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Electromagnetic Spectrum/Life of a Star Webquest
Purpose:
To explore the Electromagnetic Spectrum using a variety of interactive Internet resources and hands-on activities.
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An electromagnetic spectrum is an arrangement of electromagnetic waves according to wavelength and frequency.
The electromagnetic spectrum includes radio waves, infrared waves, visible light, ultraviolet light, X-rays, and
gamma rays
Identify and compare the wavelengths of the electromagnetic spectrum using fun, interactive web resources.
Activity 1: What ARE Electromagnetic Waves?
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Go to this interactive site for background knowledge on electromagnetic waves.
Electromagnetic Waves?
o What are electromagnetic waves?
o So what's the wave made of?
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For an interactive Demonstration of an X-Ray machine
X-Rays
o What machine is used to x-ray?
Activity 2: The Electromagnetic Spectrum
Go to Java Applet
In this applet, you can click on the wavelength/frequency scale and change the wavelength and frequency by dragging the
mouse around. You can also change the wavelength by using the arrow keys on your keyboard. Holding the shiftkey down
while pressing the left or right arrow keys changes the wavelength by a factor of 10.
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List component parts of the electromagnetic spectrum
What is the relationship between wavelength and frequency?
The Electromagnetic Spectrum
http://lectureonline.cl.msu.edu/~mmp/applist/Spectrum/s.htm
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In science each area of study (astronomy, high-energy physics, etc) has its own jargon and favored system of units for the
electromagnetic spectrum. This applet is intended to show the relationship between these units when talking about
electromagnetic (EM) radiation.
Component parts of the Electromagnetic Spectrum
What are the seven listed types of electromagnetic radiation (EM radiation) illustrated in this applet? List them from left to
right.
In this applet, you can click on the wavelength/frequency scale and change the wavelength and frequency by draggin the
mouse around.
Note the appearance of a blue vertical line or position bar to indicate your position along the electromagnetic spectrum.
The values of frequency, wavelength, and energy (with selected units) correspond to the location of the "white position
bar".
Analysis:
Which electromagnetic wave type has the largest wavelength? _________________________
Which electromagnetic wave type has the smallest wavelength? ________________________
Which has the largest wavelength:
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Radio waves or x-rays? _________________
Infrared or Visible light (V)? ____________________
Microwaves or Ultraviolet (UV) __________________
Gamma or x-rays? ____________________________
Would you agree that the simulation has the Electromagnetic waves organized by wavelengths?_________
Would you agree that longer wavelengths are found at the gamma ray end of the spectrum? ___________
Use the Electromagnetic Wave simulation and determine the how many times greater the average radio wave wavelength
is to the average gamma ray wavelength. (Assume by clicking in the middle of the wave names on the chart that the
average value will be given. For example, the average microwave wavelength would be 0.01 meters.)
Average Radio wave Wavelength = ________________ meters
Average Gamma Ray Wavelength = ________________ meters
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Radio Wave wavelengths are _________ times greater than gamma ray wavelengths.
Frequency and Electromagnetic Waves
Click on the EM scale and notice the frequency units. What are the two unit choices for frequency? List them in the chart
below:
Frequency Units
Click and drag the white vertical position marker across the Electromagnetic spectrum simulation and determine where the
large frequency waves are located. Which end of the Electromagnetic spectrum has the largest frequencies?
__________________________. Is this the same end that has the largest wavelengths? ___________. Does the electromagnetic
spectrum seem to be organized or arranged based on frequency and wavelength? ___________
Click near the visible spectrum (V) on the chart until the spectrum of colors appear. Which color has the largest
wavelength? _________________ Largest frequency? __________________.
Energy and Electromagnetic Waves
What are the two units of energy used in the Electromagnetic Wave Simulation? ________________________
_______________________
Arrange the energy units from largest to smallest in value?
