Astronomy 001

A demonstration of why galaxies appear to be moving away from us, Hubble’s Law, and how this is due to the expansion of the universe.

A demonstration of how pulsars form, and how they are detected from Earth.

A demonstration of what a spiral density wave is, and how it moves through a Galaxy. An exploration of how clusters of stars form within spiral arms, and why luminous blue stars are only found within spiral arms, is also discussed.

A demonstration of how scientific data may be prone to bias, due to a selection effect in how the data is collected. A discussion of the most common type of stars in our Galaxy is also included.

A demonstration of the concept of parallax, or the apparent shift of nearby objects relative to background objects, due to a change in perspective of the observer. An explanation of how astronomers use this to measure distances is also given.

An investigation into the theory that Uranus’ extreme tilt is due to a collision in its past. A rapidly rotating bicycle wheel is used to represent the rotating planet.

A demonstration of various terrestrial atmospheres, and what it would be like to live on planets with different types of atmospheres. Scenarios such as what it would be like to have no atmosphere, or too much atmosphere, are depicted. The fact that the boiling point of liquid depends not only on temperature but also atmospheric pressure is also shown. Finally, the density of various gases is investigated.

A demonstration of various properties of Jovian planets are explored. Among them are: how to determine the rotations of Jovian planets, differential rotation, and why some Jovian planets are more oblate.

A demonstration of how to make a model of a comet using household ingredients.

A demonstration of the difference between mass and density. Three boxes of equal volume have different densities because they each have a different mass.

A demonstration of the conservation of angular momentum. Given a rotating object, as the distribution of mass decreases, the rate of rotation increases.

A demonstration of two laws that govern blackbody radiation. As a stove top becomes hotter, it radiates first in infrared, then red (visible) light. Comparing two stove top burners, given two burners at the same temperature, the one with the larger surface area will boil water faster.

A demonstration of how atoms absorb and emit light based on the movement of electrons from one energy level to another.

An introduction to the ASTR 001 online course, with a brief description of the format of the course and the various assignments.

A demonstration of Newton’s First Law. A ball is swung in circular motion, then let go, demonstrating that when no forces act upon an object, it will move in a straight line.

A demonstration of the difference between a sidereal day and a solar day. This difference occurs due to the fact that Earth rotates about its axis while also revolving around the Sun.

A demonstration recreating Galileo’s experiment, where he dropped two objects of different masses, to see which would hit the ground first.

A demonstration of Newton’s First Law. As a tablecloth is pulled out from under a place setting, the place setting remains unmoved.