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Date May 2016 Marks available 4 Reference code 16M.3.SL.TZ0.14
Level Standard level Paper Paper 3 Time zone Time zone 0
Command term Calculate and Outline Question number 14 Adapted from N/A

Question

Light reaching Earth from quasar 3C273 has z=0.16.

(i) Outline what is meant by z.

(ii) Calculate the ratio of the size of the universe when the light was emitted by the quasar to the present size of the universe.

(iii) Calculate the distance of 3C273 from Earth using Ho=68kms−1Mpc−1.

[4]
a.

Explain how cosmic microwave background (CMB) radiation provides support for the Hot Big Bang model.

[2]
b.

Markscheme

(i)\(z = \frac{{\Delta \lambda }}{{{\lambda _o}}}\) where Δλ is the redshift of a wavelength and λ0 is the wavelength measured at rest on Earth OR it is a measure of cosmological redshift

Do not allow just “redshift”.

(ii) \( \ll z = \frac{R}{{{R_o}}} - 1,\frac{R}{{{R_o}}} = \frac{1}{{z + 1}} \gg {\rm{so }}\frac{R}{{{R_o}}} =  \ll \frac{1}{{1.16}} \gg  = 0.86\)
Do not accept answer 1.16.

(iii) v=zc=0.16×3×108=4.8×104kms-1
\(d = \frac{v}{{{H_o}}} = \frac{{4.8 \times {{10}^4}}}{{68}} = 706{\rm{Mpc}}\) OR 2.2×1025m

a.

as the universe expanded it cooled/wavelength increased

the temperature dropped to the present approximate 3K OR wavelength stretched to the present approximate 1mm

Value is required for MP2.

b.

Examiners report

[N/A]
a.
[N/A]
b.

Syllabus sections

Option D: Astrophysics » Option D: Astrophysics (Core topics) » D.3 – Cosmology
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