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Sun Lab - Astronomy - Fall 2006 | PHYS 010, Lab Reports of Astronomy

Material Type: Lab; Professor: Finn; Class: Astronomy; Subject: Physics; University: Siena College; Term: Unknown 1989;

Typology: Lab Reports

Pre 2010

Uploaded on 08/09/2009

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Phys 010 – Astronomy Sun Lab Fall 2006
Name:___________________________________________________________
Partner: ________________________________________________________
Useful information:
Distance from earth to sun = 1.5 x 1011 m
Metric Units Review:
1 m = __________ cm
1 m = __________ mm
1 km = __________ m
Part 1: Solar Luminosity
You will measure the luminosity (energy output per second) of the sun using a light, a piece of wax, and a
ruler.
1. Hold wax between light bulb and sun so that the wax is evenly illuminated on both sides.
2. Record the distance in meters between the lamp and the wax. ________________ m
3. What is the luminosity (or wattage) of the light bulb in units of Watts? __________
4. Is there any cloud cover? If so, describe.
5. If the sun and lamp equally illuminate each side of the wax, then the flux from the lamp and the sun
must be the same. Flux is luminosity divided by 4 d2, so flux is in units of Watts/m2. If the flux
from the bulb and sun are equal, then
Solve for the luminosity of the sun. Show your work.
Lsun = _________________________ Watts
6. Record the luminosity of the sun given on page A-2 of your text. ____________Watts
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Name:___________________________________________________________ Partner: ________________________________________________________ Useful information: Distance from earth to sun = 1.5 x 10^11 m Metric Units Review: 1 m = __________ cm 1 m = __________ mm 1 km = __________ m Part 1: Solar Luminosity You will measure the luminosity (energy output per second) of the sun using a light, a piece of wax, and a ruler.

  1. Hold wax between light bulb and sun so that the wax is evenly illuminated on both sides.
  2. Record the distance in meters between the lamp and the wax. ________________ m
  3. What is the luminosity (or wattage) of the light bulb in units of Watts? __________
  4. Is there any cloud cover? If so, describe.
  5. If the sun and lamp equally illuminate each side of the wax, then the flux from the lamp and the sun must be the same. Flux is luminosity divided by 4  d^2 , so flux is in units of Watts/m^2. If the flux from the bulb and sun are equal, then Solve for the luminosity of the sun. Show your work. Lsun = _________________________ Watts
  6. Record the luminosity of the sun given on page A-2 of your text. ____________Watts
  1. Calculate the percent error for the luminosity calculated in step 4, where Show your work. % error = ________________________________
  2. How close is your measured value to the accepted value? Is it within 10%? Explain how cloud cover would affect your measured value.
  3. How many 100-Watt light bulbs would equal the energy output of the sun? Show your work. Part 2: Solar Diameter You will measure the diameter of the sun using a piece of cardboard, a piece of paper, and a ruler.
  4. With a pin, poke a small hole in one side of a cardboard box.
  5. Hold the box up to the sun, and a project an image of the sun onto the opposite side of the box.
  6. Measure the diameter of the projected sun in millimeters. _______________
  7. Convert the diameter from millimeters to meters. ________________
  8. Measure the distance between the side with the hole and the side with the image of the sun in centimeters. _______________
  9. Convert the distance from centimeters to meters. ____________

Part 3: Sketch the Sun. Never look directly at the Sun - your eyes will be permanently damaged by the Sun’s intense radiation. Telescopes collect more light than your eyes, so it is worse to look at the Sun through a telescope. The Siena physics department has special filters to use with the 8-inch telescope that block most of the light coming from the Sun. This allows us to look at the Sun without damaging our eyes. Look at the Sun through the 8-inch telescope. Sketch the image of the sun. Label any sunspots and solar flares that are visible. Try looking at the Sun with no filter and using the H-alpha filter. Describe what you see.