That is, if you observe the spectrum of a star and can determine the wavelength where the emission peaks (Î»max), you can calculate that starâs temperature. Here is another copy of the plot that we studied in Lesson 3: Figure 4.1: Two-dimensional plot of the spectrum of a blackbody with different temperatures.
Igneous rocks usually contain the most crystals. The longer it takes the magma to cool, the larger the crystals.
The inside of the Earth is very hot - hot enough to melt rocks. Molten (liquid) rock forms when rocks melt. The molten rock is called magma. When the magma cools and solidifies, a type of rock called igneous rock forms. What are they like? Igneous rocks contain randomly arranged interlocking crystals. The size of the crystals depends on how quickly the molten magma solidified. The more slowly the magma cools, the bigger the crystals. You may have done an experiment at school with a substance called salol. If molten salol cools slowly, you get big crystals. If it cools quickly, you get small crystals. Obsidian and basalt. If the magma cools quickly, small crystals form in the rock. This can happen if the magma erupts from a ...