COSMIC PERSPECTIVE>CUSTOM<
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ISBN: 9781323648445
Author: Bennett
Publisher: PEARSON C
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Chapter 12, Problem 42EAP
Comet Tails. Describe in your own words why comets have tails. Why do most comets have two distinct visible tails, and wThy do the tails go in different directions) Why is the third, invisible tail of small pebbles of interest to us on Earth?
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A typical comet contains some 1013 kg of water ice. How many comets would have to strike Earth in order to account for the roughly 2×1021 kg of water presently found on our planet? (Hint: simple division) If this amount of water accumulated over a period of 500 million years, how frequently must Earth have been hit by comets during that time? (Hint: Calculate, on the average, how many comets hit the Earth per year during that time.)
Impact Energy. Consider a comet about 2 kilometers across with a mass of 4 × 1012 kg. Assume that it crashes into Earth at a speed of 30,000 meters per second (about 67,000 miles per hour).
a. What is the total energy of the impact, in joules? (Hint: The kinetic energy formula tells us that the impact energy in joules will be 1 × m × v2, where 2 m is the comet’s mass in kilograms and v is its speed in meters per second.)
b. A 1-megaton nuclear explosion releases about 4 × 1015 joules of energy. How many such nuclear bombs would it take to release as much energy as the comet impact?
c. Based on your answers, comment on the degree of devastation the comet might cause.
Why Wait? To explore a planet, we often send first a flyby, then an orbiter, then a probe or a lander. There’s no doubt that probes and landers give the most close-up detail, so why don’t we send this type of mission first? For the planet of your choice, based just on the information in this chap- ter, give an example of why such a strategy might cause a mission to provide incomplete information about the planet or to fail outright.
Chapter 12 Solutions
COSMIC PERSPECTIVE>CUSTOM<
Ch. 12 - Prob. 1VSCCh. 12 - Use the following questions to check your...Ch. 12 - Use the following questions to check your...Ch. 12 - Prob. 4VSCCh. 12 - Use the following questions to check your...Ch. 12 - 1. Briefly define asteroid. comet, dwarf planet,...Ch. 12 - Briefly describe asteroid sizes, shapes, masses,...Ch. 12 - 3. Distinguish between primitive meteorites and...Ch. 12 - 4. What do meteorites and spacecraft observations...Ch. 12 - Prob. 5EAP
Ch. 12 - Prob. 6EAPCh. 12 - Prob. 7EAPCh. 12 - How do we know the Kuiper belt and Oort cloud...Ch. 12 - Prob. 9EAPCh. 12 - Prob. 10EAPCh. 12 - Prob. 11EAPCh. 12 - Briefly describe the evidence suggesting that an...Ch. 12 - Prob. 13EAPCh. 12 - Prob. 14EAPCh. 12 - Prob. 15EAPCh. 12 - Prob. 16EAPCh. 12 - Prob. 17EAPCh. 12 - Prob. 18EAPCh. 12 - Prob. 19EAPCh. 12 - Prob. 20EAPCh. 12 - Prob. 21EAPCh. 12 - Prob. 22EAPCh. 12 - Prob. 23EAPCh. 12 - Prob. 24EAPCh. 12 - Choose the best answer to each of the following....Ch. 12 - Choose the best answer to each of the following....Ch. 12 - Choose the best answer to each of the following....Ch. 12 - Choose the best answer to each of the following....Ch. 12 - Choose the best answer to each of the following....Ch. 12 - Choose the best answer to each of the following....Ch. 12 - Choose the best answer to each of the following....Ch. 12 - Choose the best answer to each of the following....Ch. 12 - Choose the best answer to each of the following....Ch. 12 - Choose the best answer to each of the following....Ch. 12 - Prob. 35EAPCh. 12 - Prob. 36EAPCh. 12 - Prob. 37EAPCh. 12 - Prob. 38EAPCh. 12 - Prob. 39EAPCh. 12 - Prob. 40EAPCh. 12 - Prob. 41EAPCh. 12 - Comet Tails. Describe in your own words why comets...Ch. 12 - Prob. 43EAPCh. 12 - Prob. 44EAPCh. 12 - Prob. 45EAPCh. 12 - Prob. 46EAPCh. 12 - Prob. 47EAPCh. 12 - Be sure to show all calculations clearly and state...Ch. 12 - Be sure to show all calculations clearly and state...Ch. 12 - Prob. 50EAPCh. 12 - Rise of the Mammals. Suppose the impact 65 million...Ch. 12 - Prob. 52EAPCh. 12 - Prob. 53EAPCh. 12 - Prob. 54EAPCh. 12 - Prob. 55EAP
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- How do the risks of dying from the impact of an asteroid or comet compare with other risks we are concerned about, such as dying in a car accident or from heart disease or some other natural cause? (Hint: To find the annual risk, go to the library or internet and look up the annual number of deaths from a particular cause in a particular country, and then divide by the population of that country.)arrow_forwardIn the previous lab, we calculated the area in between Mars' and Jupiter's orbit to be ~1.6e18 km2. Since there are roughly 750,000 asteroids, how much area (in km2) is available for one asteroid? Use this calculation to argue whether you are likely (or not) to hit an asteroid while flying through the asteroid belt. (Hint: To answer the first part of the question, find the area per asteroid)arrow_forwardIf you stood on Earth during its formation, during which it captured about 1.4 ✕ 1011 particles per second, and watched a region covering 310 m2, how many impacts would you expect to see in an hour? (Notes: The surface area of a sphere is 4πr2. Hint: Assume that Earth had its current radius of 6,378 km.) [......] impactsarrow_forward
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