AQA Astrophysics Exam Discussion PHYA5 Physics Unit 5 Part B

Thought it would be a good idea to have an individual thread for discussion instead of confusion in the main thread due to different optional topics being discussed!

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Reply 1

cowie

Tagged some people I know are doing Astro (y)

Spoiler

Reply 2

Ainsleyy

Spoiler

Few more

Reply 3

Ainsleyy

Im just about done going through the entire spec and making sure I know (hopefully) everything. Does anyone know if we need to know the scale on a black body graph?

Reply 4

1017bsquad

Original post by Ainsleyy

Spoiler

Few more

i'm screwed lol :frown:

Reply 5

Ainsleyy

Original post by 1017bsquad

i'm screwed lol :frown:

haha dont worry man its a hard exam grade boundaries can be as low as 43 for an A!

I also looked through all the past papers and on average 22/40 (can be as high as 29/40) of the nuclear physics paper is calculations or graphs and on average about 20/35 of the astro is calculations and graphs (can be as high as 27/35) so as long as you understand most calculations and graphs you can already have quite a high grade.

Reply 6

TajwarC

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLM7lGCvspoEyTW4CsvwQd2uPSKw58sDJ2

Playlist covering all topics

Reply 7

marioman

I'm doing it. Hopefully not an extremely wordy paper!

Reply 8

cowie

How would you go about explaining how the 3:1 ratio of abundance of Hydrogen to Helium is evidence of the Big Bang Theory?

Reply 9

nautella

Original post by cowie

How would you go about explaining how the 3:1 ratio of abundance of Hydrogen to Helium is evidence of the Big Bang Theory?

just say that it supports the idea that there was a small amount of fusion at the start of the universe which is also consistent with the big bang theory

Reply 10

cowie

Also why is it difficult to determine the age of the universe?

Reply 11

TajwarC

Original post by cowie

How would you go about explaining how the 3:1 ratio of abundance of Hydrogen to Helium is evidence of the Big Bang Theory?

High temperatures required for fusion - part of the big bang theory states that the universe started very hot - essentially the right conditions for fusion to happen thus explaining the abundance of Helium and Hydrogen

Reply 12

cowie

It does feel as though the information needed to know in Astro is not too difficult to comprehend but there just seems to be so much of it..

Reply 13

boyyo

umm guys, for the intensity pattern of diffraction through a circular appeture, is the with of each 'bump' the sane? Like in the single slit diffraction pattern

Reply 14

TajwarC

Original post by boyyo

umm guys, for the intensity pattern of diffraction through a circular appeture, is the with of each 'bump' the sane? Like in the single slit diffraction pattern

No idea... If you're on about resolving power, all I know is that the diffraction patterns from two objects can be resolved if the central maximum of one coincides with the first minimum of the other

Reply 15

cowie

Original post by boyyo

umm guys, for the intensity pattern of diffraction through a circular appeture, is the with of each 'bump' the sane? Like in the single slit diffraction pattern

Central maxima is twice the width of minima

Reply 16

boyyo

Original post by TajwarC

No idea... If you're on about resolving power, all I know is that the diffraction patterns from two objects can be resolved if the central maximum of one coincides with the first minimum of the other