Category: Physics
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How do we discover Exoplanets?
Depiction of Astrometry For this blog I wanted to look into exoplanets and more specifically how we discover them. I found that there are 4 main methods to discover exoplanets. The first is the radial velocity method. This is how many of the first exoplanets were discovered. This method observes the doppler shift in the…
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Understanding Auroras: The Physics of Earth’s Magnetic Light Shows
The Northern Lights The northern lights, or aurora borealis, is a display of natural light that occurs in the Earth’s sky. What you might not know is that there is another light show on Earth called aurora australis, which occurs in the southern hemisphere. So, what causes these natural and captivating lights? Solar winds are…
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The Role of Radioactive Decay in Earth’s Internal Heat
Image: Cross Section of Earth As we have learned, the cause of seasons is the directness of sunlight a particular region of the Earth receives. What you may not know is that the sun is not the only source that heats up the Earth. The Earth actually internally generates its own heat through radioactive decay.…
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How Gravity on the Space Station Actually Works
Chris Hadfield Juggling Tomatoes on the ISS (2013) As we have all observed, astronauts on the space station experience what appears to be zero gravity. You might think this is because the space station is far from Earth, and the force of gravity diminishes with the square of the distance, according to Newton’s Law of…