Unv5 VL

UNV Week 5: How can we look for ET (extraterrestrial) life?
Electromagnetic spectrum
This Week’s Learning Objectives
By the end of this week, you should be able to:
relate various types of electromagnetic (EM) waves by giving daily-life
examples and discuss how we can use the EM waves to search for
extraterrestrial life
1. Describe the concept of “field” (gravitational, electric, or magnetic), and
compare/contrast electric and gravitational fields and forces
2. Give daily life examples of the use of various wavelengths of
electromagnetic waves
3. Given the frequency or wavelength of an electromagnetic wave, relate it to
the corresponding photon energy
4. Describe what a spectrum of an object is and relate it to the blackbody
radiation
5. Apply the concepts of absorption spectra to discuss how we can use the
EM waves to search for extraterrestrial life
Week 5 VL
“Field”
Force? From Week 2 VL
Force is a vector that determines strength of interactions

and determines how much a given mass can be accelerated.
Its unit is Newton, N=kg m s-2.
4 Fundamental Forces in Nature
• Gravitational force (affects masses)

• Electromagnetic force (affects charged particles)
• Strong force (affects subatomic particles)
• Weak forces (arises in certain radioactive decay processes)
All forces we feel or use in our calculations are different manifestations

of the natural forces.
https://phet.colorado.edu/sims/html/charges-and-fields/latest/charges-and-fields_en.html
Electric field patterns: “lines of forces”
joining electric field vectors at different points

➔ electric field lines and pattern
Electric field lines represent...

Density of electric field lines (number of lines per unit area
or volume) determines the field strength.
FIELDS 3: “Magnetic” field
∗ If magnets affect each other at a distance, and move other
magnets, they must create a magnetic field in space.
∗ Magnets apply a force on moving electrical charges.
∗ The magnets align with respect to this magnetic field.
● What creates Earth’s magnetic field?

● What if there was no magnetic field?
Magnetic field lines
Magnetic field lines START at the North Pole,

END at the South Pole.
THERE ARE NO MAGNETIC MONOPOLES,

NO INDIVIDUAL NORTH or SOUTH POLE,
they are always found together.
Week 5 VL
Electromagnetic Spectrum
Wave
What you see….
http://www.wallconvert.com/wallpapers/nature/starry-sky-
above-the-mountains-15641.html
Light is an Electromagnetic Wave
= Electric Field
= Magnetic Field
http://math.ucr.edu/~jdp/Relativity/EM_Propagation.html
Waves
A wave is a disturbance or oscillation that travels through
space and matter. Waves carry energy.
Wave
Energy is transferred with
direction
waves, but particles do
not move continuously in
the direction of wave
Transverse wave
Longitudinal wave
Transverse
wave
Longitudinal
wave
Describing waves https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d0p7vDIgqjU
∗ Period T (s): time it

takes to finish one
cycle.
∗ Frequency f (1/s):
Number of cycles
in one second.
∗ Amplitude:
Maximum
displacement from
equilibrium.
∗ Wavelength λ (m):
distance between
y displacement of the y displacement of all
two peaks. red ball (at a certain positions at a certain
position) time
http://www.acs.psu.edu/drussell/demos.ht
Amplitude as a function of time
(cm) For EACH particle
Period, T (s)
(s)
Amplitude as a function of position
(cm) For ALL particles together
Wavelength, 𝜆 (m)
(m)
Week 5 VL
Electromagnetic Spectrum
and Blackbody Radiation
HOW DO WE STUDY DISTANT
STARS and PLANETS?
Answer: With light reaching to our telescopes. Why?
• Light is an electromagnetic wave – can travel in vacuum.
• Different physical processes

produce electromagnetic
waves with different
intensities and wavelength
distributions. → Spectrum
• Atoms and molecules

present in these stars and
planets imprint their
signatures in light.
Spectrum?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yrRkJMHEcYE
Electromagnetic waves
c = λf
What produces light in nature?
One way is…
Thermal radiation: All objects emit electromagnetic waves
due to random motions of atoms and molecules characterized
by the temperature of the medium.
If the object is sufficiently dense, in principle it can absorb all
incident radiation and can be in thermal equilibrium. Such
objects are common in nature and exhibit certain physical
properties. Sufficiently dense objects at thermal equilibrium
emit a kind of radiation called black body radiation.
https://scied.ucar.edu/compare-sun-images-visible-ultraviolet
Blackbody Spectrum
Spectrum depends only on the temperature!

