Official NUC CCMAS syllabus

PHY 513 — Physics of the Solar Systems

PHY department course · Nigerian universities

What you'll be able to do (official learning outcomes)

• provide a qualitative description of the solar system from origin to present state
• apply dynamical principles to understand phenomena such as tides and orbits in the solar system
• carry out a simple orbit calculation, based on energy and angular momentum conservation on the basis of Kepler's laws and the Virial theorem
• describe the nature of the sun by considering it as a black body and body in hydrostatic equilibrium
• explain the basic principles behind the energy generation in the sun
• describe the nature of planetary atmospheres and explain the origin of the Earth's greenhouse effect

Course contents

Overview of the solar system (general description and inventory). Coordinates and time keeping. Gravity. (Kepler's laws and Newton's law of gravity). Properties of orbits. The virial theorem. Tidal forces and tidal friction. Evolution of the moon and the Sun. Freefall time scale and Kelvin Helmholtz time scale. Hydrostatic equilibrium.

Source: the Nigerian Universities Commission (NUC) Core Curriculum and Minimum Academic Standards (CCMAS). StudyOps loads this syllabus automatically when you study PHY 513.

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