Largest = ___________________________
Smallest = __________________________
Click and drag the white vertical position line across the electromagnetic spectrum simulation and determine where the
most energetic waves are to be found. Which type of wave has the most energy? ____________
Which has the least energy? ______________________ Which visible color has the most energy? ___________ Which color
has the least amount of energy? ____________________________
What type of wave is it? From the following clues determine the wave type and circle one item that relates to what this
person is doing or being exposed to?
Wave Fact/Data
Wave Type
Person's Activity
(Select one for each row)
10 angstrom wavelength
(Dental Exam) (Listening to radio) (Tanning)
(Cooking)
32 GHz frequency
(Dental Exam) (Listening to radio) (Tanning)
(Cooking)
10.8 meters wavelength
(Dental Exam) (Listening to radio) (Tanning)
(Cooking)
6.28E-18 joules of energy
(Dental Exam) (Listening to radio) (Tanning)
(Cooking)
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Activity 3: Tour the EM Spectrum
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Go to: Take a Tour of the Electromagnetic Spectrum
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/physics/electromagnetic-spectrum.html
Take a tour of the EM Spectrum and fill in
the following diagrams:
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Activity 4: Life Cycle of a Star
Tour the following website. After your tour answer the following questions.
http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.seasky.org/cosmic/assets/images/starlife.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.sea
sky.org/cosmic/sky7a01.html&h=287&w=560&sz=28&tbnid=WWfjCCcAkygJ::&tbnh=68&tbnw=133&prev=/images%3Fq%
3Dlife%2Bcycle%2Bof%2Ba%2Bstar&hl=en&usg=___hJeDVizIJaXzTCj7Csr58wpQs8=&sa=X&oi=image_result&resnum
=6&ct=image&cd=1
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What are the spectral classes for stars?
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What are the colors for each?
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Why do stars twinkle?
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Relate a star to a nuclear furnace; include detail about elements and isotopes.
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Explain the life cycle of a star.
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What does a star’s life depend on?
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Describe each type of star
o Main sequence
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Red giant
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White dwarf
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Brown dwarf
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Variable star
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Binary star
Sun WebQuest
Solar Superstorms!
Go to- http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2003/23oct_superstorm.htm
1. What happened on October 23, 2003?
2. What were some of the effects on earth that occurred during the solar storm of September 1-2 of 1859?
3. The total energy radiated by the Sun averages ____ billion trillion kilowatts, the equivalent of the energy generated
by ____ billion tons of TNT exploding each and every second.
4. Is the energy released by the sun always constant? ________________
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Why or why not?
5. During this super storm of 1859 the Northern lights were seen as far _____________________ as
_____________________________ and _____________________________
6. What happened to the amount of sunlight after the mammoth solar flare was released on September 1, 1859?
7. What is coronal mass ejection?
8. How long does it take the coronal mass ejections to reach the earth? ____________________________
9. How long did the coronal mass ejection of September 1 take to reach the earth? ________________________
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10. Look at the bluish picture below. Explain what you think is taking place in this picture.
Scroll to the bottom of this page and click on the link “solar flares on steroids.”
http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2003/12sep_magnetars.htm
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11. How powerful does the author of this page describe the explosion on the sun on August 24, 1998?
12. A few days later, satellites registered two types of rays, what were they?
1.
2.
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Did they come from the sun? If not where did they come from?
13. Looking at the Magnetar burst sequence picture what do the red lines represent?
14. How do radio signals become lost during a solar storm?
SOLAR ECLIPSES
Go to http://www.windows.ucar.edu/tour/link=/sun/sun.html
Click on advanced and then click on solar eclipses.
1. Briefly explain what happens during a solar eclipse.
2. When does a total solar eclipse occur? _______________________________
3. What is the rate of the moon’s orbit? ________________________________
4. How long does a solar eclipse last? _______________________________
5. Draw and label a total solar eclipse.
Go to the this web site http://mreclipse.com/Special/SEprimer.html
6. What is the umbra?
7. What is the penumbra?
8. Which one do we experience in Indiana? _____________________________
Click the back button to go back to the last website. Click on Safe Techniques.
