*THE SOUTHWORTH PLANETARIUM*




*207-780-4249 <207-780-4249>       www.usm.maine.edu/planet
<http://www.usm.maine.edu/planet> 70 Falmouth Street  Portland, Maine 04103
43.6667° N,                    70.2667° W Founded January 1970*



*             "Game of domes"*

*THE DAILY ASTRONOMER*

*Friday, April 29, 2016*


*Quiz:  Light*

*Last year was the International Year of Light! *

*And, yes, we missed it!*

*So, we offer this belated celebration of all things light and lovely.*


*Light pervades our Universe.   It illuminates our world, enables us to
observe the stars, imparts nutrients onto plant life and, most importantly,
is the main constituent in light sabers and photon torpedoes.     *




*Today's quiz pertains to the pure magic of light!*

*1.   A "light year" is a distance about equal to__________________.*

*a.  186,000 miles*

*b.   2.6 billion miles*

*c.  209 billion miles*


*d.   5.8 trillion miles*

*2.  Scientifically, light exhibits _______________*

*a.  wave-like behavior only*

*b.  particle-like behavior only*

*c.  both particle and wave like behavior*


*d.  neither particle nor wave like behavior*

*3. Which of the following statements about light is/are true?  (Could be
more or less than one)*

*a.  light has no rest mass*

*b.  the visible light we see comprises only a small part of the
electromagnetic spectrum*

*c.  all photons of light have the same amount of energy*


*d.  visible light is more energetic than ultra violet light*


*4.  The word "LASER" is an acronym meaning what?*

*5.  By light-time distance, how far away is the Sun?*

*a. one light year*

*b. one light astronomical unit*

*c.  8.3 light minutes*

*d.  1.3 light seconds*


*6.  What can one say about a celestial body that has an albedo of 1?*

*a.  It reflects all the light that strikes it*

*b.  It reflects 1% of all the light that strikes it*

*c.  It reflects 10% of all the light that strikes it*


*d.  It reflects none of the light that strikes it*

*7.  Going from low to high energy, what is the sequence of colors within
the visible light spectrum?*

*a.  blue green yellow red orange violet*

*b.  red orange yellow green blue indigo violet*

*c. violet indigo blue green yellow orange red*

*d.  orange red yellow green indigo violet*


*8.  Betelgeuse is red; Rigel is blue.   Which is the hotter of the two?*

*a. Betelgeuse*

*b. Rigel*

*c.  They are equally hot*


*d.  No enough information to determine.*

*9.  Traveling at high speeds causes time to dilate.   An astronaut travels
on a vessel for what, to him, seems like one year.  A person on Earth
experiences two years.   How fast was the astronaut moving?*

*a.  50% the speed of light*

*b.  75% the speed of light*

*c.  86% the speed of light*


*d.  99.9999% the speed of light*

*10.  White light is__________*

*a. the absence of all colors*

*b. the combination of all colors*

*c.  neither a nor b*

*d.  both a and b*



*ANSWERS*
*1. *

*d.   5.8 trillion miles2.   *
*c.  both particle and wave like behavior*


*(hence the development of quantum physics)3. *

*a.  light has no rest mass*


*b.  the visible light we see comprises only a small part of the
electromagnetic spectrum*


*4.  Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation 5. *

*c.  8.3 light minutes6. *

*a.  It reflects all the light that strikes it7.  *
*b.  red orange yellow green blue indigo violet*


*(Remember  ROY G BIV)8. *

*b. Rigel9.  *

*c.  86% the speed of light10. *

*b. the combination of all colors*