Astronomy & Astrophysics

Physics 317

Homework Assignment 2
The Solar System & Earth Dynamics

Dates:

• Homework Due (Chapter 2 & 3) ___________ Friday, February 29
• Homework Due (Chapter 4 & 5) ___________ Friday, March 7
• Exam One _________________________ Friday, March 7

Homework may be turned in on during class, or placed in the box outside of my office before 5:00p.m.

 SOME IMPORTANT CONCEPTS FROM CHAPTER TWO

• What are the physical differences between Jovian and Terrestrial planets?
• Which planets move contrary to all the other planets?
• How can we use Stefan's Law to estimate surface conditions?
• The planet's atmospheres can be explored. How do some persist?
• Moons, Rings, and Debris, OH MY!
• Comets and Dust?
• Park those satellites! Launch those rockets! ?

SOME IMPORTANT CONCEPTS FROM CHAPTER THREE 

• How do we measure time and seasons?
• What is the difference between sidereal, solar, and synodic?
• What is a day? Month? Year?
• The Coriolis Effect – what can it prove?
• What does it mean to say the Earth is oblate?

SOME IMPORTANT CONCEPTS FROM CHAPTER FOUR 

• What are the differences between eclipse types?
• What are and how do we determine phases of the moon?
• What is the internal structure of the Earth?
• What is hydrostatic equilibium?
• What is the “half-life” of a chemical material?
• What can we learn and calculate about the atmospheric structure of the Earth?

SOME IMPORTANT CONCEPTS FROM CHAPTER FIVE 

• Compare and contrast Mercury, Venus, and Mar.