On rare occasions, Mercury and Venus can transit the Sun, crossing directly between us and our Sun

If you were watching the event closely, such as on June 5, 2012, you might note a "tear-drop" effect as Venus came on and left the solar disk, very different from the disk of Mercury. Explain.


Mercury is airless, but the dense Venusian atmosphere can refract sunlight, creating the bending of light noted in the "tear-drop."

Physics & Space Science

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Magnetism had been a known phenomenon for some time before its relation to electric currents was found. That a current in a wire produces a magnetic field was discovered by:

a. Maxwell. b. Ampere. c. Oersted. d. Tesla.

Physics & Space Science

A 10-kilogram block is pushed across a horizontal surface with a horizontal force of 20 N against a friction force of 10 N. The acceleration of the block is

A) 1 m/s2. B) 2 m/s2. C) 5 m/s2. D) 10 m/s2. E) none of the above

Physics & Space Science

You want to design an ideal Carnot heat engine that wastes only 35.0% of the heat that goes into it. The lowest cold-reservoir temperature available to you is +15.0°C. If 150.0 J of work is done per cycle, the heat input per cycle is closest to

A) 203 J B) 231 J C) 248 J D) 429 J E) 760 J

Physics & Space Science

Synthetic compounds that can be molded and hardened are called ______________

Fill in the blank(s) with correct word

Physics & Space Science