Quarter 2

Physics
- The Universe
- Motion
- Optics
- Electricity and
Magnetism
Lecture 1

The Universe
1. Motions in the Sky
2. Models of the Universe
3. The Birth of the
Modern Astronomy
The photo shows the Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles,
California.
 What is an observatory?
 A building specifically
designed to observe
terrestrial or celestial
events.
 In an observatory, you
can have a virtual tour
of the heavens using
gadgets and
technologies developed Manila Observatory, Atene De Manila
University
through physics.
 1. Motions in the Sky
 Earth is always in motion. It spins and gyrates
about its axis as it revolves around the sun. These
motions of Earth account for many celestial
phenomena that we perceive as natural
occurrences.
 The Celestial Sphere
 The Ancient Greeks considered Earth to be enclosed
in a hollow sphere called celestial sphere where the
stars, the sun and the heavenly bodies were embedded.
 They thought that the motion of the heavens was
caused by the rotation of the celestial sphere about
a fixed Earth.
 The points where Earth’s rotational axis cut this sphere
are called the North Celestial Pole (NCP) and South
Celestial Pole (SCP). The celestial equator is the
projection of Earth’s equator in the celestial sphere.
The Celestial Sphere
 The Celestial Sphere
 The path that the sun appears to take around
the celestial sphere is called the ecliptic. It is
inclined 23.5° with respect to the celestial
equator.
 Summer solstice – point on the ecliptic
where the sun is at the northernmost point
above the celestial equator or at its highest in
the sky.
- also called June solstice (happens on or near
June 21)
 The Celestial Sphere
 Winter solstice – occurs when the sun is at
its southernmost point or at its lowest.
- also called December solstice
(happens on or near December 21)
- night is longest and day is shortest
 Equinoxes – two points where the ecliptic
intersects the celestial equator.
- Earth’s rotational axis is
perpendicular to the line joining Earth and the
 The Celestial Sphere
 Winter solstice – occurs when the sun is at
its southernmost point or at its lowest.
- also called December solstice
(happens on or near December 21)
- night is longest and day is shortest
 Equinoxes – two points where the ecliptic
intersects the celestial equator.
- Earth’s rotational axis is
perpendicular to the line joining Earth and the
 The Celestial Sphere
 Equinoxes – on those days, days and nights
are of equal duration.
 Autumnal equinox happens on or near
September 22
 Vernal or spring equinox happens on or
near March 21.
 The Celestial Sphere
 The ecliptic goes through a set of
groups of stars called constellations.
This sequence of constellations is
called the zodiac.
 Different sets of constellations are
visible in Earth’s night sky at different
times of the year.
The twelve principal constellations of the zodiac.
 Precession of the Equinoxes

 Precession – a change in the

orientation of the rotational axis of a
rotating body.
 Earth requires 26 000 years to
complete one cycle of precession. (A
complete cycle traces a cone.)
 Precession of the Equinoxes

 Earth’s precession was historically

called precession of the equinoxes
because the position of the equinoxes
was slowly and gradually changing
with respect to some background
stars.
 Hipparchus of Nicaea – noted that
there was a two-degree shift in the
 Precession of the Equinoxes

 Later on, Earth’s precession due to

the gravitational pull of the moon and
the sun was called lunisolar
precession.
 Diurnal Motion and Annual
 Diurnal MotionMotion
– apparent daily
motion of stars and other celestial
bodies across the sky caused by
Earth’s rotation about its axis.
 Responsible for the daily rising and
setting of the sun and the stars.
 It takes 24 hours for Earth to rotate
about its axis from west to east.
 Diurnal Motion and Annual
 Annual Motion – Motion
apparent motion of
the sun caused by Earth’s revolution
around it.
 Accounts for the visibility of a zodiacal
constellation at a specific time of the
year.
 Along with the tilt of Earth’s axis, it is
also responsible for our seasons.
 Diurnal Motion and Annual
 Diurnal motion Motion
causes humans to
change from waking
state to sleeping
state and back
again every 24
hours.
 Diurnal Motion and Annual
 Annual motion prompts
Motionmillions of
flora to spring from the ground,
bloom, bear fruit, and decay, and
different animal species to hibernate,
spawn, and migrate en masse.
Activity 1

