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Date November 2021 Marks available 1 Reference code 21N.2.SL.TZ0.6
Level Standard level Paper Paper 2 Time zone 0 - no time zone
Command term Show that Question number 6 Adapted from N/A

Question

Titan is a moon of Saturn. The Titan-Sun distance is 9.3 times greater than the Earth-Sun distance.

Show that the intensity of the solar radiation at the location of Titan is 16 W m−2

[1]
a.i.

Titan has an atmosphere of nitrogen. The albedo of the atmosphere is 0.22. The surface of Titan may be assumed to be a black body. Explain why the average intensity of solar radiation absorbed by the whole surface of Titan is 3.1 W m−2

[3]
a.ii.

Show that the equilibrium surface temperature of Titan is about 90 K.

[1]
a.iii.

The orbital radius of Titan around Saturn is R and the period of revolution is T.

Show that T2=4π2R3GM where M is the mass of Saturn.

[2]
b.i.

The orbital radius of Titan around Saturn is 1.2 × 109 m and the orbital period is 15.9 days. Estimate the mass of Saturn.

[2]
b.ii.

Markscheme

incident intensity 13609.32 OR 15.716 «W m−2» ✓

 

Allow the use of 1400 for the solar constant.

a.i.

exposed surface is ¼ of the total surface ✓

absorbed intensity = (1−0.22) × incident intensity ✓

0.78 × 0.25 × 15.7  OR  3.07 «W m−2» ✓

 

Allow 3.06 from rounding and 3.12 if they use 16 W m−2.

a.ii.

σT 4 = 3.07

OR

T = 86 «K» ✓

a.iii.

correct equating of gravitational force / acceleration to centripetal force / acceleration ✓

correct rearrangement to reach the expression given ✓

 

Allow use of GMR=2πRT for MP1.

b.i.

T=15.9×24×3600 «s» ✓

M=4π21.2×10936.67×10-11×15.9×24×36002=5.4×1026«kg» ✓

 

Award [2] marks for a bald correct answer.

Allow ECF from MP1.

b.ii.

Examiners report

[N/A]
a.i.
[N/A]
a.ii.
[N/A]
a.iii.
[N/A]
b.i.
[N/A]
b.ii.

Syllabus sections

Core » Topic 4: Waves » 4.3 – Wave characteristics
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