planet from the sun in our solar system.
Venus Venus is the second planet from the sun in our solar system. It is the hottest planet in our solar system. This planet is covered with fast-moving sulphuric acid clouds, which trap heat from the sun. Its thick atmosphere is mostly carbon dioxide. Venus has an iron core but only a very weak magnetic field. This is a planet on which a person would asphyxiate in the poisonous atmosphere, be cooked in the extremely high heat, and be crushed by the enormous atmospheric pressure. Venus is also known as the "morning star" or the "evening star" since it is visible and quite bright at either dawn or dusk. It is only visible at dawn or dusk since it is closer to the sun than we are. Like the moon, Venus' appearance from Earth changes as it orbits around the sun. It goes from full to gibbous to crescent to new and back. Size: Venus is about 7,521 miles (12,104 Km) in diameter. This is about 95% of the diameter of the Earth. Venus is the closest to Earth in size and mass of any of the other planets. Mass And Gravity: Venus' mass is about 3.3 x 10(23) Kg. The gravity on Venus I 91% of the gravity on Earth. A 100-pound person would weigh 91 pounds on Venus. The density of Venus is 5,240 kg/m, slightly less dense than the Earth and the third densest planet in our Solar System (after the Earth and Mercury). Length Of A Day And Year on Venus: Venus rotates very slowly. Each
Satellites Physics Coursework
Satellites Question 1: The first artificial satellite was launched on the 4th of October 19 57 by the Soviet Union, its name was the Sputnik 1 and its launch sparked the "Space Race" as other countries now felt under pressure to launch there own satellites. It was used to measure the upper atmospheric layer's density but also helped in monitoring radio signals in the ionosphere. After the launch of Sputnik 1 there were many other launches following shortly after that, the USA following closely to their rivals, as the launch was during the Cold War. Question 2: There are many artificial satellites in orbit around both the Earth and the Moon, but one of the more famous ones is the Syncom 3, launched on August 19th 1964, it is better known because it was the first geostationary orbiting satellites, as well as the first satellite to broadcast a television program across the Pacific Ocean. Its function, as stated, was used to broadcast television, it was also the satellite which telecasted the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo on only its first year of orbit. Another more famous satellite is the TIROS-1, considered the first successful weather satellite, it was launched on the 1st of April 1960, and had an almost circular orbit around the Earth. In its 78 days of orbit it took 22,952 images, which was extremely successful as it gave a very good view at how the weather changes from
Stars, Supernova and Black holes
Stars, Supernova and Black holes Stars have been around for a long time it starts from a concentration of mass in a cloud of gas and dust this started from a process of collapse. This concentration attracted matter to itself by gravity and the whole cloud started to fall in on itself. As it started to shrink, the cloud began to spin. Gas and dust were pulled in to the centre as they clashed together; it caused the temperature to rise. As the cloud collapsed more and more, it spun faster and faster, as it spinning, it flattened out until a disc formed around a central core to form what is called a solar nebula. Most of the gas and dust from the spinning cloud were released in huge plumes above and below the forming star. The pressure and temperature in the middle of the cloud eventually became so great that the atoms started to fuse releasing huge amounts of energy, and then the star started to shine. The sun is a star, like the other stars it is a ball of very hot gas. The sun gives us huge amounts of energy into space. The energy that keeps the sun shining is produced in its centre or core. The pressure in the core is enormous, and the temperature reaches 15 million degrees centre grade. Under these conditions, atoms of hydrogen gas join together to form another gas called helium. This process is called nuclear fusion. The sun is a very important star in the sky, the sun
Misconceptions - Earth in Space.
Science Assignment 1Ab Misconceptions - Earth in Space The misconceptions topic I have chosen is the Earth in space. I chose this topic as it is related to my progression of a theme assignment and also because I wanted to see if pupils had similar misconceptions before and after learning a topic. I interviewed groups of three pupils with a total of six pupils from a year group. The year groups I interviewed were year 7, 8, 10 and 11. Pupils in year 7 have yet to learn this topic while the older pupils have met it before at some point in their school life. The basic outline of questions I chose to ask remained roughly the same for each group and they are outlined below. . What sort of shape do you think the Earth is? 2. Have you heard people say that the Earth is round? Do you think they mean round like a football or round like a CD? 3. Can you draw what you think the Earth is like? 4. Can you draw some people standing on the Earth, for example in England or at the North Pole? 5. Can you draw another person standing on the other side of the Earth, for example in Australia? 6. Can you draw some clouds with rain falling on the people? 7. Why don't the people fall off the Earth? 8. What do you think gravity is? 9. Where does gravity come from? 0. Why do you think we see the Sun moving across the sky each day? 1. The Sun is a star but why do you think it is so
evolution of the atmosphere
The Evolution of the Atmosphere The present composition of the atmosphere is 78% nitrogen, 21% oxygen and the remaining 1% is made up of Nobel gases and also 0.04 carbon dioxide. As well as these there is also lots of water vapour. Here is how the atmosphere evolved: * About 4.5 billion years ago the earth was just evolving and the volcanoes gave out four things: steam, carbon dioxide, ammonia and methane. There was no oxygen around at this time. * Two billion years on from this oxygen was produced due to the green plants, which were evolving. The covered most of the earth and removed the carbon dioxide and produced oxygen. Also much of the carbon dioxide dissolved in to the oceans. More nitrogen was also produced from the methane and ammonia reacting with oxygen. * During the last billion years or so a lot has changed. The build up of oxygen has taken place and more complex organisms are around to make use of the oxygen the ozone layer has been created which blocks the suns harmful raise. The most important change would be how the amount of carbon dioxide has decrease and there is virtually none left. Today's Atmosphere The atmosphere today is perfect for us. However there is a worry that we maybe changing it for the worst by releasing various gases from industrial activity. The two main worries are acid rain and The Greenhouse Effect. Acid rain is mainly sulphur
