Astronomy

1. Describe the components of the geocentric view of the universe that was held by the early Greeks. How did Ptolemy account for the motions of the celestial bodies in his model?

The ancient Greeks believed that were circular not elliptical. In Ptolomy's interpretation of the solar system, it was assumed that the Earth was not only the center of the solar stystem but also the center of the universe. Ptolomy's model accounted for the movements of the planets by assuming that every planet moved on an epicycle that moved in a larger circle called a deferant. Stars were assumed to move outside these planetary spheres.

2. List and describe two of the minor members of the solar system.

-Pluto: is a dwarf planet, it was assigned this in 2006. It was origionally discovered in 1930 and not visable with the naked eye. It occasionally orbits Neptune, the last time this took place was from 1979-1999.

-Charon (Moon): it is a moon, discorved in 1978 and half the diameter of Pluto. It is mostly made of ice and is the largets object in the Kuiper Belt.

3. The change from ancient to modern astronomy wasn’t easy. It required considerable work and commitment by five key scientists. List and describe the contributions made to modern astronomy by Nicolaus Copernicus,Tycho Brahe, Johannes Kepler, Galileo Galilei, and Sir Isaac Newton.

Nicolause Copernicus: He formulated the Heliocentric Model that placed the Sun at the center of the Universe rather than the Earth.

Tycho Brahe: He invented the Tychonic System which combined Copernicus's Heliocentric Model and Ptolemaic System. The Sun, Moon and stars revolve around the Earth, and the other five planets revolve around the Sun.

Johannes Kepler: He is known for inventing The Laws of Planetary Motion.

-The orbit of a planet is an ellipse with the Sun as one of the two foci.

-A line segment joining a planet and the Sun sweeps out equal areas during equal intervals of time.

-The square of the orbital period of a planet is proportional to the cube of the semi-major axis of its orbit.

Galileo Galilei: called the father of observational astronomy, the father of modern physics, the father of science and the father of modern science. He supported Copernicanism and made many improvements to the telescope. He confirmed the phases of Venus, the discovery of the four largest satellites of Jupiter, observation and analysis of sunspots.

Sir Isaac Newton: He formulated the Laws of Motion and Universal Gravitation.

4. Explain what criteria determines whether a planet is to be considered either Jovian or terrestrial planets. Briefly describe each planet, incorporating the particularities of each.

In order for a planet to be considered either Jovian or terrestrial size, density, composition, and rate of rotation are taken into account. Jovian planets are larger than other planets and have many moons. Jovian planets are known as gas giants. Terrestrial planets are composed of silicate rocks and metals. They are the inner planets closest to the sun. They have a solid planetary surface.

Jupiter: Is the largest planet in the solar system and has the greatest mass. It is bright and can be viewed with the naked eye. It has 63 moons, which is more than any other planet in the solor system. Jupiter does have rings although very faint.

Saturn: Is the second largest planet in the solar system, with very distinct rings. Saturn has 61 moons.

Uranus: Is the seventh planet from the sun and the third largest in the solar system. It is known as an “ice giant” because its atmosphere is primarily hydrogen and helium.

Neptune: Is th eighth planet from the sun and is the fourth largest in the solar system. It was once visited by the Voyager 2. Neptune is very similar to Uranus. It has winds that can reach up to 2000 km/hr.

Terrestrial Planets:

Mercury:

Venus:

Earth:

Moon:

Mars:

Vesta:

Ceres:

Pallas:

5.Describe stellar parallax and explain how one would mathematically meausre and calculate the distance to a star using this method

Stellar Parallax is an interstellar scale. It measures the apparent shift of position of any nearby star against the background of distant objects. It is created by different orbital positions of the Earth, extremely small shifts are observed in time intervals of six months when the Earth arrives on the opposite side of the Sun in orbit.The baseline is two astronomical units between observations. Once a stars Stellar Parallax is known, the distance from earth can then be figured out triganometrically.

6. Discuss Earth's Moon. Elaborate on the following: Maria, Craters, regolith, highlands, and theories of the moons origin.

The moon lacks an atmosphere, so any erosion on the moon is not caused by weather. It has lower gravity and because it is small it cools quickly.

Maria: are the product of volcanic erruptions on the moon. They are large flows of basaltic lava. The oldest Maria is about 4 billion years old and the youngsest is about 3 ½ billion years old. Maria can be seen with the naked eye.

Craters: Are formed when a solid body like a comet or an astroid collide with the surface of the moon.

Regolith: are the results of many billions of years of collisions with astroids and comets. These impacts had pulverized the surface material. This is a fine grain layer called regolith. Regolith can be 2 meters thick and contain material such as rocks, bedrock, and glass particals formed during impact.

Highlands: The highlands are easy to spot, they are the contrast between the light and dark spots on the moon. The lighter surfaces are the lunar highlands.

There are five theories concerning the moons origins.

-The Fission Theory: The moon was once apart of the Earth and somehow separated from the Earth early in the history of the Solar system. The Pacific Ocean is the most popular site from where the moon originated.

