Physics 9 The Solar System with Prof. D. Tytler September 2000

 

Homework 1, due Oct 5 in class

 

We encourage you to work together, to discuss the topics and solutions, but your answers must use all of your own words, calculations and diagrams.

 

You must not hand in work copied from someone else.

Please write down the code numbers of all in your study group.

 

The goal of the first two questions is to become familiar with the layout of the text book. Questions 3 – 10 encourage you to identify the main ideas in chapter 1.

 

  1. Examine the parts of the book: table of contents, section headings, figure captions, summary, key terms, review questions, quantitative exercises, additional reading, appendix, units and exponential notation, glossary and index. Explain how you will use each of these parts.
  2. Make a list of all the parts mentioned above, ranked in order of importance to you. Explain the ranks.
  3. Examine chapter 1. What are the two main topics? Explain your choice.
  4. Why does the sky look different at different times of the year?
  5. What is retrograde motion?
  6. Compare and contrast two models for the solar system: Heliocentric and Geocentric.
  7. Explain the ideas involved in "phases".
  8. Imagine that our Moon was fixed above a given point on the surface of the Earth, at its usual distance form the Earth. Would the moon be visible from anywhere on the Earth? Would it show phases? If so, how would the phases differ from those which we normally observe? You will probably want to make sketches to explain your answers.
  9. What observational evidence is there for the Heliocentric model?
  10. What is gravity?