Upload
others
View
5
Download
0
Embed Size (px)
Citation preview
The Interaction of Light and Matter(or Decoding Starlight)
Guest Lecturer: Alison Coil
In astronomy, all we have is light!
Can’t do direct experiments like in other sciences.
Have to know how to decode light, like a fingerprint.
Need to understand how light is created and what it can tell us!
Full spectrum of light = electromagnetic spectrum
Light from each part of the spectrum provides us with different information.
A
B
C
D
If you pass white light through a prism, it separates into its
component colors.
ROY G B I V
spectrum
long wavelengths
short wavelengths
Photograph of a Star Cluster
Spectra of a Star Cluster
Which object is hotter, an object that is emitting mainly red light or mainly blue light?
increasing temperatureA B C
Which object is hotter, an object that is emitting mainly red light or mainly blue light?
increasing temperature
Energy output from a star
Stefan-Boltzmann lawEnergy depends on temperature (T4)
Energy = constant * T4
Hot stars have greater energy than cool starsA little higher temperature means a lot more energy!
2x the temperature = ? x the energy
The hotter an object, the more energy/radiation it emits!
(some #)
Filter
Detector
81
blue 4600 A 81color wavelength amount of light
Filter
Detector
85
blue 4600 A 81green 5300 A 85
Filter
Detector
83
blue 4600 A 81green 5300 A 85yellow 5800 A 83
Filter
Detector
78
blue 4600 A 81green 5300 A 85yellow 5800 A 83orange 6100 A 78
Filter
Detector
70
UV IR
“Spectral Curve” - a graph of an object’s energy output versus wavelength. All stars have the same shape curve, called a black body curve. The PEAK of this curve is related to the star’s temperature.Wavelength
Ener
gy o
utpu
t
All heated objects have this same shape curve! Stars, people, heated wire. Peak for stars is UV (hot stars) to IR (cool stars), peak for people is longer IR (cooler than stars).
The WAVELENGTH of the PEAK of this curve tells us about the object’s TEMPERATURE and COLOR.
UV IR
Ener
gy O
utpu
t
Wavelength
Hot objects emit light that PEAKS at short wavelengths (blue).
Cool objects emit light that PEAKS at long wavelengths (red)
increasing temperature
Wien’s law
λpeak = (3 x 10-3) / Tkelvin(wavelength unit here is meters)
• The higher the object’s temperature, the shorter the wavelength of the peak for the light emitted by the object.
Relates the temperature of an object to the wavelength of the peak in the black body curve.
Which is the longest wavelength?
Which is the highest energy?
A
B
C
D
What is the wavelength of the PEAK of this “Blackbody” curve
What color is our 5800K Sun?
The Sun emits all wavelengths of electromagnetic radiation (light); however, the wavelengths of light it emits most intensely are in the green/yellow part of the spectrum.
What color does the Sun appear?WHITE!!
A star, like the Sun, which peaks in the middle of the visible part of the spectrum (green/yellow light) will appear WHITE to the human eye because it is giving off nearly equal amounts of all the visible colors of light.
Our Sun
What if the Sun became hotter?
Our Sun
What if the Sun became hotter?
Our Sun
What if the Sun became cooler?
Our Sun
What if the Sun became cooler?
1. Which object gives off the greatest amount of Blue light?
2. Which object gives off the greatest amount of Red light?
3. Which object would appear Red?
4. Which object would have the lowest temperature?
AB
C
What is this a picture of ?
Find the hottest star(s), how do you know ?
electron
Accelerating charges produce light – electromagnetic radiation!
But, where does light actually come from?
An atom consists of
a small, dense
nucleus (containing protons and neutrons)
surrounded by electrons
- Model
NucleusAtoms have
discrete energy levels.
Atoms can only have specific amounts of energy.
The lowest energy level is the ground state.
Photons (light-waves) are emitted from an atom when an electron moves from a higher energy level to a lower
energy level
Nucleus
Photons (light-waves) can also be absorbed by an atom when an
electron moves from a lower energy level to a higher energy level
Nucleus
Only photons with the exact right energy (wavelength) will be
absorbed!
Lowest energy level is the ground state.
It takes energy for an atom to go to a higher energy level
(absorb energy from a photon or collide with another particle).
An atom releases energy when an electron moves to a
lower energy level (emits a photon).
If an electron in an atom moves from an orbit with an energy of 5 to an orbit with an energy of 10,
A. a photon of energy 5 is emittedB. a photon of energy 15 is emitted.C. a photon of energy 5 is absorbed.D. a photon of energy 15 is absorbed.
more energy less energy
Which of these shows the atom emitting the greatest amount of
light?
e-
A e-
B
e-
C e-
D
Which of these would cause a “Violet” or high energy absorption line?
A.B.C.D. None of the above
Each chemical element produces its own unique set of spectral lines
when it is excited
We can measure on Earth what the lines are for each element!
We will study three types of spectra!!!
Continuous Spectrum
Hot/Dense Energy Source
prism
Emission Line Spectrum
Hot low density cloud of Gas
Absorption Line SpectrumCooler low density cloud of Gas
Hot/Dense Energy Source
The type of spectrum given off depends on the objects involved
Law #1 – The excited atoms within a hot dense object give off light of all colors (wavelengths) and produce a continuous spectrum -- a complete rainbow of colors (range of wavelengths) without any spectral lines.
We will study three types of spectra!!!
Continuous Spectrum
Hot/Dense Energy Source prism
Law #2 – The excited atoms within a hot cloud of gas give off only particular colors (wavelengths) of light and produce an emission line spectrum - a series of bright spectral lines against a dark background.
The type of spectrum given off depends on the objects involved
We will study three types of spectra!!!
Emission Line Spectrum
prismHot low density cloud of Gas
Law #3 – When the light from a hot dense object passes through a cool cloud of gas, the atoms within the cloud can absorb particular colors (wavelengths) of light and produce a absorption line spectrum - a series of dark spectral lines among the colors of the rainbow.
The type of spectrum given off depends on the objects involved
We will study three types of spectra!!!
Absorption Line SpectrumCooler low density cloud of Gas
Hot/Dense Energy Source prism
What physical situation makes this spectrum?
Law #3 – When the light from a hot dense object passes through a cool cloud of gas, the atoms within the cloud can absorb particular colors (wavelengths) of light and produce a absorption line spectrum - a series of dark spectral lines among the colors of the rainbow.
The type of spectrum given off depends on the objects involved
We will study three types of spectra!!!
Absorption Line SpectrumCooler low density cloud of Gas
Hot/Dense Energy Source prism
What physical situation does a star like the Sun present?
A hot dense core surrounded by a low density outer atmosphere
The Sun’s Spectrum
All stars produce dark
line absorption
spectra
What can we learn by analyzing starlight?
• A star’s temperature• A star’s chemical composition
More on starlight next time!
Read section 6-2 on The Interaction of Light
and Matter(fills in many details)
(Recycle your voting cards!)
Work with the person next to you to answer these questions (write down your answers):
1. If a star existed that was only a hot dense core and did NOT have a low density atmosphere around it, what type of spectrum would you see from that star?
2. If you put a telescope above the Earth’s atmosphere and took a measurement of the Sun’s spectrum, what would it look like?
3. Will an atom emit light if all of the atom’s electrons are in the ground state?
4. There are dark lines in the absorption spectrum that represent missing light. What happened to this light that is missing?