21st Century Astronomy
6th Edition
ISBN: 9780393428063
Author: Kay
Publisher: NORTON
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Chapter 19, Problem 16QP
To determine
To explain the subject of great debate, and why was it so crucial for the astronomers in understanding the scale of the universe.
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mathematician Archimedes, responding to a claim that the number of grains of sand was infinite,
calculated that the number of grains of sand needed to fill the universe was on the order of 1063. Our
understanding of the size of the universe has changed since then, and we now know that the
observable universe alone is a sphere with a radius of 1026 m. Estimating the size of a grain of sand,
A) Approximately how many grains of sand would fill the observable universe?
B) How many times larger or smaller is this number than Archimedes' result?
What major factor determines the future of the universe? Why?
Was the Big Bang an explosion? Explain your answer.
Chapter 19 Solutions
21st Century Astronomy
Ch. 19.1 - Prob. 19.1ACYUCh. 19.1 - Prob. 19.1BCYUCh. 19.2 - Prob. 19.2CYUCh. 19.3 - Prob. 19.3CYUCh. 19.4 - Prob. 19.4CYUCh. 19 - Prob. 1QPCh. 19 - Prob. 2QPCh. 19 - Prob. 3QPCh. 19 - Prob. 4QPCh. 19 - Prob. 5QP
Ch. 19 - Prob. 6QPCh. 19 - Prob. 7QPCh. 19 - Prob. 8QPCh. 19 - Prob. 9QPCh. 19 - Prob. 10QPCh. 19 - Prob. 11QPCh. 19 - Prob. 12QPCh. 19 - Prob. 13QPCh. 19 - Prob. 14QPCh. 19 - Prob. 15QPCh. 19 - Prob. 16QPCh. 19 - Prob. 17QPCh. 19 - Prob. 18QPCh. 19 - Prob. 19QPCh. 19 - Prob. 20QPCh. 19 - Prob. 21QPCh. 19 - Prob. 22QPCh. 19 - Prob. 23QPCh. 19 - Prob. 24QPCh. 19 - Prob. 25QPCh. 19 - Prob. 26QPCh. 19 - Prob. 27QPCh. 19 - Prob. 28QPCh. 19 - Prob. 29QPCh. 19 - Prob. 30QPCh. 19 - Prob. 31QPCh. 19 - Prob. 32QPCh. 19 - Prob. 33QPCh. 19 - Prob. 34QPCh. 19 - Prob. 35QPCh. 19 - Prob. 36QPCh. 19 - Prob. 37QPCh. 19 - Prob. 38QPCh. 19 - Prob. 39QPCh. 19 - Prob. 40QPCh. 19 - Prob. 41QPCh. 19 - Prob. 42QPCh. 19 - Prob. 43QPCh. 19 - Prob. 44QPCh. 19 - Prob. 45QP
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- how everything in the universe come to exist? list the different theories on the origin of the universe and the origin of the solar system please help need ASAParrow_forwardWhat do you think of the statement: The universe has no center and no edge (or boundary)?arrow_forwardYour friends are talking about Olber's Paradox: Friend 1: When the universe was quite young, it was also quite small, and therefore light was trapped inside the universe. This is why we don't see light from the edge of the universe in every direction. Friend 2: No, Olber's Paradox describes only light from stars, not from galaxies, and why you can't use light from distant stars to see at night. Friend 3: You're both right and you're both wrong. The paradox concerns itself with the expansion of the universe, and explains why light from the early universe was able to be released. Are any of them right, in part or in whole?arrow_forward
- Perhaps the most fundamental problem in all of astronomy is the determination of distance to the various objects in the cosmos. Which of the following seems least reasonable regarding the various measurement techniques: Group of answer choices The Hubble Law relates the recessional speed of distant objects (measured with the Doppler Effect) to distance. Hubble law is most useful for determining the distance to nearby objects, while parallax is most useful for the more distant objects. We can determine the position of a star on the H-R diagram through spectral analysis and then figure out the distance by comparing absolute luminosity (from H-R diagram) to apparent brightness. The distance to nearby stars can be determined by measuring parallax. The distance to the planets in our solar can be determined by measuring the time for a radar signal to reach a planet, bounce off, and return.arrow_forwardWhat are the three important pieces of evidence that led scientists to accept the Big Bang as the most likely model for the origin of the universe?arrow_forwardHow the universe expands?arrow_forward
- Estimating the mass of the Milky Way a) Assuming the Sun moves in a circular orbit of radius 8 kiloparsecs around the center of the Milky Way, and that its orbital speed is 220 km/s, calculate how many years it takes the Sun to complete one orbit of the Galaxy. Remember to convert kiloparsecs to kilometers. b) Using the modified form of Kepler's third law (introduced in Lecture 13, for measuring the combined masses of binary stars), R³ m+ M = estimate the mass of the Milky Way enclosed within 8 kpc (Sun's orbit radius). The mass of the Milky Way inside p² I the Sun's orbit can be represented as a single mass (M) located at its center, and the mass of the Sun (m) can be considered infinitesimally small compared to the Milky Way's (i.e., m < M). c) Is this estimate of the Milky Way's mass an upper or lower limit? Explain your reasoning.arrow_forwardAnother way of explaining a word is to enumerate the different parts of which it ismade: “X consists of Y and Z”. Define the following words in this way.Solar system, a telescope, galaxy, binary system, open clusterarrow_forwardAstronomers frequently say that "there are more stars in the universe than there are grains of sand on all the beaches on the earth". Given that a typical grain of sand is about 0.5 – 1.0 mm in diameter, estimate the number of grains of sand on all the earth's beaches. The diameter of the Earth is 12,742 km. a) About 1011 b) About 1016 c) About 1021. 6. Assume that a typical galaxy contains about 200 billion stars and that there are more than 150 billion galaxies in the known universe. Estimate the total number of stars in the universe. b) About 1022 a) About 1010 c) About 1016. 7. Compare the values of the number of grains of sand in all earth's beaches (from problem 5) with the number of stars in the universe (from problem 6) – which is greater? a) Number of sand grains b) number of stars c) they are about the same.arrow_forward
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