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Historical Background for Composition

It was Isaac Newton who made the first observation about the suns spectrum. In the year 1672,
Newton studied the refractive properties of white light. He showed that a prism could decompose white
light into a rainbow (or spectrum) of colors. He simply used sunlight and directed it through a prism, in
which he obtained a spectrum of colors. Newton did not acquire any absorption lines, nor did he make
any connection to the composition of the sun. However, his discoveries about the optical properties of
white light inspired others to do further research on this topic.

William Hyde Willaston was the next person to make new, important discoveries about the suns
spectrum. Willaston was best known as a chemist; however he did a lot of study on optics. Willaston set
up a slit system, in which a small beam of sunlight entered through a slit and then refracted through a
prism. From this experiment he observed dark lines (which were later discovered to be Fraunhofer
absorption lines).

It was the German optician, Joseph von Fraunhofer, who made the correct theory on these dark
lines. Fraunhofer invented the spectroscope and observed 574 dark lines. He also observed a continuous
color change across the spectrum, stating that no color discontinuities occurred at the dark lines.
Famous for his discoveries, these absorption lines are now named after him, as they are called
Fraunhofer lines.
Theory

The sunlight that reaches Earth emerges from the lower region of an area of the sun called the
photosphere. This area can be considered a blackbody, meaning that it emits all wavelengths of light and
absorbs (almost) none. By passing this white light through prism like Newton did, we obtain a continuous
spectrum. However, as it travels through the photosphere, the temperature drops drastically and passes
through many cooler gasses. According to the Bohr model of the atom, energy is quantized and an
electron absorbs a photon at a specific wavelength when it moves up an energy level. This phenomenon
is extremely useful in spectroscopy. The cooler gasses present in the upper photosphere absorb specific
wavelengths of the light passing through them. A discontinuous spectrum should then be observed.
Although Fraunhofer discovered 574 lines (and many thousands more have been identified since his
death), we did not expect to see most of them since we lacked the expertise and equipment used by
professional astronomers.

It therefore emits all wavelengths of light and by passing it through a prism, we would obtain
continuous spectrum.

Procedure and results

Our initial procedure was very simple. We let the sunlight get refracted by the prism and we
projected it on the wall. Unfortunately, we only saw a continuous spectrum and we could not detect the
absorption lines. We realized that we need to improve the image quality and take a more sophisticated
approach to finding the absorption lines.

We used a lens to focus the light in order to increase the resolution. We used a diverging lens to
make the projection of the spectrum larger. We also tried using two prisms. Finally, we used a diffraction
grating Despite all of these modifications, our data remained the same: we were unable to detect any
absorption lines.

Despite the failure of the first aspect of the project, we learned a lot. It introduced us to the
fields of optics and spectroscopy and formed the basis for our second objective, determining the
temperature of the sun.
How Stefan Determined the Surface Temperature of the Sun

In 1879, Joseph Stefan created a physical power law. His law states: the total radiation from a
black body j* is proportional to the fourth power of its thermodynamic temperature T. This could be
represented by the following equation:

With his law Stefan determined the temperature of the Sun's surface and he calculated a value of 5430
C. This was the first sensible value for the temperature of the Sun.

How We Determined the Surface Temperature of the Sun

As we learned while trying to find the chemical composition of the sun, the photosphere can be
approximated to a blackbody. Although it emits all wavelengths of light, they are emitted at different
intensities depending on the temperature. In 1896, the physicist Wilhem Wien empirically discovered a
relationship between the temperature of a black body and the wavelength being emitted the most.

Where: is the peak wavelength in meters

is the temperature of the blackbody in Kelvin

b is Wiens constant, which is 2.898 x 10 -3 meter Kelvin

By measuring the relative intensities of the different wavelengths forming this light, we can
experimentally determine this peak wavelength for the sun. We can then enter into Wiens law and
calculate the surface temperature of the sun. Based on the many blackbody curves weve seen, we
expect the relative intensity of the sun to peak in the blue-green zone.
http://apollo.lsc.vsc.edu/classes/met130/notes/chapter2/plank_e_sun.html

Procedure and Results

Our procedure was very straightforward. All we had to do was repeat the steps from the first part of the
project that allowed us to obtain a clear spectrum. We then used a light meter mounted on a motion
sensor to scan the spectrum from top to bottom.
After many attempts, we only obtained one graph that resembled a curve. However, it does the
opposite of what we expect it to do; the wavelength peaks in the red zone instead of the blue-green
area.