-The Capture Theory: The Moon was formed somewhere else, and was later captured by gravitational forces of the earth.

-The Condensation Theory: The Moon and Earth condensed together from the original nebula that formed the Solar System.

-The Colliding Planetesimals Theory: The interaction of earth-orbiting and Sun-orbiting Planetesimals (ex. Astroids) early in the history of the Solar System led to their breakup.

-The Ejected Ring Theory: A planetesimal the size of Mars struck the earth, ejecting large volumes of matter. A disc of orbiting material was formed and this matter eventually condensed to form the Moon in orbit around the Earth.

7. Describe the major types of galaxies and provide examples of each.

Spiral Galaxies- Are shaped like pinwheels with arms spinning outward. Examples would be the Milky Way and Andromeda

Elliptical Galaxies- Are flattened spheres thinner than spiral form. They have very little interstellar activity. Example would be Maffie 1 Galaxy.

Lenticular Galaxies- Are flattened galaxies without a spiral structure. Example would be The Spindle Galaxy in Draco.

Irregular Galaxies- Don't have any shape. Examples would be Hoag's Galaxy, The Magellanic Clouds and NGC 1427A.

8. List and explain the stages of the life cycle of a star.

Stars are born from nebulae and consist of hyrdrogen and helium gas. Stars live for less than a million years before exploding as supernovae.

Nebulae: A nebulae is a cloud of gas, hyrdrogen, and dust in space.

Star: Is born from nebulae.

Red Giant: Is a large bright star. It is fromed in the later evolution of a star, like the Sun.

Red Dwarf: They are very cool faint small stars.

White Dwarf: This is a small very hot star in the last stages of a stars life.

Supernovae: This is the death of a star. This is when a star explodes. 

Argument Essay

The Swinging Sixties was a fascinating decade marked by massive social upheaval, emergence of new subcultures, and political movements. When asked to sumarize the sixties most people would say “'The Beatles'”! Which wouldn't be wrong, nor would it be completely correct. Sure, it was one of music's defining ages. The Rolling Stones were cool to say the least; the ballads of Mick Jagger are still as popular today if not more so. Yes, The Beatles mop tops drove all the girls crazy and who could forget Jimmy Hendrix's performance of 'The Star Spangled Banner' at Woodstock? It is a decade commonly viewed through nostalgic rose tinted glasses; giving off the impression that it was just one long ten year LSD trip sprinkled with episodes of 'I Dream of Jeannie'. If you take away pop culture, drugs, sex and rock and roll; you are left asking yourself this question: “What really defined this generation, what made it so great”?

On November 14,1960, Ruby Bridges was one of six African American students to attend an all white school in New Orleans. This incited a tidal wave of anger; Ruby had to be esccorted to and from school by U.S Marshalls (assigned to her by President Eisenhower) amid racial slurs and taunts. Norman Rockwell importalized this event I his painting 'The Problem We All Live With'. This propagated the message that predjudice would not be tolerated; black and white students would have the right to learn equally.

Man has always had the disire to explore; going further than ever thought possible, testing boundries and limits. September 12, 1962, John F. Kennedy (the United States first Catholic President and the youngest president at that time) gave his famous 'Man on the Moon' speech. “What was once the furthest outpost on the old frontier of the West will be the furthest outpost on the new frontier of science and space.”-J. F. K. With that, the space race had begun; it was now only a matter of time before man set foot on the moon 240,000 miles away. A little over a year later on November 22, 1963 President John F. Kennedy was assasinated in Dallas Texas. July 20,1969 six years after his assasination of JFK, Apollo landed on the moon. At 20:18 UTC (Coordinated Universal Time) Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong took the first steps on the moon, accepting and completeing John F. Kennedy's callenge to put man on the moon before the decade was over. 720 million people around the globe tuned in to watch the event live. “One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind,” will always be unanimously associated with Apollo 12 landing on the moon.

Huge strides were made in the medical world in the 1960's. During the 1950's the Polio Virus rose to an epademic state with more than 21,000 cases reported. In 1962 the first Polio Vaccine was liscensed. Between 1962-1965 about 100 million Americans received the Sabin Vaccine. We owe a great many medical breakthroughs to this decade.This was the decade that birth control was finally made available to the public, CPR (1960), Measles Vaccine (1964) and the Mumps Vaccine (1967) were invented. Many of the medical treatments we take for granted now would not have been possible if it were not for the medical pioneers of the 1960's. Because of these medical miracles; the expected lifespan has jumped to around 80 years today, compared to the expected lifespan of the 1960's which was 66.6 years.

In 1963 the Bank of Freedom was severly langushing, something had to be done. African Americans of the nation came together to make sure that freedom and the rights liberty were being fairly distributed. Leading one if the greatest demontrations of all time was Martin Luther King Jr. On August, 28 1963, Martin Luther King addressed a stagering 250,000 civil rights supporters at the Lincoln Memorial. “I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but the content of their character.” -MLK. In 1964, after much blood had been spilled over the issue; the Civil Rights Act passed in the U.S. Stating equal treatment across the board. No longer would citizens of the United States be discriminated against because of the color of their skin. Tradgically in 1968 Martin Luther King Jr. was assasinated. Far from stoping the cause he fought for, his death helped to solidfy its purpose. We live in a different world today because of a selfless man who died for his dream.

