Exponents and Logarithms
Light and Light as a Wave
Redshift
Gravity
Normal Matter
Four Fundamental Forces
Dark Matter & Dark Energy
Brief History of the Universe
100

This expression represents 1,000 in exponent form.

What is 103?

100

This is electromagnetic radiation, a propagating form of energy that moves at a constant speed (c).

What is light?

100

This is the lengthening of the wavelength of light from a star that is moving away from us, due to the Doppler Effect. Denoted by z .

What is redshift?

100

This theory is based on the idea that the laws of physics should be the same for all observers, no matter how they are moving. It explains the force of gravity in terms of the curvature of four-dimensional space-time.

What is Einstein's Theory of General Relativity?

100

Any matter that makes up stuff on the periodic table.

What is normal matter?

100

These are referred to as the four fundamental forces.

What are electromagnetism, the weak force, the strong force, and gravity?

100

This mysterious component of the Universe does not appear to interact with the electromagnetic field, which means that it does not absorb, reflect, or emit electromagnetic radiation.

What is dark matter?

100

This is the age of the universe.

What is 13.8 billion years?

200

This expression represents 0.01 in exponent form.

What is 10-2?

200

This is the stretching or squeezing of a wave due to relative motion between the source and receiver.

What is the Doppler effect?

200

This is the shortening of the wavelength of light from a star that is moving towards us, due to the Doppler Effect.

What is blueshift?

200

This law posits that every massive object attracts every other massive object in the universe with the following force: F = G (m_1 m_2)/r^2.

What is Newton's Law of Universal Gravitation?

200

These are the three primary types of particles in an atom and their charges.

What are electrons (-), protons (+), and neutrons (0)?

200

This is a fundamental force that attracts all matter and energy.

What is gravity?

200

This is the first observational evidence for dark matter.

What are the (too fast) motions of stars and galaxies in the Coma cluster?

200

This long-wavelength radiation is thought to be the afterglow of the Big Bang.

What is the cosmic microwave background (CMB)?

300

This expression represents 103 x 103 in exponent form.

What is 106?

300

This is the distance between crests (or troughs) of a wave. Denoted by

lambda.

What is the wavelength of a wave?

300

This property of the Universe is responsible for stretching (lengthening) the wavelength of light as it travels through space.

What is the expansion of the Universe?

300

If we increase the distance between two planets by 2x, how does the gravitational force between them change?

Force is 1/4 original force.

300

These are subatomic particles that are not composed of other particles.

What are fundamental particles?

300

This fundamental force has the shortest effective range.

What is the strong nuclear force?

300

This comological-scale process points to the existence of dark energy.

What is accelerated cosmological expansion?

300

During this epoch, charged electrons and protons combine to form neutral hydrogen, becoming transparent for the first time.

BONUS +200: Explain why the universe was opaque before this period.

BONUS +200: Explain what this has to do with the cosmic microwave background (CMB).

What is recombination?

400

This expression represents 104/102 in exponent form.

 

What is 102?

400

This is the number of crests (or troughs) that pass through a fixed point during one unit of time. Denoted by

nu.

What is the frequency of a wave?

400

The light from this very distant object was emitted when the Universe was very young. (Describe this object in terms of high/low redshift)

BONUS +100: This is the redshift of the highest-redshift object ever measured.

What is a high redshift object?

BONUS: What is z=11.09, the measured redshift of the GN-z11 galaxy.

400

If we double the mass of one planet, but they stay the same distance apart, how does the force between them change?

Force is 2 times larger than the original force.

400

This experiment involved shooting alpha particles (positively charged Helium nuclei) at a piece of foil. The alpha particles scattered off the foil, which implied that the foil was composed of many very small, positively charged particles (nuclei: protons and neutrons).

What is Rutherford's gold foil experiment?

400

These fundamental forces have an infinite range.

What are gravity and the electromagnetic force?

400

When the universe was 9.8 billion years old, it transitioned from a ___-dominated era to a ___-dominated era.

1) What is a matter-dominated era?
2) What is a dark energy-dominated era?

400

This phrase refers to the transition from slowed expansion to accelerated expansion.

BONUS +200: Which substance dominated the slowed expansion period, and which substance dominates the acelerated expansion period?

What is "cosmic jerk?"

BONUS:
Slowed expansion: What is matter?
Accelerated expansion: What is dark energy?

500

x in the following expression in exponent form.

log10(x) = 4

What is 104?

500

This occurs when the crests of two waves are perfectly out of phase, resulting in their cancellation.

What is destructive interference?

500

Kepler found that while certain planets like Earth followed a roughly circular orbit, the orbits of other planets followed this different configuration.

BONUS +100: What are the two axes of this configuration?

What are elliptical orbits?

BONUS: What are semimajor and semiminor axes?

500

Protons and neutrons are composed of this fundamental particle.

BONUS +200: What flavor of this fundamental particle is a proton made of?

What are quarks?

BONUS: Two up quarks and one down quark

500

This fundamental force is the weakest.

What is gravity?

500

This observation provided evidence that dark matter is collisionless, meaning it does not interact with the weak nuclear force, the strong nuclear force, or the electromagnetic force.

What is the Bullet Cluster observation?

500

This process triggered the epoch of reionization.

What is the formation of the first populations of stars and galaxies?

600

The number that the following expression equals: log10(1000).

What is 3?

600

This is the relationship between the frequency of a light wave, the wavelength of a light wave, and the speed of light.

What is

nu times lambda = c?

600

This is the lowest velocity that a body must have in order to escape the gravitational attraction of a particular planet or other object.

What is escape velocity?

600

This process led to the formation of Hydrogen and Helium in the Universe.

What is Big Bang Nucleosynthesis?

600

This process can turn a neutron into a proton, electron, and anti-neutrino.

What is beta decay via the weak nuclear force?

600

This epoch describes the formation of quarks and anti-quarks, which followed the inflationary epoch and preceded baryogenesis.

What is reheating?

700

This phrase refers to a 10x difference between two things.

What is an order of magnitude?

700

This is the relationship between the energy of the photon and its frequency.

What is

E = h times nu ?

E: energy, h: Planck's constant

700

This object has an escape velocity greater than the speed of light.

What is a black hole?

700

This process generates elements heavier than Helium and lighter than Iron in the periodic table.

What is nuclear fusion (in the cores of stars)?

700

This fundamental particle mediates the electromagnetic force.

What is a photon?

700

This phrase describes the homogeneity (sameness) of the entire universe, including regions so far apart that they cannot possibly be causally connected.

What is the horizon problem?

800

This is the name for light emitted due to the thermal motion of its atoms.

BONUS +200: Use this phenomenon to explain why hot things are bluer and cool things are redder.

What is blackbody radiation?

800

This observation helped us prove that there is a black hole in the center of our galaxy.

BONUS +100: This is the name of the supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way.

What are the elliptical orbits of stars about the Galactic center?

BONUS: What is Sagittarius A*?

800

This astrophysical event synthesizes elements heavier than iron.

What is a neutron star merger? OR What is a supernova?

800

This is the most successful theory of physics, which proposes that the fundamental forces are mediated by particles, but nonetheless cannot explain gravity or dark matter.

What is the Standard Model?

800

This measure of disorder is the reason why time proceeds in only one direction.

BONUS +100: This phrase describes the end state of the universe as this measure of disorder increases.

What is entropy?

BONUS: What is the heat death of the universe? OR What is the Big Chill?

M
e
n
u