Historical Background Distance from Earth to Moon

Ptolemy came up with a very clever way of calculating the by using basic geometry. He had two
observers at different points and from that set up a triangle from the center of the earth going towards
points A and B lets say. He then calculated the angles with respect to the radial line, from that he found
the angles of the triangle which included the center of the earth to the moon. This gave him the distance
from the earth to the moon. He obtained a value of 378 000 km, close to the correct modern value of
around 384 000 km.

Copernicus again used a similar method; however he used his during a lunar eclipse. During such
an event, the earth casts a shadow on the moon, which is circular. His theory was if you take a picture of
the eclipse in progress, you could fully draw the circle and calculate its angular size via the separation of
two bright stars with known angular separation. The same can be done for the partially eclipsed moon.
Copernicus then compared both circles using simple geometry (triangles and rectangles). From this,
Copernicus quite accurately determined the distance from the earth to the moon.
Theory

We determined the distance from the Earth to the Moon in a much different manner than
Ptolemy and Copernicus did. We hypothesized that we could determine the distance between the Earth
and the Moon by calculating the irradiance of sunlight reaching the Moon and by knowing how much of
it reflects.

We can calculate the irradiance of sunlight reaching the Moon by knowing the sun-moon
distance and the suns power. When a source such as the sun emits light, it does so at constant power.
This power radiates in spheres from said source. To calculate the power received by an object at a
certain distance (irradiance), we must divide the power by the surface of the sphere created. This yields
the equation:

I=P/4r2

Where power (P) is in Watts, radius (r) is in meters and irradiance (I) is in W/m 2.

We can therefore treat the sun-moon distance (150 X 10 9 m) as the radius and the solar constant
(3.846x1026 W) as the power emitted and obtain the irradiance of sunlight reaching the moon.

I = (3.846 * 1026 W)/[4 * (150 * 109 m)2] =1360.244 W/m2

Now that we know the irradiance of light that reaches the moon from the Sun, we can calculate
the power of the light the moon reflects (if it were a perfect mirror), by multiplying intensity by the cross
section of the Moon`s two poles.

1360.244 W * * (1736x103)2 =1.29 * 1016 W

This is the value of the moons power, but the moon is not a perfect reflector; it has a reflectivity
(or albedo) of approximately 7%. Knowing this piece of information, we simply multiply the power result
by 0.07 to see what the actual power reflected was.

1.29 * 1016 W * 0.07 = 9 * 1014 W

We can then treat the moon as a power source with a power output of 9 * 10 14 W. By measuring
the irradiance of moonlight hitting the earth we can once again use the I=P/4r2 equation to calculate
the radius, which is in this case, the distance separating us from the Moon. By isolating r, we obtain:
r = (P/4I)1/2 = (9 * 1014 W / 4I) 1/2

Procedure & Results

During the very early morning of Thursday, November the 13 th, we pointed our light meter at the
full moon and measured what we initially thought was relative irradiance. We then consulted the user
manual for the light meter, hoping to uncover a way to convert %max to W/ m2. However, we realized that
the light meter was in fact measuring relative illuminance.

Illuminance, measured in lux or lumens/m 2, is the ratio of the luminous flux (in lumens) and the
surface area (in m2). Luminous flux is defined as the power perceived by the human eye. Indeed, the
human eyes sensitivity to visible light depends on the wavelengths being observed 1. For example, two
light sources having the same power, but emitting different colors will have different luminous fluxes. 1
W of sunlight has a luminous flux of 93 lumens. 2 We can also say that 1 lumen of sunlight is equivalent
to 0.011 W and that 1 lm/m2 of sunlight = 1 lux = 0.011 W/m2.

According to the user manual for the light meter, at a gain of 10X, a relative illuminance of 100%
was equivalent to an absolute illuminance of 50 lux. 3 We measured a relative illuminance of 0.3%. In
absolute terms, we obtained an absolute illuminance of 0.3% of 50 lux which equals 0.15 lux. Since we
previously determined that 1 lux of sunlight = 0.011 W/m 2, 0.015 lux is equal to an irradiance of 1.65 *
10-3 W/m2. By entering this value in the r = 9 * 1014 W / 4I 1/2 equation, we get

r = [9 * 1014 W / (4 *1.65 * 10-3 W/m2)] = 2.1 * 108 m

This gives us a percent difference of 44.5% from the real value of 3.84 *10 8.

1
http://tripatlas.com/Lux

2
http://aesl.hanyang.ac.kr/class/are141/Note-pdf/Note-09.pdf

3
ftp://ftp.pasco.com/Support/Documents/English/CI/CI-6504A/012-06306d.pdf

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