Physical Science from the sun are parallel, and the Earth is

curved.
Module 1: Ancient Astronomy
 Oblate spheroid: the shape of the Earth. It has
bulging equator and squeezed poles.
 Solstice: when the sun reaches its highest or lowest
point in the sky at noon, marked by the longest and
shortest days.
o Summer solstice and winter solstice
 Eclipse: an obscuring of the light from one celestial
body by the passage of another between it and the
observer or between it and its source of illumination.
o Solar Eclipse and Lunar Eclipse
 Heliocentrism: the astronomical model in which the
Earth and planets revolve around the Sun.
 Geocentrism: any theory of the structure of the solar
system, where the earth is the center.
Time Frame
500 B.C., most Greeks believed that the Earth was round, not
flat.
 It was Pythagoras and his pupils who were first to
propose a spherical Earth.
500 to 430 B.C., Anaxagoras further supported Pythagoras'
proposal through his observations
 The Earth’s shadow cast on the moon during lunar
eclipse, the shadow reflected were circular
□ He computed the circumference of the Earth to be
approximately 250 000 stadia (40 000 kilometers.)
List of Greek Philosophers that contributed:
a. Anaxagoras – Phases of Moon
b. Eudoxus – Fixed Spheres that carried the heavenly bodies’
c. Aristotle – The shadow cast on moon, geocentric, heavenly
bodies were concentric.
d. Aristarchus – Heliocentric,
□ The word helios means sun; centric means centered.
This heliocentric view considered the sun as the center
of the universe.
e. Eratosthenes – Size of the Earth, Syene (Aswan)
f. Hipparchus- Brightness of 850 stars and organized them;
Method of predicting lunar eclipses; Length of Year
g. Claudius Ptolemy – Ptolemic Model
□ At a certain point, the planet appears to stop then
moves in the opposite direction for some time; after
which it will resume its eastward motion. This
westward drift of the planets is called retrograde
motion.
□ To justify his earth-centered model using retrograde
motion, he further explained that the planets orbited on
small circles, called epicycles, revolving around large
circles called deferents.

340 B.C., Aristotle listed several arguments for a spherical

Earth

 The North Star was believed to be at a fixed position

in the sky. However, when the Greeks traveled to
places nearer the equator, like Egypt, they noticed that
the North Star is closer to the horizon.
 Aristotle argued that if the Moon and the Sun were
both spherical, then perhaps, the Earth was also
spherical.
 If the Earth was flat, then a ship traveling away from an
observer should become smaller and smaller until it
disappeared. However, the Greeks observed that the ship
became smaller and then its hull disappeared first before the
sail as if it was being enveloped by the water until it
completely disappeared.

