Life in the Universe (4th Edition)
4th Edition
ISBN: 9780134089089
Author: Jeffrey O. Bennett, Seth Shostak
Publisher: PEARSON
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Chapter 12, Problem 4RQ
To determine
The physiological and sociological factors that affect intelligence of species to develop interstellar technology.
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The Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) makes use of a huge, multi-billion-dollar network of radio telescopes around the world, all built solely for the purpose of contacting alien civilizations.
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Suppose there are l0,000 civilizations broadcasting radio signals in the Milky Way GaIaxy right now. On average, how many stars would we have to search before we would expect to hear a signal? Assume there are 500 billion stars in the galaxy. How would the answer change if there were only 100 civilizations instead of 10,000?
A radio broadcast left Earth in 1911. How far in light years has it traveled?
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Chapter 12 Solutions
Life in the Universe (4th Edition)
Ch. 12 - What is the purpose of the Drake equation? Define...Ch. 12 - What is convergent evolution? How does this idea...Ch. 12 - Prob. 3RQCh. 12 - Prob. 4RQCh. 12 - Briefly describe early attempts at interplanetary...Ch. 12 - Briefly discuss early SETI efforts. What do we...Ch. 12 - What are the three general categories of signals...Ch. 12 - Why do SETI researchers assume that beacon signals...Ch. 12 - Summarize the current techniques of radio SETI and...Ch. 12 - Explain why it is reasonable to imagine optical or...
Ch. 12 - Prob. 11RQCh. 12 - What are the three distinct categories of...Ch. 12 - Briefly discuss some of the issues that would...Ch. 12 - Discuss several types of claims about alien...Ch. 12 - Humans are the crown of creation and an inevitable...Ch. 12 - If, for some reason, we humans were to suddenly...Ch. 12 - Prob. 17TYUCh. 12 - Most of the intelligence in the universe is not...Ch. 12 - Because SETI researchers are listening to star...Ch. 12 - Prob. 20TYUCh. 12 - Prob. 21TYUCh. 12 - Looking for signals from star systems is a poor...Ch. 12 - If 10,000 people saw the same UFO, scientists...Ch. 12 - The absence of any scientific evidence for alien...Ch. 12 - The end result of a calculation with the Drake...Ch. 12 - Which of the following statements is true about...Ch. 12 - The fact that marine predators like dolphins and...Ch. 12 - Which of the following would lead an animal to a...Ch. 12 - Prob. 29TYUCh. 12 - Why are we more likely to be able to detect a...Ch. 12 - What is the distinguishing characteristic that...Ch. 12 - Two-way conversation with other societies is...Ch. 12 - Prob. 33TYUCh. 12 - One reason scientists doubt that crop circles have...Ch. 12 - Alien Visits. Learn more about a particular claim...Ch. 12 - Prob. 39IFCh. 12 - Evolution of Intelligence. Based on your...Ch. 12 - Intelligence on Other Worlds. Consider again the...Ch. 12 - Talking Back. Suppose SETI were to find a signal...Ch. 12 - Contact. Watch the movie Contact, paying careful...Ch. 12 - Invasions of Movie Aliens. Choose a science...Ch. 12 - Prob. 47IFCh. 12 - Actual SETI Searches. Project Phoenix, the largest...Ch. 12 - Power Used by E.T. A modern SETI search using the...Ch. 12 - Detecting Signals. SETI scientists are sometimes...Ch. 12 - Societal Reaction. It is frequently said that the...Ch. 12 - Dealing with UFO Claims. Given the large number of...
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- What are the advantages to using radio waves for communication between civilizations that live around different stars? List as many as you can.arrow_forwardWhy are we limited to finding life on planets orbiting other stars to situations where the biosphere has created planet-scale changes?arrow_forwardWhat are the three requirements that scientists believe an environment needs to supply life with in order to be considered habitable?arrow_forward
- Suppose astronomers discover a radio message from a civilization whose planet orbits a star 35 lightyears away. Their message encourages us to send a radio answer, which we decide to do. Suppose our governing bodies take 2 years to decide whether and how to answer. When our answer arrives there, their governing bodies also take two of our years to frame an answer to us. How long after we get their first message can we hope to get their reply to ours? (A question for further thinking: Once communication gets going, should we continue to wait for a reply before we send the next message?)arrow_forwardThink of our Milky Way Galaxy as a flat disk of diameter 100,000 light-years. Suppose we are one of 1000 civilizations, randomly distributed through the disk, interested in communicating via radio waves. How far away would the nearest such civilization be from us (on average)?arrow_forwardHow robotics changed the world?arrow_forward
- The Drake equation In 1961 astronomer Frank Drakedeveloped an equation to try to estimate the number ofextraterrestrial civilizations in our galaxy that might be able to communicate with us via radio transmissions. Nowlargely accepted by the scientific community, the Drakeequation has helped spur efforts by radio astronomers tosearch for extraterrestrial intelligence. Here is the equation: NC = N # fp # ne # fl# fi# fc # fLOK, it looks a little messy, but here’s what it means:So, how many ETs are out there? That depends; valueschosen for the many factors in the equation depend onever-evolving scientific knowledge and one’s personalguesses. But now, some questions.a) What quantity is calculated by the first product, N # fp?b) What quantity is calculated by the product, N # fp # ne # fl?c) What probability is calculated by the product fl# fi?d) Which of the factors in the formula are conditionalprobabilities? Restate each in a way that makes thecondition clear.arrow_forwardIn this chapter, we identify these characteristic properties of life: life extracts energy from its environment, and has a means of encoding and replicating information in order to make faithful copies of itself. Does this definition fully capture what we think of as “life”? How might our definition be biased by our terrestrial environment?arrow_forward
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