The Herschel Space Telescope was launched in May 2009. Its main function is to observe space in the wavelength range including the far infrared range (FIR) which includes the submillimetre range.

Herschel and Planck in the classroom

This resource consists of an exercise sheet and solution sheet on problems associated with satellites in general and also exercises specific for the Herschel space telescope.

For this mapping, exercise 6 involves a calculation of cosmic velocities while pages 3 and 4 include a discussion of the various cosmic velocities.

Exercise document

Solution document

An exercise on freefall of objects in the Drop Tower at Bremen University.

The problem is located on this page.

Questions can be found on this page.

The Herschel Space Telescope was launched in May 2009. Its main function is to observe space in the wavelength range including the far infrared range (FIR) which includes the submillimetre range.

www.esa.int

This resource consists of an exercise sheet and solution sheet on problems associated with satellites in general and also exercises specific for the Herschel space telescope.

For this mapping, exercise 6 on page 3 of the exercise document are most applicable. This exercise and section considers the kinetic energy that a particle needs to get off the Earth and enter a circular orbit around the Earth.

Exercise document

Solution document

An exercise on freefall of objects in the Drop Tower at Bremen University.

The problem is located on this page.

Questions can be found on this page.

This resource gives details of why microgravity research is so important. For example, microgravity research is used in areas such as combustion science, foams and emulsions and cold atom technology.

Why do microgravity research?

This resource gives some details of how microgravity conditions can be created on Earth. The first of these is to use a lift which of course might not the safest. The second method is to use a Drop Tower, like the one at Bremen University in Germany. Finally, the resource gives details of the parabolic flights or “vomit comets” as they are referred to in the press. ESA has their own dedicated parabolic flight platform in the form of a converted Airbus A300. Researchers and their experiments board the A300 Zero-G and undergo 30 or more parabolas during a single flight.

Learn how to make microgravity.

An interesting article that explains what microgravity is and how it can be produced in space and on Earth.  There are images included to illustrate that to create a microgravity environment you must either place it in freefall or recreate freefall conditions.

Learn about microgravity.

The Herschel Space Telescope was launched in May 2009. Its main function is to observe space in the wavelength range including the far infrared range (FIR) which includes the submillimetre range.

Homepage: Herschel and Planck in the classroom

This resource consists of an exercise sheet and solution sheet on problems associated with satellites in general and also exercises specific for the Herschel space telescope.

For this mapping, exercise 2,3,4 and 5 on page 2 of the exercise document are most applicable. Each of these involves the application of the concept of circular motion.

See the exercise.

See the solution.

The first question on this page relates to circular motion of an object on a horizontal turntable. The second question may be too advanced for LC Physics and more applicable to LC Applied Mathematics.

See the exercise.

Exercise on circular motion – based upon the film “Space Odyssey 2001? where two spacecraft use rotation to achieve artificial gravity. In the film, an astronaut is seen jogging around the space spacecraft and the questions focus upon this.

Do a circular motion exercise.

Introduction to Circular Motion. Gives examples of circular motion is important.

Learn about circular motion.

Gives an explanation of Hooke’s law and how it is applied in mechanical engineering (more applicable for 3rd level).

Learn about Hooke’s Law.

This resource presents a diagram relating the different means of heat loss (conduction, convection and radiation) showing the temperatures at which each of these are most important. A graph is presented from which conclusions about the different heat loss methods are made. This graph could be shown to students in a class with the teacher asking them a serious of questions about the graph. For example, at very high temperatures heat loss due to radiation is most important, can you think of an example of where this would occur?

Which is the most important form of heat loss?

This resource is a text document giving supplementary details on the main methods of heat transfer – conduction, convection and radiation. Here it explains that radiation is an electromagnetic wave and that the temperature of the object will influence the type of radiation that occurs. Makes reference to thw Stefan-Boltzmann equation which relates the rate at which an object radiates energy to the temperature of the object (More 3rd level physics than LC)

What are the three main methods of heat transfer?

This resource provides a general review of conduction for solids and liquids. There is an animation showing how the process takes place for a liquid. In terms of a conduction in a solid (non-metallic), there is a good discussion on the process of heat transfer.

Where do we find conduction?

This resource presents a diagram relating the different means of heat loss (conduction, convection and radiation) showing the temperatures at which each of these are most important. A graph is presented from which conclusions about the different heat loss methods are made. This graph could be shown to students in a class with the teacher asking them a serious of questions about the graph. For example, at very high temperatures heat loss due to radiation is most important, can you think of an example of where this would occur?

Which is the most important form of heat loss?

This resource is a text document giving supplementary details on the main methods of heat transfer – conduction, convection and radiation. Here it explains that radiation is an electromagnetic wave and that the temperature of the object will influence the type of radiation that occurs. Makes reference to thw Stefan-Boltzmann equation which relates the rate at which an object radiates energy to the temperature of the object (More 3rd level physics than LC)

What are the three main methods of heat transfer?

Explains the concept of convection and the criteria for convection.

What is Convection?

This resource presents a diagram relating the different means of heat loss (conduction, convection and radiation) showing the temperatures at which each of these are most important. A graph is presented from which conclusions about the different heat loss methods are made. This graph could be shown to students in a class with the teacher asking them a serious of questions about the graph. For example, at very high temperatures heat loss due to radiation is most important, can you think of an example of where this would occur?

Which is the most important form of heat loss?

This resource is a text document giving supplementary details on the main methods of heat transfer – conduction, convection and radiation. Here it explains that radiation is an electromagnetic wave and that the temperature of the object will influence the type of radiation that occurs. Makes reference to thw Stefan-Boltzmann equation which relates the rate at which an object radiates energy to the temperature of the object (More 3rd level physics than LC)

What are the three main methods of heat transfer?

To mark the launch of the Herschel and Planck space observatories, ESA has participated in the production of a wide-ranging series of educational materials related to these two missions. There are a number of documents available at the link below.

Homepage: Herschel and Planck in the classroom

However the documents of interest here are the exercise and solution documents on problems related to the Herschel Telscope. The links for these two documents are given below. For this content, there is material and supplementary information on red shift, in particular cosmological redshift. The solution document (pg 1 and 2) provides a detailed explanation of red and blue shift. In addition, the document points out that although redshift and blueshift of electromagnetic light seem to be similar to the Doppler effect for sound waves, it is in fact the expansion of space between the source and the earth that leads to the shifting of the wavelength of the electromagnetic waves.

Exercise document.

Solution document.

This pdf resource contains a discussion of light and how it propagates as a wave. The important characteristics of the wave propagation of light are introduced such as amplitude, frequency and wavelength. The colour spectrum of light is also discussed as well as the finite velocity of light waves.

This material may be already present in the text book but this document collates all this information together using the concept of the Big Bang theory as the vehicle for delivery. On page 2, there is a discussion of the colour spectrum of light and the different frequencies associated with the colours.

See the ‘Searching for the fingerprints of the Big Bang’ PDF.

This resource includes a question showing the application of the equation “E=hf”. The second part of the question relates the power of a laser to the energy of a single photon in order to calculate the number of photons emitted by the laser per second.

Calculate how many photons are emitted by a laser.