1969 was a big year of accomplishments that would lay the ground work for many things we take for granted in the twenty first century. First we put man on the moon, then in the same year the precurser to the internet was invented, it was called the Intergalactic Computer Network. Later the name was changed to ARPANET (Advanced Research Projects Agency Network). Not many people today know that fact off the top of their heads. With our Starbucks caffeine fix and free wifi, it is hard to remember a time when the Internet did not exist. In the 1960's, the internet was a thing of the future; a brain child of a far distant time. This invention changed how we as humans do everything today, from check our e-mail, ordering food, checking your phone, keeping in contact with friends and loved ones. All these things that are apart of our daily routine, would not be possible today without the valuable technologies invented during the 1960's.

In this fast paced world, with all the new medical treatments that are saving lives every second of the day, technologies that make our daily lives easier and freedoms that we all enjoy; yet not even a fraction of thought is given to how or why we enjoy the things that we do today. Many people boast and claim that we live in the “the best age” with our smart phones, computers, fancy cars, I disagree. The 1960's was a time of major discovery and change. If you compare the strides that were made during that decade to the discoveries in the following decade, there really is no comparison. No other decade since has dramatically changed from beginning to end. The 1960's was probably the last decade where hard work was really valued and truly appreciated. In order to achieve something you wanted, to be where you wanted to be you had to put in the hard work to get there; there were no shortcuts. 

Process Analysis Essay Prewriting

My name is Kaye Warren. I am in my mid-twenties just starting on my journey towards learning the skills and knowledge needed to for my chosen career field, Interior Design. Starting out I had very little support and many doubts, it was hard but finally I found the momentum to begin. I like to keep reminding myself that I am the captain in control of my own ship, if I sink or swim it is all up to me; combined it is a daunting and freeing prospect. Sometimes I laugh at myself for waiting this long to get started on something that I have loved my whole life. Perhaps it was because I was worried that it would seem too much like work, I feared that I would lose my inspiration for design. I was afraid that I would lose a crucial part of myself in the process, to my surprise this has not been the case; in fact going to school for something that I love has helped to encourage me even more. Mercifully for me at this moment in time I am single without a family to contend with I don't have to worry about outside distractions. I can devote as little or as much time as I want to my studies; which I elect to do the latter. See I have a game plan, a vision that keeps me determined; allowing me to balance the things I want to do and the things I must do. When I dream about my future and where I want to be a year from now, I hope to have graduated, moved to England and have started on my Bachelor's degree in Interior Design. In order to achieve this goal I really have to stay focused; doing a balancing act between all that I want and all that I have to do to get where I want. It has been difficult and arduous at times having to pick and choose between what I want to do and what has to be done. In hindsight though it has been well worth the time and effort. Every morning I am up early with coffee in hand and begin reading and studying for exams, I like to study for a couple exams at a time. Studying that much can can be quite stressful and exhausting, yet it helps me finish exams that much faster; allowing me to move on to the next step. I make sure that my schedule is organized so I know what I need to do to keep the momentum going. This is not to say that I don't believe in having any fun; I think a mixture of the two is one of the keys to success. When I feel like I am getting in over my head and my frustration levels seem to be mounting, I stop and take a deep breath and try to remember the big picture. To relax in between studying I like to listen to music, watch movies, draw, crochet,write and go out with friends;it seems to fill my reserves and allows me to continue.

Learning can be scary. At twenty-three, standing on the precipice of knowledge I found learning overwhelming, yet despite all my fears I plunged into the great unknown. I never would have considered giving self study a thought because all throughout high school I was a procrastinator. If there was a deadline, I would hand in my assignment just before or well after it was due. I did not like the environment or the curriculum, I just could never get into school. So I put off going back to school with the assumption that going to attending online was not for me. As a prior military spouse the thought of going back to school daunted me even further because I moved around every few years. As per usual, I always ended up getting comfortable and had to move once more. I don't really know the catalyst that caused me to open up my eyes allowing me to finally see and have an Oprah “Ah Ha! Moment”. Maybe it was seeing friends and family accomplishing life goals, which caused me to examine what was going on in my life at that moment which not much at all. I found a desire and yearning to move forth into the world to find my place, contributing as much of myself as possible to a dream. The first step was hard and even harder was sticking to a plan. After many rough starts I have found it gets easier to put one foot in front of the other, keeping my eyes fixed firmly ahead and focused.When I wake up every morning I have a cup of coffee before reading and studying. I keep an organizer and follow a schedule to complete exams and assignments as efficiently as possible. I make sure to get as much sleep and exercise as I can in order to stay healthy. There are times that frustrations reach a boiling point; when that happens I take a step back and look at the whole picture. I take a break and listen to music, watch movies, read, crochet, quilt, draw or hang out with friends. Sometimes I go for a walk just to clear my mind, I always come back to my studies when I am in a more relaxed frame of mind.