The Size of the Spherical Earth

□ Eratosthenes gave the most accurate size during their
time.
o The Library of Alexandria in Northern
Egypt, he received correspondence from
Syene in Southern Egypt which stated that a
vertical object did not cast any shadow at
noontime during the summer solstice.
□ Eratosthenes then determined the angle the Sun made
with the vertical direction by measuring the shadow
that a vertical stick cast.
o He found out that in Alexandria, the Sun
makes an angle of 7.2° from the vertical
while 0° in Syene. To explain the difference,
he hypothesized that the light rays coming
Module 2: Examples of Astronomical Phenomena
Before the Advent of Telescopes
□ Astronomy is the science of the universe outside of
our planet.
□ This is the branch of physical science dealing with
heavenly bodies.
□ It has resulted in many practical inventions, ideas,
including calendars, navigational techniques, laws of
motion, engineering of products and an increased
understanding of energy and weather.
Some Astronomical Terms for Students
□ Moon: A natural object that orbits a larger object.
□ Eclipse: when one celestial body such as a moon or
planet moves into the shadow of another celestial
body.
□ Solar eclipse: a type of eclipse that occurs when the
Moon passes between the Sun and Earth, and the
Moon fully or partially blocks the light from the Sun.
□ Lunar Phase: one of the cyclically recurring apparent
forms of the moon
□ Gibbous: the figure of the moon that is more than half
full, looking swollen on one side
□ Crescent: the figure of the moon that appears as a
curve with pointy ends
□ Waxing: growing; describes the moon when the
illuminated portion is increasing
□ Waning: shrinking; describes the moon when the
illuminated portion is decreasing
□ Planet: In the solar system, a planet is a large round
object that orbits the Sun and has cleared out most of
the other objects in its orbit.
□ Solar System: The Sun and all of the planets, comets,
etc. that revolve around it.
Rising and Setting of the Sun
□ Babylonian and Egyptian Civilization
o Primitive Version of Sundial called Gnomon
 Systematically observes the motion
of the sun
□ The Earth tilt is approximately 23.4°.
Phases of the Moon
□ Also called as a satellite, it orbits around a planet
□ Luna is the fifth biggest moon
□ On average, the distance between the Earth and the
moon is 384,000 kilometres.
□ It takes 27 days, 7 hours, and 43 minutes for our Moon
to complete one full orbit around Earth.
□ New Moon. A new moon appears only when the
moon is on the side of the earth most directly in
line with the sun.
o There is no illumination on the earth’s
side, so it is also sometimes called the
dark moon.
□ First quarter. Half the side of the moon facing
the earth appears illuminated
□ Full Moon. The whole side of the moon is now
illuminated to viewers from the earth.
o It lights the way for late-working
harvesters and is called harvest moon.
o The full moon of the following month,
also an early riser, is known as the
hunter’s moon.
□ Third, or last quarter. Like the first quarter, it is
seen illuminated on half the side facing the earth.
o It is known as the waning crescent moon
or the old moon as it approaches the
phase of the new moon to complete the
cycle.
□ Earthshine is sunlight reflected to the moon from
the daylight region of the earth. This appearance
is popularly called “the old moon in the new
moon’s arms.” Between the full and the two
quarter phases, the moon appears as a lopsided
globe. It is then called the gibbous moon.
□ The moon is going through its waxing crescent
phase. At the first quarter, the angle between sun,
moon and earth is 90 degrees. During the next
week, more and more of the sunlit part is exposed
to us as the moon goes through its waxing
gibbous phase. We see a full moon when sun,
earth and moon are lined up with the earth in the
middle.
□ The cycle reverses during the following two
weeks as we see less and less of the sunlit side
while the moon continuously moves in its orbit.
This movement produces the waning gibbous.
Eclipses
□ Lunar Eclipse – The moon passes into the
earth’s shadow
□ Solar Eclipse – When the moon’s shadow falls
on earth
Diurnal Motion
□ The apparent daily revolution of the celestial
sphere around the celestial poles as a direct effect
of the Earth’s rotation on its axis.
 □ The circular path that the celestial bodies take to
complete the diurnal motion is called diurnal
circle.
Annual Motion
□ The apparent yearly movement of the stars as
observed from Earth as a direct effect of the
Earth’s revolution around the sun.
□ The sun revolves 360 degrees a year around a
path on the celestial sphere called the ecliptic.
The sun moves eastward with respect to the stars
on the celestial sphere.
Precession of the Equinoxes
□ Sun intersects the celestial equator a year at two
points.
□ The points are called equinoxes; Vernal and
Autumnal
□ Vernal or Spring Equinox: March 20
□ Autumnal Equinox: September 22
Planets Discovered Before the Invention of Telescope
Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn are the planets
discovered before the invention of the telescope.
□ Mercury
o 120°C(Dark side), 430°C (Daytime) – (-
170°C) (Nighttime)
o Fastest planet; 88 days
o 47 million km - 70 million km: elliptical
orbit
□ Venus
o Brighter than Mercury in the sky
o Often called the Evening Star
o Spins Backwards, Rotates Clockwise
o 243 days
□ Mars
o Reddish Planet, only one that could
possibly sustain life
o Two moons: Phobos, Deimos
□ Jupiter
o 1300 x of the size of the earth, 300 x of
the mass
o Hydrogen and Helium
o Has a diameter 11 x greater than earth
□ Saturn
o Has rings; two bright ones and a fainter
inner one
o It is twice as far from us as Jupiter
o 10 x of the earth’s diameter and 100 x
greater than the earth’s mass
o 23 moons, largest moon is titan: 1.6
larger than Luna
o Hydrogen and Helium
o 755 x volume of the earth
Module 3: Light: A Wave and a Particle
There are two theories about the nature of light:
□ The Wave Theory of Light
o Christiaan Huygens (Dutch), 1690
o Light is a longitudinal wave transmitted
through an aether.
o Aether is a mystical substance that exist
and fill the spaces in universe.
□ The Corpuscular Theory (The Particle Theory
of Light)
o Isaac Newton, 1675
o Light is composed of tiny particles called
corpuscles.
o Light travelled through a vacuum in
straight line, it cannot be considered as a
wave.
Property of Light
□ Reflection
o Occurs when light bounces back as it hits
a surface
o The ray of light that hits a reflecting
surface is called Incident Ray
o After hitting the surface, it bounces off as
Reflected Ray.
o The incident ray and the reflected ray
form angles with the normal line, which
is a line perpendicular to the reflecting
surface. These angles are called angle of
incidence and angle of reflection
o Law of Reflection
 This law states that the angle of
incidence, the angle of reflection,
and the normal line are found on
the same plane; and the angle of
incidence is equal to the angle of
reflection.
Types of Reflection
□ Regular Reflection / Specular Reflection
 o Occurs when light strikes a smooth
surface, light rays are reflected in one
direction
□ Irregular Reflection / Diffuse Reflection
o Occur when light strikes a rough surface,
light rays are reflected in random
direction
□ According to the wave theory, when light waves
struck a mirror, they are reflected according to
their angles, but the wave turned back to front □ Light is made of Photons
and produced a reversed image o Photons are discrete group of
□ In the particle theory, an emitted light, whether electromagnetic energy
near or far, is reflected as it arrives at the mirror □ Photoelectric Effect
surface. A huge number of particles travel side by o The photoelectric effect refers to the
side with each other and they bounce at different ejection of electrons from a surface of a
directions upon reaching the interphase, metal in response to light directed to the
producing a reversed image. metal.
o Albert
Einstein
Refraction proposed
□ Bending of light due to the change on its speed that light
when it passes through different media consisted of
□ The light ray that is entering a different medium individual
is called the incident ray while the bent ray is photons,
called the refracted ray. which interacted with the electrons in the
surface of the metal. For each frequency
or color of the incident light, each photon
carried energy.

□ Refractive index or Index of Refraction

o Describes how light propagates through a
medium
o Higher refractive index = Light moves
slower, Change direction
o Less refractive index = Light travels
faster, change direction less
o Wave theory – light wave would pass
through, though slower
o Particle theory – Attractive forces

Speed of Light
□ Galileo Galilei (1638)
o Basic Principle or Relativity
 Same laws of motions are applied
to any system that is moving at a
constant speed
□ Ole Roemer (1678)
o First to measure speed of light
o Observing Io, moon of Jupiter
o 1.769 days (20 minutes)

Photon Concept Of Light