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Astronomy 2e

Thought Questions

Astronomy 2eThought Questions

Thought Questions

11.

Imagine that you have built a large room around the people in Figure 24.4 and that this room is falling at exactly the same rate as they are. Galileo showed that if there is no air friction, light and heavy objects that are dropping due to gravity will fall at the same rate. Suppose that this were not true and that instead heavy objects fall faster. Also suppose that the man in Figure 24.4 is twice as massive as the woman. What would happen? Would this violate the equivalence principle?

12.

A monkey hanging from a tree branch sees a hunter aiming a rifle directly at him. The monkey then sees a flash and knows that the rifle has been fired. Reacting quickly, the monkey lets go of the branch and drops so that the bullet can pass harmlessly over his head. Does this act save the monkey’s life? Why or why not? (Hint: Consider the similarities between this situation and that of Exercise 24.11.)

13.

Why would we not expect to detect X-rays from a disk of matter about an ordinary star?

14.

Look elsewhere in this book for necessary data, and indicate what the final stage of evolution—white dwarf, neutron star, or black hole—will be for each of these kinds of stars.

  1. Spectral type-O main-sequence star
  2. Spectral type-B main-sequence star
  3. Spectral type-A main-sequence star
  4. Spectral type-G main-sequence star
  5. Spectral type-M main-sequence star
15.

Which is likely to be more common in our Galaxy: white dwarfs or black holes? Why?

16.

If the Sun could suddenly collapse to a black hole, how would the period of Earth’s revolution about it differ from what it is now?

17.

Suppose the people in Figure 24.4 are in an elevator moving upward with an acceleration equal to g, but in the opposite direction. The woman throws the ball to the man with a horizontal force. What happens to the ball?

18.

You arrange to meet a friend at 5:00 p.m. on Valentine’s Day on the observation deck of the Empire State Building in New York City. You arrive right on time, but your friend is not there. She arrives 5 minutes late and says the reason is that time runs faster at the top of a tall building, so she is on time but you were early. Is your friend right? Does time run slower or faster at the top of a building, as compared with its base? Is this a reasonable excuse for your friend arriving 5 minutes late?

19.

You are standing on a scale in an elevator when the cable snaps, sending the elevator car into free fall. Before the automatic brakes stop your fall, you glance at the scale reading. Does the scale show your real weight? An apparent weight? Something else?

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