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Chapter 15: Problem 15

What is the difference between a meteoroid, a meteor, and a meteorite?

Short Answer

Expert verified
Meteoroid is a small chunk of space debris in the Solar System, a Meteor is a glow and trail caused by a meteoroid when entering Earth's atmosphere and burning up, and a Meteorite is the surviving piece of a meteor that reaches the Earth.

Step by step solution

01

Understanding a Meteoroid

A meteoroid refers to a small chunk of space debris, usually parts of asteroids or comets, floating around in our Solar System. These are significantly smaller than asteroids and can be as tiny as dust particles.
02

Defining a Meteor

A meteor, often called a shooting star, is what happens when a small piece of an asteroid or comet, called a meteoroid, burns up upon entering Earth's atmosphere. The heat is caused by the rapid compression of the atmosphere in front of the meteoroid which in turn causes it to glow and form a shining trail in the sky.
03

Recognizing a Meteorite

A meteorite is what survives of a meteor and manages to reach the Earth's surface. Not all meteors become meteorites; it depends on the size, speed, and composition of the meteoroid.

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Most popular questions from this chapter

What is the Oort cloud? How might it be related to planetesimals left over from the formation of the solar system?

What are near-Earth objects? What is the evidence that the Earth has been struck by these objects?

Suppose you found a rock you suspect might be a meteorite. Describe some of the things you could do to determine whether it was a meteorite or a "meteorwrong."

Use the Starry Night Enthusiast ?M program to study the motion of a comet. First set up the field of view so that you are observing the inner solar system from a distance (select Solar System > Inner Solar system in the Favourites menu). In the toolbar, click on the Stop button to halt the animation, and then set the date to January 1,1995 , and the time step to 1 day. Select View \(>\) Solar System \(>\) Asteroids in the menu to remove the asteroids from the view. Open the Find pane and center on Comet Hyakutake by typing "Hyakutake" in the Search All Databases box and then pressing the Enter key. Use the Zoom controls to decrease the field of view to about \(25^{\circ} \times\) \(17^{\circ}\). Then click on the Run Time Forward button. (a) Watch the motion of Comet Hyakutake for at least two years of simulated time. Describe what you see. Is the comet's orbit in about the same plane as the orbits of the inner planets, or is it steeply inclined to that plane? (You can tilt the plane of the solar system by holding down the Shift key while clicking on and moving the mouse to investigate this off-ecliptic motion.) How does the comet's speed vary as it moves along its orbit? During which part of the orbit is the tail visible? In what direction does the tail point? (b) Click on the Stop button to halt the animation, and set up the field of view so that you are observing from the center of a transparent Earth by selecting Guides \(>\) Atlas in the Favourites menu. Set the date to January 1, 1995, and the Time Flow Rate to 1 day, and again center on Comet Hyakutake. Use the controls at the righthand end of the toolbar to zoom out as far as possible. Then click on the Run Time Forward button and watch the comet's motion for at least two years of simulated time. Describe the motion, and explain why it is more complicated than the motion you observed in part (a). (c) Stop the animation, set the date to today's date, set the Time Flow Rate to 1 month ("lunar m."), and restart the animation. Comet Hyakutake is currently moving almost directly away from the Sun and so, as seen from the Sun, its position on the celestial sphere should not change. Is this what you see in Stamy Night Enthusiast \(\mathrm{\text {??? }}\) Explain any differences. (Hint: You are observing from the Earth, not the Sun.)

For many years it was thought that the Tunguska event was caused by a comet striking the Earth. This idea was rejected because a small comet would have broken up too high in the atmosphere to cause significant damage on the ground. Explain why, using your knowledge of a comet's structure.
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