Science about asteroids

Question

Answer the following.

1.Asteroids orbit the_____ _____ between Mars and Jupiter.

2.explain what happens to a meteoroid in order for it to become a meteorite

3.describe these parts of a comet: head, nucleus, coma, tail

4.How can you tell a meteor from a comet?

5.what occurs when meteorites hit the earth's atmosphere? what happens if they don't? what is it called if they reach the earth's surface

Answer 1

1) This question is asking for the name of the region where the asteroids orbit the sun. This is known as the asteroid belt.

2) There are three terms important to this question: meteoroid, meteor, and meteorite. A meteoroid is basically debris traveling through the solar system. This debris can be any combination of rocky material, metals, or ice. If a meteoroid enters the Earth's atmosphere then it is called a meteor. If any portion of the meteor strikes the surface of the Earth then that portion is a meteorite.

This means that the three things aren't that different, they're just in a different situation. From the above information, you can determine what it takes for a meteoroid to become a meteorite.

3) Let's start with the nucleus. This is the central, dense core of the comet. Since comets (by definition) form far away from the sun, the nucleus will be a combination of ice and rock. Frequently objects like this are referred to as "dirty snowballs."

Now let's talk about the coma. This forms as the comet gets closer to the sun and the ice on its surface begins to sublimate (change directly from solid to gas). In a sense the coma is an atmosphere around the nucleus.

The head of the comet is the combination of the coma and the nucleus.

A comet actually has two tails: a dust tail and an ion tail. The dust tail is created when radiation pressure from sunlight pushes dust particles out of the coma. The ion tail is created when UV light from the sun ejects electrons from the coma.

4) See #2

5) There is a terminology problem here. Again see #2 for definitions. A meteorite has already struck the Earth's surface and thus has already passed through the Earth's atmosphere.