SPINNING EARTH
Bring the following materials next
meeting:
1.Four toy tops of different masses
2. A spring scale or electronic balance
3. Timer
2. MODELS OF THE
UNIVERSE
 Throughout history we have looked
at the stars and wondered about the
universe
 Our ancestors relied on the skies as their
principal means of telling the time, of
navigation, and of knowing when to start
planting crops.
 3,000 years ago – Egyptians establish a
calendar of 365 days based on the track of the
star Sirius.
- this track coincided with the annual
flooding of the Nile River.
- same with Babylonians and Assyrians
which aid them when to sow and reap crops.
Astronomy also influenced the architecture
of our ancestors.

 The pyramids of Giza in

Egypt were constructed to
align perfectly with the
belt stars of the
constellation Orion.
Astronomy also influenced the architecture
of our ancestors.
 The Stonehenge in England
was thought to have been
an observatory used to
predict the motion of
eclipses of the sun and
moon.
 The windows at the top and
sides of the pyramid at the
Mayan site in Palenque, Mexico
were arranged such that the
rooms they lead to are
illuminated by the rising sun.
 Early Universe
 600 BC–Thales of Miletus proposed that Earth
is a disk floating on water.
 520 BC–Anaximander of Miletus proposed that
Earth is a cylinder and that its surface is
curved.

 As civilization flourished, several models were

proposed. These models can be grouped into two
categories: geocentric and heliocentric.
 Geocentric Models
 Considers Earth as the center of the universe.
 Earth and other heavenly bodies were assumed
to be spheres.
 The following were some geocentric models of
the universe proposed by the Greeks:
- Pythagorean Model - Aristotle’s
Model
- Plato’s Model -
Ptolemy’s Model
 Pythagorean Model
 Pythagoras – first to assert that Earth
is round and that heavenly bodies
move in circles.
 Earth is at rest at the center of the
Universe and everything rotates
around Earth.
Anaxagoras – follower of Pythagoras,
credited for determining the relative positions of
the sun, the moon, and Earth, during solar and
lunar eclipses.
 Plato’s Model
 Plato – view of the motion of
heavenly bodies as combinations
of circular motion about Earth.
 He assumed that all motions in
the universe are perfectly circular
and that all heavenly bodies are
ethereal or perfect.
 Plato’s Model
 Retrograde motion – most of the time, planets
moved from west to east, but occasionally,
they backtrack for a while, they move
westward before resuming their eastward
motion. The retrograde motion
of Mars happens every
two years. It does not
happen in one night.
One can trace the
erratic motion of Mars
by taking its position
for several nights.
 Eudoxus’ Model
 First to use a series of 27 concentric spheres
on which the sun, the moon, and the planets
moved in perfect circular motion.
- 27 spheres: 1 for fixed stars, 3 for the
sun, 3 for the moon and 4 spheres for each of
five known planets at that time(Jupiter, Saturn,
Mars, Venus, Mercury)
- he did not assign any sphere for Earth,
because in his model, Earth is fixed.
The four spheres of a
planet around Earth
according to Eudoxus.
 Eudoxus’ Model
 The outermost sphere was aligned with the
celestial poles rotating once a day to give the
effect of rising and setting.
 The next sphere was tilted 23.5° and rotating
slowly to simulate the usual west-to-east
movement of the planet about the fixed stars..
 The last two spheres produce the backward
motions of the planets.
 Aristotle’s Model
 Believed the Earth is
motionless at the
center of the universe
and all the stars and
planets revolved
around it.
 Stars and planets
moved in circular
paths.
 Aristotle’s Model
 Used 27 buffering spheres between the
celestial spheres of Eudoxus and an
outermost sphere that was the domain of
the Prime Mover.
 The Prime Mover rotated this outermost
sphere with constant angular speed,
causing the other spheres to rotate as
well.
 Aristotle divided the universe into
two – terrestrial and celestial
realm. realm – below the moon’s
 Terrestrial
orbit.
- composed of four primordial
elements: earth, water, air and fire.
- objects move naturally according
to their material composition.
 Celestial realm – above the moon’s orbit
- consists of the fifth element, ether.
 Ptolemy’s Model
 Introduced the idea of an epicycle to
explain planetary motion.
 Epicycle – a circle on which a planet
moves. The center of this small circle in
turn moves around Earth along a bigger
circular path called deferent.
 Equant – point on the other side of the
center of the deferent. It is equidistant
from the center of the deferent.
Ptolemy’s epicycle
model
 Heliocentric Model
 Assumes the sun to be
the center of the universe.
 Aristarchus – proposed the
first heliocentric model of
the universe. He placed
the other known planets at
that time based on their
distances from the sun.
 Copernican Model
 Copernican Model
 Nicholas Copernicus –
asserted that Earth spins on
its axis every day and revolves
around the sun just like other
planets. Only the moon orbits
Earth.
 He maintained the concept of
uniform circular motion and
the epicycles of Ptolemy.
A comparison between geocentric
model and heliocentric model.
3. The Birth of Modern
Astronomy
 Tycho Brahe – good collector of
astronomical data.
 Johannes Kepler –
mathematician and pure theorist.
 Galileo Galilei –
expermimentalist.
*Their contributions
helped dethrone
Earth from the center of the
universe.
 Tycho Brahe’s Universe
 Proposed that the sun orbited Earth
while the other planets orbited the
sun.
 Galileo’s Astronomical Observations
Proves Copernicus’ Hypothesis
 Galileo Galilei (1564-1642) was a pivotal
figure in the development of modern
astronomy. He proved the Copernican
hypothesis.
 He also invented the telescope.
 What Galileo saw with his
telescope?
1. The moon has mountains, valleys and
craters.
- suggested that the moon is not so
different from Earth.
2. Sunspots (blemishes on the surface of
the sun)
- contradicted the Greek concept of
the sun being a perfect celestial body.
 What Galileo saw with his
telescope?
3. Jupiter has four moons revolving around
it.
- showed that not all heavenly
bodies have to revolve around Earth.
4. Venus has phases similar to the moon.
- showed that Venus is just
illuminated by the light from the sun and
that it is revolving around the sun.
 What Galileo saw with his
telescope?
5. Many stars too faint to be seen by the
naked eye became visible with his
telescope.
- provided evidence that the stars
are extremely far away
Kepler’s Laws of Planetary Motion
 Assistant of Tycho Brahe
 Formulated his three laws of
planetary motion
- Law of ellipses
- Law of equal areas
- Law of harmonies
Kepler’s Laws of Planetary Motion
 Law of Ellipses
It states that the planets move in ellipses
having a common focus situated at the sun.
The other focus is empty.
Kepler’s Laws of Planetary Motion

