Chapter 5 Quiz: Olivia Ward

1. What is light?
   Light is electromagnetic energy which comes in wavelengths. The shorter the wavelengths, the higher the energy, and the longer the wavelengths, the lower the energy. Visible light, also known as white light, is made up of each spectrum of light. In other words, visible light is made up of many colors. 
   
   
2. What is matter?
   Matter is a physical substance that occupies an area and has mass. Matter can be in phases such as solid, liquid, gas, and plasma, as well as other extreme phases. The phases of matter can change due to a change in energy.  The structure of matter can be defined as the following:
   Molecules ← Elements ← Atoms ← Subatomic Particles: protons, neutrons, electrons ← Quarks
3. How do light and matter interact?
   Matter can experience emission, absorption, transmission, reflection, and scattering of light. These interactions between light and matter determine the appearance of everything through color and appearance of light on objects.
4. What are the three basic types of spectra?
   The Continuous Spectrum which is the spectrum of an incandescent light bulb which spans all visible wavelengths without interruption. The Emission Line Spectrum which allows thin or low-density clouds of gas emit light only at specific wavelengths which depends on its composition and temperature. This products a spectrum with bright emission lines. The Absorption Line Spectrum is a cloud of gas between us and objects like light bulbs that can absorb light of specific wavelengths, which produces dark absorption lines in the spectrum.
5. How does light tell us what things are made of?
   Light allows us to observe an object's chemical fingerprints and the object's unique characteristics. Each type of atom had a unique set of energy levels and each transition relates to to photon energy, frequency, and wavelength. Also, each type of atom has a unique spectral fingerprint that tells us which kinds of atoms are present.
6. How does light tell us the temperatures of planets and stars?
   We can tell the temperatures of the planets and stars through thermal radiation. Nearly all large or dense objects emit thermal radiation. According to Wien's Law, hotter objects emit more light at all frequencies per unit area as well as emit photons with a higher average energy.
7. How does light tell us the speed of a distant object?
   The Doppler effect tells us how fast an object is moving toward or away from us. The Doppler effect uses depends on shifts in wavelengths of spectral lines. As an object moves toward us, spectral lines are shifted to shorter wavelengths. This is known as blueshift. As objects move away from us, spectral lines, are shifted to longer wavelengths. This is known as redshift.
8. How do telescopes help us learn about the universe?
   Telescopes help us learn about the universe by allowing us to see small objects that do not emit enough light for us to see with just our eyes. They allow us to see much more than visible light. They can see different wavelengths of light.
9. Why do we put telescopes in space?
   Telescopes are put in space to allow the study of forms of light which do not reach Earth's surface. These lights allow us to further our knowledge about the planets and stars, as well as give us insight of black holes and dark matter.
10. How is technology revolutionizing astronomy?
    Technology is revolutionizing astronomy due to the fact that new technology allows us to see much more than we could before. New technology helps to rid the distortion of light in telescopes in space, as well as allowing telescopes to determine types of light emitted by planets and stars. This allows us to know more about the matter of space.