Author Question: Measured ages of globular clusters suggests that the Universe is about a. 1.4 billion years old. ... (Read 40 times)

CharlieWard · **on:** Jul 27, 2018

Measured ages of globular clusters suggests that the Universe is about

a. 1.4 billion years old.
b. 14 billion years old.
c. 140 billion years old.

Question 2

What properties of degenerate matter are important to the structure of stars? Why?

What will be an ideal response?

stillxalice · **Reply #1 on:** Jul 27, 2018

Answer to Question 1

b

Answer to Question 2

Degenerate matter is when a gas is so dense that the electrons are not free to change their energy. Degenerate gas resists compression. To compress the gas requires pushing against the moving electrons, and changing their motions means changing their energy. That requires tremendous effort because you must boost them to the top of the energy ladder, which is why degenerate matter is harder to compress than the toughest hardened steel. The pressure of a degenerate gas does not depend on temperature. Pressure depends on the speed of the electrons, which can't be changed without tremendous effort. The temperature, however, depends on the motion of all the particles in the gas, both electrons and nuclei, so if you add heat to the gas, most of that energy goes into speeding up the motions of the nuclei, which move slowly and don't contribute much to the pressure. So changing the temperature of the gas has almost no effect on pressure.