Cuesta College, San Luis Obispo, CA
Students have a weekly online reading assignment (hosted by SurveyMonkey.com), where they answer questions based on reading their textbook, material covered in previous lectures, opinion questions, and/or asking (anonymous) questions or making (anonymous) comments. Full credit is given for completing the online reading assignment before next week's lecture, regardless if whether their answers are correct/incorrect. Selected results/questions/comments are addressed by the instructor at the start of the following lecture.
The following questions were asked on reading textbook chapters and previewing presentations on problems caused by the atmosphere for telescope observing, quantum leaps, and the sun's outer layers.
Selected/edited responses are given below.
Describe something you found interesting from the assigned textbook reading or presentation preview, and explain why this was personally interesting for you.
"Twinkling is from atmospheric turbulence. "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" has a whole new meaning. Seriously, though, I never thought that an exterior force in our atmosphere caused them to twinkle--I thought they just did on their own."
"That we really do live at the bottom of an ocean of air. That put a lot into perspective for me."
We cannot observe from Earth all of the wavelengths in the electromagnetic spectrum and so we must send out telescopes to fly out into the atmosphere. I found this interesting because I think its amazing we can observe whats being seen from these far away telescopes all the way from Earth, and we can see so far and so much with them."
"Atmospheric turbulence, because I was able to easily see what it is by imagining myself underwater looking up."
"That the jumping of 'levels' by electrons causes the emission of light."
"Light pollution--I had no clue that man-made lights and waste light from cities affected the way we see objects in the sky."
"'Neon' signs use different gasses other than hydrogen to create different colors. It is interesting because everywhere you go you see these signs hanging from windows in stores and restaurants."
Describe something you found confusing from the assigned textbook reading or presentation preview, and explain why this was personally confusing for you.
"I found it confusing to grasp the concept that both man-made light and/or natural light sources will be reflected by particles in the atmosphere, and wash out faint stars. It's confusing to me that both types, man-made light and natural light would have the same effect."
"Being clear on what light exactly can be collected from Earth."
"The jumping of levels by electrons. I never quite understood it in high school. In addition, I'm not sure I understand the position of the corona and chromosphere on the sun's surface."
"Why do we need to know chemistry for our class? I'm a bit scared."
"The chromosphere, corona, and photosphere were all a little bit confusing and are a little more complex than they sound."
Stars to appear to "twinkle" in the night sky because of:
"Stars appear to twinkle because when we see them from Earth's surface, we are actually viewing them through thick layers of turbulence in Earth's atmosphere."
"All the dust and light in the sky."
A large modern optical telescope in outer space would have images with better __________ than a comparable ground-based telescope.
brightness. *********** [11] resolution. ************* [13] magnification. [0] (None of the above choices.) [0] (Two of the above choices.) ********** [10] (All of the above choices.) ********** [10] (Unsure/guessing/lost/help!) [0]
An electron in an atom must emit a photon when it jumps from a __________ energy orbital to a __________ energy orbital.
lower; higher. ********* [9] higher; lower. ********************************** [34] (Both of the above choices.) [0] (Unsure/guessing/lost/help!) * [1]
An electron in an atom must absorb a photon when it jumps from a __________ energy orbital to a __________ energy orbital.
lower; higher. ********************************** [34] higher; lower. ********* [9] (Both of the above choices.) [0] (Unsure/guessing/lost/help!) * [1]
The exterior of the sun, from inner to outermost layers, are the:
(Only correct responses shown.)
inner: photosphere [68%]
middle: chromosphere [77%]
outer: corona [64%]
State your preference regarding miso soup.
Strongly dislike. [0] Dislike. * [1] Neutral. ********* [10] Like *********** [11] Strongly like. **************** [16] (I don't know what miso soup is.) ****** [6]
Ask the instructor an anonymous question, or make a comment. Selected questions/comments may be discussed in class.
"I found it difficult to relate the astronomers to their individual models and theories, it wasn't necessarily confusing, it just took time and the flashcard questions to help."
"The quizzes you have posted from the past semester and the flashcard question packets were helpful study guides for quizzes!"
"Should we start preparing for the midterm?" (Survive the quiz first. But by studying for the quiz, in a way you are studying for the midterm.)
"Did you see that full moon the other night? Did that have anything to do with the huge waves at Morro Bay?" (Yes (that was the closest full moon to the fall equinox, making it the Harvest Moon), and yes (as full and new moons are associated with maximum tides).)
"When will we get the opportunity to go to an observatory?" (We just did last class, to measure the parameters of the telescope. Weather permitting, we'll do it again in a future class, and look at the sun through the telescope.)
"Please help with understanding the different types of radio waves. Also, how do they separate the different waves when they are unable to be seen?" (They're separated by frequency on a radio receiver--corresponding to the numbers on your dial (or digital display).)
"I think that I'm going to have to get some miso soup for lunch thanks to this homework assignment." (Mission accomplished.)
"What is a granule?" (Here, have some miso soup.)
"I'm surprised that orange-red is the only color produced by neon yet, a lot of neon signs are multi-colored." (Those other colored signs don't contain neon, but other types of atoms that give off other types of photons.)
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