9. What is the most important thing you must do if you want to view a solar eclipse?
10. How do you create a standard projection device?
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Click on the back button. Click on solar corona.
11. What are the white regions seen during a solar eclipse called? ________________________
12. What happens in these areas?
13. Draw the blended image of an x-ray image
and a picture of a solar eclipse.
Click on the back button. Click on ancient times.
14. What did some ancient people believed would happen during a solar eclipse?
15. What would they do to try and free the sun?
16. Some other ancient people believed and eclipse was a sign of what?
17. Briefly explain the Maorian myth about the sun and moon.
Click on the back button. Click on the solar eclipse images link at the bottom of the page – it’s the third one down.
Look through all of these images and the captions. Pick the three that interest you the most and describe what you are
viewing below.
18. Picture # __________
Description:
19. Picture # __________
Description:
20. Picture# __________
Description:
Click on the back button. Click on the fourth and fifth links at the bottom of the page, which are both video clips. Watch
them both and then describe the difference between them below. Cool, eh?
21. The difference is…
Solar Myths: Go to http://www.windows.ucar.edu/tour/link=/sun/sun.html Click on the “Myth and Culture” Section and
then the “ADVANCED” tab to answer the following questions. Feel free to enjoy any of the pictures you see, and click on
some of the other links if you have extra time.
Click on the Egyptian link.
1. How is Re usually portrayed?
2. Where did we get the atmosphere and the clouds from?
3. How did Re create humans?
4. Click on Nut. Who did she marry?
5. Who helped her to have children? How?
6. Who were her four children?
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Go back to the Myths and Culture page and click on Apollo (Greek).
1. Who was Apollo’s mother?
2. What was his most sacred place? What was there?
3. What, other than the sun, was Apollo god of?
4. Who is Apollo’s twin sister?
Go back to the Myths and Culture page and click on Sumarian:
Shamash.
1. Draw the symbol of the Sumerian Sun God, Shamash.
2. Sumarians lived in the place called ______________________ over _________ years ago.
3. What is the present-day name of this place?
4. What did Shamash travel in as he crossed the sky? ________________________________
5. Using the description, draw the symbol of Shamash as it appeared in Babylon below.
Go back to the Myths and Culture page and click on Amaterasu.
1. What does “Shinto” mean?
2. Why did Amaterasu hide herself in a cave?
3. What did the gods do to try and lure her out?
4. What did they do to finally get her all the way out?
5. Describe in your own words why they wanted her out of
the cave…
Click on http://www.solarviews.com/raw/sun/suna.mov and list three civilizations, either past or present, and their use or
philosophy about the sun. (click ok in the gray box and play the clip)
1. _____________________ Use/Philosphy of the Sun =
2. _____________________ Use/Philosphy of the Sun =
3. _____________________ Use/Philosphy of the Sun =
THE SUN (oooh ahhhh)
Type in the URL address: http://www.solarviews.com/eng/sun.htm
Read the quote at the top of the page – what is your interpretation of
what the author means by this quote?
How many Earth’s could the interior of the sun contain?
_________________
What is the outer visible layer of the sun called?
o Why do you think that this particular layer is visible?
Why do nuclear reactions take place inside the core of the Sun?
o
What is released via the nuclear reaction process? _________________________
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Type in the following address http://www.solarviews.com/cap/misc/convect3.htm and click on convect3.mpg
What process do you think is occurring here at the surface of the sun?
Click on the word Sun (under Related Document) to go back to the first web page.
o How many years does it take for the energy generated in the Sun’s core to reach the sun’s surface?
o
Why do you suppose that it takes this amount of time?
How old is the Sun? _________________________
List the two stages of a star that the Sun will most likely become and describe each.
o 1st Stage = ___________________________ Description:
o
2nd Stage = ___________________________ Description:
Click on FOUNTAINS OF FIRE under Solar Discoveries at the side of the page
o What is the Solar Mystery?
