Chapter 2

Tycho Brahe

(1546-1601) established himself as Europe's foremost astronomer of his day; detailed observations of new star of 1572.

When a planet is seen at opposition, it is always

at its closest point to the Earth.

Kepler's second law states

A line joining a planet to the Sun sweeps out equal areas in equal times.

The Higgs Boson

The particle that helps to explain why matter is made of mass is...

Kepler's third law can be described in which of the following ways?

The larger the orbit, the longer it takes for the planet to complete one revolution.

Two spaceships that have different masses but rocket engines of identical force are at rest in space. If they fire their rockets at the same time, which ship will speed up faster?

The one with the lower mass

In the geocentric model of the solar system developed by Ptolemy

The planets move in circular epicycles while the centers of the epicycles move in circular orbits around the Earth

What is the difference between the synodic and sidereal periods of a planet?

The synodic period refers to the planet's period with respect to the Earth's motion, whereas the sidereal period is the true period with respect to the background stars.

Inferior Conjuction

Venus or mercury lies between the earth and sun

Perhelion

When the planet is closest to the sun.

Aphilion

When the planet is the farthest from the sun.

Which of the following statements is a CORRECT version of Newton's third law? (Action & Reaction

Whenever some object A exerts a force on some other object B, B must exert a force of equal magnitude on A in the opposite direction.

Newton's first law of Inertia

an object at rest will stay at rest, an object that is moving will stay moving unless disturbed by an un balenced force.

An unbalanced force acting on an object will ALWAYS cause it to

change its speed or its direction of travel or both.

According to Newton's first law,

if no net force is acting upon an object, then both the object's speed and direction of travel will be constant.

Kepler's first law states that a planet moves around the Sun

in an elliptical orbit, with the Sun at one focus.

Kepler's second law states that a planet moves fastest when it

is closest to the Sun.

Eccentricities

odd behavior

Deferent

respectful

Retrograde motion

the apparent backward movement of a planet

Parallax

the apparent change in position of an object when seen from different places

Galileo's early observations of the sky with his newly made telescope included

the discovery of the phases of Venus

The force of gravity between two objects is proportional to

the product of their masses.

The acceleration of an object is defined as

the rate of change of its velocity.

Kepler's third law tells us that

the square of a planet's period in years is the same number as the cube of its semimajor axis in AU.

A person standing on a bathroom scale sees a reading on the scale of 148 pounds. This person is acted on by

two forces of equal size acting in opposite directions.

Newton's third law

Every action has an equal and opposite reaction

The Copernican system for planetary motions is

Sun-centered, with the planets moving in perfect circles around the Sun.

Which fundamental particle is believed to create the physical property called "mass" when it interacts with other particles?

The Higgs Boson particle

Which of the following four objects or persons is NOT accelerating?

An Olympic swimmer exerting considerable force to maintain a constant speed in a straight line through the water

Newton's second law

F=mass

When observing planetary motions from the Earth, the phrase "retrograde motion" refers to

A slow westward motion of the planet from night to night compared to the background stars.

When Venus at superior conjunction?

It is at its greatest distance from the Earth

Which of the following statements CORRECTLY states the significance of Galileo's observation that Jupiter has satellites (moons)?

It showed that bodies can orbit an object other than the Earth.

How was the planet Neptune discovered?

It was discovered by mathematical prediction using Newton's laws.

Solar planets abbreviation

MVEMJSUN

Inferior planets

Mercury, Venus are closer to sun than earth

Superior planets

Planets further from the sun than Earth; Mars, Jupiter, Saturn and Uranus.