USAAAO 2021, I кръг — Задача 17
USAAAO 2021 - First Round · 30 януари 2021 г.
PHYSICAL AND ASTRONOMICAL CONSTANTS
| c | Speed of light in vacuum | |
| e | Elementary charge | |
| m | Neutron rest mass | |
| m | Proton rest mass | |
| m | Electron rest mass | |
| m | Helium-4 rest mass | |
| h | Planck’s constant | |
| H | Hubble’s constant | 70 (km/s)/Mpc |
| k | Boltzmann’s constant | |
| b | Wien’s constant | |
| G | Gravitational constant | |
| Stefan-Boltzmann constant | ||
| c | First Radiation Constant | |
| c | Second Radiation Constant | |
| N | Avogadro constant | |
| R | Gas constant | |
| a | Bohr radius | |
| Bohr magneton | ||
| M | Solar mass | |
| R | Solar radius | |
| L | Solar luminosity | |
| T | Solar temperature | 5770 K |
| M | Earth mass | |
| R | Mean Earth radius | |
| I | Earth moment of Inertia | |
| R☾ | Mean Moon radius | |
| M♃ | Mean Jupiter mass | |
| R♃ | Mean Jupiter radius | |
| a♃ | Mean orbital radius of Jupiter | 5.2 AU |
| a☾ | Mean semimajor axis Moon orbit | |
| 1 light year | ||
| 1 AU | Astronomical Unit | |
| 1 pc | Parsec | |
| 1 year | ||
| 1 sidereal day | 86164 s | |
| 1 erg | ||
| 1 bar |
ENERGY CONVERSION : 1 joule (J) = electronvolts (eV)
Условие
Consider the following horrifying scenario. The Sun has become a Red Giant, and its radius is doubling every 100 years. Rank the following of humanity’s concerns in order of immediate importance.
I: Orbital decay due to direct contact between the Earth and Sun
II: As the distance between the Earth and Sun shrinks, the Earth will enter the Sun’s Roche limit and start to be ripped apart
III: Orbital decay due to tidal effects on the Sun’s outer atmosphere, the same way the Moon loses energy when forming the Earth’s tides
IV: Runaway greenhouse effect due to extreme temperatures, leading to the Earth becoming a hot, Venus-like planet with no habitability
(a) III, IV, II, I
(b) IV, III, II, I
(c) IV, II, III, I
(d) IV, III, I, II
Отговори
D
The official solutions print “Answer: D or C”: D is the correct answer, and C was also accepted because of an inaccuracy in statement III.
Решение
This was a bit of a trick question focused on the Roche limit. Because the Roche limit has to do with the strength of the gravitational force exerted by the larger body, and because the Sun’s mass will remain the same when it expands to become a red giant, the Roche limit does not change. Thus, the Earth will never be ripped apart due to tidal forces, and that makes (II) the least important choice.
Otherwise, the ordering of the other dangers is pretty straightforward: the Earth’s temperature would immediately start to rise and the atmosphere would be ruined, followed by orbital decay from afar (tidal effects) which must logically come before direct contact of the Sun and Earth.
Therefore the answer is temperature early orbital decay direct contact Roche limit (which is essentially irrelevant).
CORRECTION: We realize now that the statement “the same way the Moon loses energy when forming the Earth’s tides” is not accurate, and the Earth actually is the one losing energy in this interaction, because of its rotation rate outpacing the Moon’s orbital speed. This may have confused some about humanity’s priority of answer III. Some may try to put it closer to the bottom of the list because with the Earth and Sun, the Sun’s slower rotation speed would mean the Earth does lose energy, counter to the example given in the answer.
Since C is the only answer which puts III at a lower priority than the correct answer D, we will also accept C as an answer. (It is definitely not the correct answer, but if a student were to be confused by our mistake we don’t expect them to find an optimal-yet-wrong solution).
Answer: D or C
Оригинал в Архива: usaaao2021_exam1.pdf · официални решения: usaaao2021_exam1_solutions.pdf