https://phet.colorado.edu/sims/blackbody-spectrum/blackbody-spectrum_en.html
Blackbody Spectrum of various
objects
Intensity
Week 5 VL
Absorption and Emission
Spectra
HOW DO WE STUDY DISTANT
STARS and PLANETS?
Why
Answer: With light reaching to our telescopes.
?
• Light is an electromagnetic wave – can travel in vacuum.
• Different physical processes

produce electromagnetic
waves with different
intensities and wavelength
distributions. → Spectrum
• Atoms and molecules

present in these stars and
planets imprint their
signatures in light.
Other ways of producing light
∗ Not all forms of light are created through thermal radiation:
∗ Fluorescent lamps
∗ Neon lamps
∗ Fireworks
∗ LEDs (Light Emitting Diodes)
∗ Northern and southern lights (aurora borealis,
∗ Lasers aurora australis)
The current view of the atom
An atom is the smallest block that
determines properties of elements
(soft, hard, conductive, insulator, color,
brightness, etc.)
Experimentally it consists of
a very small nucleus consisting of
protons and neutrons and electrons
dispersed around the nucleus.
Orbital (“electron cloud”)

Region in space where
there is 90% probability
of finding an electron
Atomic emission and absorption
• Atoms can absorb or emit only certain amount of
energies that correspond to the differences between
their discrete (“quantized”) energy levels (hence the
name “quantum mechanics”)
• These energy levels are different for different neutral

and partially ionized atoms and for different
molecules.
• Line spectra can be considered as the fingerprints of

atoms and molecules.
http://highered.mheducation.com/olcweb/cgi/pluginpop.cgi?it=swf::800::600::/sites/dl/free/007299
181x/59229/Bohr_Nav.swf::The%20Bohr%20Atom
Example: Calculating Photon Energy
∗ What is the energy of the emitted photon when an electron makes a
transition from 2nd orbit to the 1st orbit? (λ = 121 nm)
E = hf = hc/λ = (6.63 x 10– 34 Js) (3 x 108 m/s) / (121 x 10–9 m)
= 1.64 x 10–18 J
∗ If the energy difference between the 1st and 3rd orbit is 1.94 x 10–18 J what
is the frequency and wavelength of a photon needed to make the electron
transition from 1st to the 3rd orbit?
E = hf → f = E/h
f = (1.94 x 10–18 J)/(6.63 x 10– 34 Js)
= 2.93 x 1015 /s (or Hz)
λ = c/f = (3 x 108 m/s)/(2.93 x 1015 /s)

= 1.024 x 10–7 m
= 102.4 nm
Different Types of Spectra
Gas ➔hot, dense like a complete rainbow,

with no gaps and breaks in it
discrete lines; the atoms’ energy levels are seen

➔ there are often a lot of empty spaces (dark areas)
light of only certain wavelengths is absorbed;

dark gaps where the light is missing.
Emission spectra of three elements:
H, C, O
If all of these elements were in a hot gas cloud, they could

produce the spectrum at the bottom

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UNV Week 5: How can we look for ET (extraterrestrial) life?

Force is a vector that determines strength of interactions

4 Fundamental Forces in Nature

• Gravitational force (affects masses)

All forces we feel or use in our calculations are different manifestations

joining electric field vectors at different points

Electric field lines represent...

● What creates Earth’s magnetic field?

Magnetic field lines START at the North Pole,

THERE ARE NO MAGNETIC MONOPOLES,

∗ Period T (s): time it

• Different physical processes

• Atoms and molecules

Spectrum depends only on the temperature!

• Different physical processes

• Atoms and molecules

Orbital (“electron cloud”)

• These energy levels are different for different neutral

• Line spectra can be considered as the fingerprints of

λ = c/f = (3 x 108 m/s)/(2.93 x 1015 /s)

Gas ➔hot, dense like a complete rainbow,

discrete lines; the atoms’ energy levels are seen

light of only certain wavelengths is absorbed;

If all of these elements were in a hot gas cloud, they could

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