Perihelion –
closest point to the
sun in a planet’s
orbit.
Aphelion –
farthest point.
 Kepler’s Laws of Planetary Motion
 Law of Equal Areas
The planet moves
around the sun in such a
way that a line drawn from
the sun to the planet
sweeps out equal areas in
equal intervals of time.
* The planet moves
fastest at perihelion and slowest at
Kepler’s Laws of Planetary Motion
 Law of Harmonies
It states that the squares of the
periods of the planets are proportional to
the cubes of their mean distances from
the sun.
Period – the time to make one complete
revolution around the sun. In symbols,
T1 d1
Kepler’s Laws of Planetary Motion
 Law of Harmonies
Planetary distances from the sun are
normally expressed in astronomical units,
AU.
1 AU = 149, 597, 871 km
The period of other planets is usually
compared to the period of Earth which is a
year. A year is equal to 365 ¼ days.
 The Solar System Today
 made up of eight planets.
 the sun is the center of the solar system and
the planets revolve around the sun while spinning
about their individual axes.
 Made up of zones
 The innermost zones are occupied by the
terrestrial planets: Mercury, Venus, Earth and
Mars.
- these planets are rocky, metallic and
comparatively small.
 The Solar System Today
 The next zone is the asteroid belt where
leftover rocks from the formation of the solar
system can be found.
 Beyond the asteroid belt is the realm of the
giant planets: Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and
Neptune.
 These giant planets are mostly gases.