PROCEDURE: As Students in This Course Are in Various Stages of Their Astronomy
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ASTRONOMY 130
INTRODUCTION
PURPOSE: The purpose of this laboratory course is to give you some insight into how astronomers gather and use data to reach conclusions about the universe. We will take a look at how data is gathered and reduced to workable numbers so that conclusions can be drawn. We will also study some of the equipment that is used to collect data.
PROCEDURE: As students in this course are in various stages of their astronomy classes, currently enrolled, completed the course, Astronomy 110 or 120 students, we will attempt to follow the curriculum of Astronomy 110, albeit loosely. The majority of the labs can be completed during the class period. the write-up of these labs will be due the next class meeting, each week they are late 10 points will be deducted from the grade. If you miss a class it will be your responsibility to make arrangements to make up the lab you missed. The labs will be graded on the basis of correctness, accuracy, clarity, and neatness.
Some of the labs are to be done in groups and although you and your lab partner may be sharing the same data, you are expected to work independently.
GRADING: All exercises will be graded on a (0 to 100) basis and then averaged at the end of the course with the following letter grades assigned: A (90 - 100), B (80 - 89), C (70 - 79), and D (60 - 69). There will be about 15 exercises during the semester.
OTHER: On the nights that we will be working outdoors be sure to dress properly and bring a clipboard and a flashlight, a small one that can easily be held and with the end covered with some red or orange cellophane.
WITHDRAWAL: It is your responsibility to contact the admissions office if you decide to drop this course for any reason. If a student misses two class meetings I will drop them from my roll but not from the class. You should be able to handle basic algebra in order to complete the labs in this course. So we will review a few of the basics first. Upon completion of the review do the following problems and turn them in before you leave tonight.
NAME ;
1. If 4y + 8 = x, what is y? _
2. If xty = 4, what is x? _
3. If 3x + 7 = y, what is x? _
If y = 10, what is x? _
If y = 0, what is x? _
4. The velocity (v) of an object is related to the time (t) the object travels and the distance (d) it travels according to (vt = d). How fast in kilometers per second, is a star moving that has traveled 2000 kilometers in 50 seconds? _
5. Consider the equation (P = Q/T). If the value of T is halved and Q is doubled, how does P change? _
6. 105 x 1011 _
7. 107 x 102 _
8. 105 / 103 _
9. 1024 / 1027 _
10. (103 x 108) / (107 x 105) _
Write the answers to the following in the simplest possible form.
11. (2 x 104) x (4 x 105) _
12. (8 x 10-3) x (2 x 109) _
13. (2.5 x 105)2 _
14. (12 x 107) / (6 x 103) _
15. (9 x 1011) / (5 x 1015) _ 16. 3 6 4 1 0 1 2 _
17. A star's velocity is 30 km/sec. How far does it travel in 40 seconds? _
18. How many seconds are there in one year? _
19. How far does the star in question 17 travel in two years? _
20. If a star travels 10 km/sec, what is its velocity in kilometers per minute? _
21. The area of a square can be expressed as (length)2. What is the area of a square whose sides are 7 cm? _
22. A number of people measure the length of a piece of metal. The following lengths are obtained: 14.6 cm, 14.9 cm, 14.5 cm, 14.6 cm, 14.3 cm, 14.7 cm, 14.4 cm, 14.5 cm, 14.8 cm. Determine the average length. _
23. A number of observers time the occultation of Mars by the moon. The following are the times at which various observers saw the event occur: 8:16:22 pm, 8:16.18 pm, 8:16.8 pm, 8:16.6 pm, 8:16:31 pm. Determine the average time. _
Many times the value of something we determine is compared to the value that has been accepted as the true value. We would like to find the percentage error of our value. This gives us some idea of how good a job we are doing. Percentage error is determined by the following formula:
a c t u a l v a l u e - o b s e r v e d v a l u e P e r c e n t a g e e r r o r = 1 0 0 a c t u a l v a l u e
24. Determine the percentage error of the following observed value: Angular size of moon = 1792". The true size of the moon is 1865". (") is a unit called seconds of arc. _
25. Determine the percentage error of the following observed value: Mass of the moon = 8.2 x 1025 kg. The true value = 7.35 x 1025 kg. _
On the sheet of graph paper that will be supplied, plot the following two sets of data, each graph is to use a half sheet of paper. Choose a proper scale to fit the half page. Label the coordinates.
26. Graph 1: Plot the values of X from 1 to 10 for the following equation: 3X = Y Draw the best line through the points. A linear equation depicts the graph of a... _
what is the slope of the line? _
slope = change in y / change in x
27. Graph 2: Height vs Weight of a Group of College Students
Height (inches) Weight (Pounds) 1 60 95 2 70 173 3 67 125 4 75 180 5 61 105 6 73 200 7 67 140 8 71 150 9 69 150 10 64 115 11 62 112 12 64 127 13 68 155 14 72 160 15 65 127
Draw the best smooth curve through the data. Is this a linear relation between height and weight?