1497060 Reflection 1
.pdf
School
Pennsylvania State University**We aren't endorsed by this school
Course
ASTRO 7N
Subject
Astronomy
Date
Dec 16, 2024
Pages
2
Uploaded by GrandPartridge3501
1497060Good morninggggg, listeners!I hope everyone is doing well. Welcome to my Explorer's Log where I will tell you all about myadventures on mars with my friends Linassa and Fabian, and my “maybe friends” Lerpz andCopper.Today’s log is dedicated to my mom because after this first week on Mars, I am missing herterribly. I am sure she is so excited to hear all about what I am doing here on Mars. And Icertainly have been up too A LOT since I arrived.The colony is divided into two parts- the surface colony and the underground colony. The surfacecolony has the shuttle landing pad, observatory hill where Linassa, Fabian, and I like to hang out,the expansive greenhouse, and the tunnel to the underground.The underground colony has my dorm room which does not compare to my room back on Earth.If only Mars had a Target, my dorm here could be so much cuter. Besides my dorm room, theunderground colony has a dorm lobby, the Virtual Reality Lab, the Water Treatment Facility, andan exit tunnel to the surface. I spend much of my time down here in the VR Lab with Linassaand Fabian exploring astronomical concepts. Leprz helps teach and guide us. I’m getting to knowLerpz better, but for now I am unsure if we’re friends…or what exactly he is. Anyways, while inthe VR Lab, us humans are usually interrupted by Copper quizzing us on what we’ve learned.Speaking of…let me tell you some of the amazing things I have learned since being here. I’velearned so much, but I’ll tell you about two astronomical concepts today. Are you ready,listeners?The first astronomical concept I have learned on Mars has been gravity. You know, that peskything that lets apples fall off trees and, oh yeah, all of the planets stay in orbit with the Sun! Howcool is that? Let’s break it down.Gravity is a force. You’ll often hear “gravitational force” being said by some scientist up here onMars at any given time. The strength of gravity on the surface of a planet is given by this handyequation: g=M/R2. G being gravity, of course, and M is the mass of the planet whereas R is itsradius. Let’s compare the force of gravity on the Moon with the Earth.
The Moon is 1/100 the mass of the Earth. Its radius is ¼ the mass of the Earth. We’ll takeg=M/R2and input these values to get g=(1/100)/(1/4)2. We square the radius to getg=(1/100)/(1/16) then simplify by dividing these values or by multiplying 1/100 by 16/1. Thisgives us 16/100 or 0.16. So, the Moon has 0.16 times the gravity of Earth. That’s why astronautson the moon seem to bounce as they walk unlike Earth where our feet remain on the ground.Again, it’s because the force of gravity on the astronauts is much less than the force of gravity onhumans back on Earth.Oh, how I miss Earth! I hope everything is going well over there.Let’s discuss another astronomical concept I learned this week and hopefully it’ll distract mefrom this homesickness!The other astronomical concept I want to share is electromagnetic radiation/light. There aredifferent forms of light each with their own frequency and wavelength as light has someproperties of waves! These forms can be put into order from low-energy to high-energy usingthis handy mnemonic: raging Martians invade Venus using x-ray guns. Now that I’m ON Mars, Ican tell you there are certainly no raging martians.Still, let’s go back to the mnemonic. The forms of light the mnemonic represents are radio(raging), microwave (Martians), infrared (invade), visible (Venus), ultraviolet (using), x-ray, andgamma ray (guns). Again, these forms of light are in order of low-energy to high-energy. Next,let's discuss other properties, frequency and wavelength. Think of a wave. An electromagneticwave has crests (the highest part of the wave) and troughs (the lowest part of the wave) .Frequency is the number of crests of a wave that pass a given point in a given amount of time.Wavelength is the distance between crests. Now, we can relate these properties to energy!Low-energy light has low frequency, a high or long wavelength, and a redder color. High-energylight has the opposite, high frequency, a low or short wavelength, and a bluer color.Let’s compare two forms of light: microwaves and ultraviolet. Which has the longer wavelengthand lower frequency? Since longer wavelengths and lower frequency relate to higher energylight, ultraviolet is the answer!How cool is gravity and electromagnetic light? Beyond these two concepts, I have learned somuchmorethis first week on Mars. Unfortunately, I do not have time to cover all the awesomeastronomical concepts on this week’s log. But, I will be back,Until next time, my Earthly listeners!