Author Question: As a rotating gas cloud contracts, it spins: A) faster due to an increase in angular momentum. ... (Read 41 times)

arivle123 · **on:** Jul 27, 2018

As a rotating gas cloud contracts, it spins:

A) faster due to an increase in angular momentum.
B) slower due to a decrease in angular momentum.
C) at a constant rate.
D) faster due to conservation of angular momentum.
E) slower due to conservation of angular momentum.

Question 2

Imagine you are plunging into the Sun, starting from Earth. Briefly describe what you will see as you descend.

What will be an ideal response?

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

Answer to Question 1

D

Answer to Question 2

First you will feel the light pressure of particles from the solar wind. As you approach the Sun, you will enter the corona, an extremely hot layer of gas, but so low in density that you won't really feel how hot it is. The next layer you encounter will be the chromosphere, a very hot layer of gas just above the visible surface of the Sun. As you plunge through the surface of the Sun, the photosphere, the temperature will be a slightly cooler 5,800 K, compared to the outer layers, and you will see the slightly cooler regions of sunspots and the granulation on the surface caused by the convection underneath. You will then enter this convective layer, feeling regions of hot plasma rising upward to meet you and seeing cooler gas descending from the surface. After passing through this layer, you will reach the radiation zone, where photons are engaged in a random dance as they are continuously absorbed and re-emitted by the hot gas there. You will then reach the source of these photons, the core of the Sun, which is actively involved in nuclear fusion, converting hydrogen into helium and releasing multitudes of photons and neutrinos.