The final exam is on Thursday, June 10.
The list below is not intended to be a complete study guide,
but rather to assist you in recalling the different topics and concepts
that were covered. I don't recommend simply downloading the lectures and
studying straight off of them alone.
Review list for Physics 101 Final Exam - stuff covered since exam 2
There will be a question or two about the evidence for Life on Mars from the ALH84001 meteorite. See lab Part V for details, and review that section in Ch. 7.
Chapter 8 - starting with section 2
- Europa: Why do we think that it has a liquid water ocean?
- Describe what is known about the putative ocean on europa
- possibilty for life on europa: compare list of conditions necessary for life, compared to what we know about europa.
- the other galilean moons of Jupiter: what are they like? Do they have oceans?
- Titan: How does it meet the requirements for life? How is Titan analogous to the early earth?
Chapter 9
- how do we define the habitable zone?
- how is venus different/similar to earth?
- explain the runaway greenhouse effect and what it has meant for venus.
- what are the other factors important to planetary evolution?
- how does the sun's habitable zone change throughout time?
- how will the sun end its life?
Chapter 10
- what are the three main techniques used to search for planets around other stars?
- which of these techniques is the only one that has been successful in discovering exoplanets, so far?
- describe the properties of stars (relative to the Sun) that may harbor a planet that supports life. (think age, size, mass, luminosity, etc)
- what do we mean by direct vs indirect methods of searching for earthlike planets?
- doppler, astrometric, transit methods of detecting planets
- is the earth a "rare" kind of planet, or not?
Searching for Earthlike Planets - see lecture
- if an earthlike planet is ever detected, how will we know if it supports life?
- what are the major challenegs to observing earthlike planets with a telescope?
- why do we think that the infrared is a better part of the spectrum to observe earthlike planets, more so than the visible/optical part of the spectrum?
- Know some factoids about the Terrestrial Planet finder mission - how many stars can be investigated? where are these stars (anywhere, local, another galaxy????) what compounds are we investigating with TPF?
- what is earthshine and how is it useful in the search for habitable/inhabited planets?
- what factors into the composition of a planet's atmosphere, in particular, the earth's?
Chapter 11
- what is the whole premise behind the SETI search? What eactly are they searching for?
Chapter 12
- what is the main challnge to interstellar travel?
Chapter 13
- what si the fermi paradox?
Chapter 14
- does life seem likely to exist elsewhere inthe universe? Explain why you think why or why not, based on what you've learned in the course.