A meteor that falls to earth from a great distance has a speed of 11 km/s. In cl
ID: 2220886 • Letter: A
Question
A meteor that falls to earth from a great distance has a speed of 11 km/s. In class we found that the temperature of an iron meteor is 290,000K. We assumed all of the energy heats the meteor and none of it is transferred to the surroundings. a)Collect your ideas on physics. Read parts (b)-(d). What physics applies. b) If the meteor is made of calcium , what is the speed of the meteor? Explain. c)If the temperature of the meteor is made of calcium and the same assumptions hold, what is the temperature of the meteor?Explain. d) Does the composition of the meteor make a big difference in the temperature. Explain.Explanation / Answer
Terms Definitions Briefly describe the general characteristics of asteroids - including sizes, masses, densities, and compositions - and how we measure them. Answer: they are made mostly of metal and rock because they condensed within the frost line in the solar nebula. Large ones - (near) spherical Next two largest - oblong 540 kilometers Vesta- 510 kilos Small - like potatoes, various shapes. Mass - measured by observing its gravitational effect on another object. (Newtons' version of Kepler's third law) Using mass and size can calculate density - How does the largest asteroid compare in size to the planets? How does the total mass of all asteroids compare to the mass of a terrestrial world? Answer: they are relatively small, if you compress all the asteroids together they would be half the size of our moon. Total mass less than any terrestrial planet. Where is the asteroid belt located, and why? Briefly explain how orbital resonances with Jupiter have affected the asteroid belt. Answer: It is between Mars and Jupiter because of orbital resonance. The orbital resonances clear gaps in the asteroid belt. Some actually gather asteroids What is the difference between a meteor and a meteorite? How can we distinguish a meteorite from a terrestrial rock? Answer: A meteorite is a rock that has crashed to Earth and a meteor is a "thing in the air". flash of light caused by a particle entering our atmosphere at high speed Dark pitted crust, some have high metal content, enough to attract a magnet hanging on a string. They contain iridium that are rare in Earth rocks. Distinguish between primitive meteorites and processed meteorites in terms of both composition and origin. Answer:Primitive being first - Stony primitive meteorites - rocky mineral with small but noticeable fraction or pure metallic flakes - Remnants from birth of solar system Carbon-rich primitive meteorites - also contain substantial amounts of carbon compounds and sometimes small water Processed - Part of a larger object that "processed" original material of the solar nebula - younger than primitive meteorites - metal rich processed - high density iron and nickel mixed with small amounts of other metals Rocky processed - lower densities and are made of rock with compositions resemble mantles and crusts. What does a comet look like when it is far from the Sun? How does its appearance change when it is near the Sun? What happens to comets that make many passes near the Sun? Answer: is completely frozen "a dirty snowball" - A fuzzy ball with a tail. Comets that pass by sun repeatedly start losing layers of materials - may end comet's life What produces the coma and tails of a comet? What is the nucleus? Why do tails point away from the Sun? Answer: Comet approaching Sun, temperature increases, ices begin to sublimate into gas. Gas drags away dust particles. Gas and dust create coma, Jets and gas shooting out at great speeds creating tails. UV light from the Sun ionizes the gas and the solar wind carries the gas outward away from the Sun Explain how meteor showers are linked to comets. Why do meteor showers recur at about the same time each year? Answer: the gas escaping from comets also carries sand to pebble size pieces of rocky material. Orbiting Earth passes through a particular comet's orbit at the same time each year. Describe the Kuiper Belt and Oort cloud in terms of their locations and the orbits of comets with them. How did comets come to exist in these two regions? Answer: A ring of comets that orbit the Sun beyond the orbit of Neptune is the Kuiper Belt. Oort cloud is in the outer solar system. They orbit the Sun. Oort cloud comets are from planetismals that were flung outward after forming between the Jovian planets. Kuiper Belt comets that formed and still remain in the outskirts of the planetary realm. Briefly describe Pluto and Charon. Why won't Pluto collide with Neptune? How do we think Charon formed? Answer: Pluto small than terrestrial planets and ice-rich composition (neither jovian or terrestrial) Both Pluto and Charon (Pluto's moon) are made of ice-rock. Charon larger than Pluto. Pluto is very cold. Neptune orbits the Sun precisely three times for every two of Pluto's orbits, which means Pluto is a safe distance from Neptune Charon formed by a giant impact similar to how our moon is thought to be formed. What is Eris? How is it related to Pluto? What evidence suggests that these objects are really just large comets of the Kuiper Belt? Answer: Eris is a dwarf planet like Pluto. It has it's own moon, Dysnomia. Eris and Pluto are sometimes referred to as Kuiper Belt Objects. They are made of ice and rock. Briefly describe the impact of Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 on Jupiter. Answer: It hit Jupiter with the impact of a hydrogen bomb and as a result there were scars large enough to swallow Earth. Eventually Jupiter's strong winds swept away the scars from view. Briefly describe the evidence suggesting that an impact caused the mass extinction that killed off the dinosaurs. How might the impact have led to the mass extinction? Answer: The scientist team of Luis and Walter Alvarez discovered a thin layer of dark sediment that was unusually rich in iridium. Iridium is common in meteorites. Asteroid or comet hit Mexico, which sent a shower of hot debris into North America, a huge tsunami sloshed inward 1000 kilometers. Other red hot debris rained down around the rest of the world stating fires. Dust and smoke remained in the atmosphere for weeks and caused sunlight blockage. this caused temps to drop - harsh winter - stopped photosynthesis. Also caused chemical reactions that lingered in atmosphere and into the oceans to wipe out species. How often should we expect impacts of various sizes on Earth? How serious a threat do we face from these impacts?