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What steps have scientists taken to try and solve the Solar Mystery
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What kind of Space crafts have been launched to aid in the solving of the Mystery?
Click the Back Arrow. Click on Sun Exploration Chronology under Solar Discoveries
What was so unique about the Skylab?
What was so unique about the SOHO?
Space Weather and Solar Storms: Pull up the following URL: http://www.spaceweather.com
Fill out the following chart with the current conditions posted for the sun from Space Weather.
Solar Wind
What do these mean? (click on explanation)
Speed - ________________
Density - _______________
Solar Flares
How do scientists classify solar flares?
List the three categories of solar flares and describe the effect of this type of solar flare on the
Earth.
What is our current classification? ______________
What does this mean? (click on explanation)
Sun’s Far Side
Far Side –
Earth Side –
How do they “view” the sun’s far side? (click on holographic image)
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Sunspot Number
Sunspots = ________ What is a sunspot number?
How do they figure out the sunspot number?
What is the difference between the Boulder number and the International number?
Which number type is used on the Space Weather web page?
Boulder or International (circle one)
Read about Rudolf Wolf. Why do we continue to use Wolf’s Sunspot Counts?
Geomagnetic Storms
What type of geomagnetic storm has the highest probability in the next 24 hours (0-24) for
the: Mid-Latitudes = ___________________
High-Latitudes = __________________
Daily Sun
Click on the image of the Daily Sun
(from the main space weather page) and
draw any visible sunspots on this image.
WebQuest Classifying Galaxies
This is a statement about galaxies: "All ellipticals are galaxies, but not all galaxies are elliptical".
After you learn how to classify galaxies, you will be able to explain what this statement means. When
scientists see objects in nature that share some features, but not others, they find that grouping, or
classifying them is a good idea. First they must decide what scheme or plan they will use to decide to
which group something belongs.
Your answers to questions below will come from the online lesson: Classifying Galaxies:
http://cse.ssl.berkeley.edu/Segwayed/lessons/classifying_galaxies/student2.htm
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First, what is a galaxy?
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In the 1920's, an astronomer named ____________________________ was able to gather pictures
of many galaxies. He noticed that they were not all alike. He decided to group, or classify them.
To group the galaxies in the photographs he studied, he could have used size, color, shape or
any other feature that he noticed. Hubble decided to classify galaxies by
________________________________.
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Edwin Hubble looked at many galaxy pictures and decided to divide galaxies into three types
according to ______________________. He used _________________ to represent these three
types of galaxies. The letter "E" meant ________________galaxies, "S" meant ______________
galaxies, and "SB" meant __________________ galaxies.
Galaxies had so many shapes that Hubble found that three types were not enough. He
had to further break down these three according to a slight variation in shape between each
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type of galaxy in each category. Read each section of the website carefully and answer the
following questions.
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How are the “E” galaxies further divided?
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What is the difference between E0 and E7?
What are the “S” galaxies and how are they classified?
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What is at the center of these galaxies?
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What is a “SB” galaxy?
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How are “SB’s” further classified?
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M60 is an “E” galaxy. Give a description of it?
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What do you notice about M86?
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Who discovered M49 and how is it classified?
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Distinguish between S0, Sa, Sb, and Sc.
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Why would the spindle galaxy be difficult to identify from the picture
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How far away M96 is and what is it classified as?
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Describe the famous whirlpool galaxy.
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Explain what galaxy is contained in the constellation Ursa Major.
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Edwin Hubble took all these ideas and presented them all together in a simple diagram for
classifying galaxies. This diagram is called the _________________________________. Most
galaxies fall into one of his groups, according to how they look. Draw this diagram in the area
located below.
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From the information you have seen today, explain the following statement: "All ellipticals are
galaxies, but not all galaxies are elliptical". Put your answer below.
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