21st Century Astronomy
6th Edition
ISBN: 9780393428063
Author: Kay
Publisher: NORTON
expand_more
expand_more
format_list_bulleted
Videos
Question
Chapter 12, Problem 43QP
To determine
The volume of comet tail that would hold
Expert Solution & Answer
Want to see the full answer?
Check out a sample textbook solution
Students have asked these similar questions
The Tunguska asteroid is estimated to have had a diameter of 50 m, and to have produced an explosion equivalent to 10 megatons of TNT (1 megaton = 4.2 x 1015 joules). Assume that the asteroid was a sphere with density 2 g/cm3. Using the kinetic energy formula K = ½ mv2, where m is the mass and v is the speed, to estimate the speed of the asteroid. Assume that all kinetic energy is converted into the energy of the explosion.
Give your answer in km/s with one significant figure.
The mass of the planet is approximately 74.8 times the mass of Jupiter. Calculate the average density of the planet. Give your answer in grams per cubic centimeter.
A comet’s perihelion distance is 1 AU, and its aphelion distance is 15 AU. In the following, we make a very crude calculation of the average rate of shrinkage of the comet.(a) Calculate the comet’s orbital period.(b) Estimate how many meters of ice the comet will lose each time it orbits the Sun. (Hint: To simplify the calculations, you may assume that ice sublimates off the comet’s surface during one tenth of its orbital period, that the average cometary distance over that period is 1.5 AU and the density of the cometary ice is 600 kg m−3.)
Chapter 12 Solutions
21st Century Astronomy
Ch. 12.1 - Prob. 12.1CYUCh. 12.2 - Prob. 12.2CYUCh. 12.3 - Prob. 12.3ACYUCh. 12.3 - Prob. 12.3BCYUCh. 12.4 - Prob. 12.4CYUCh. 12.5 - Prob. 12.5CYUCh. 12 - Prob. 1QPCh. 12 - Prob. 2QPCh. 12 - Prob. 3QPCh. 12 - Prob. 4QP
Ch. 12 - Prob. 5QPCh. 12 - Prob. 6QPCh. 12 - Prob. 7QPCh. 12 - Prob. 8QPCh. 12 - Prob. 9QPCh. 12 - Prob. 10QPCh. 12 - Prob. 11QPCh. 12 - Prob. 12QPCh. 12 - Prob. 13QPCh. 12 - Prob. 14QPCh. 12 - Prob. 15QPCh. 12 - Prob. 16QPCh. 12 - Prob. 17QPCh. 12 - Prob. 18QPCh. 12 - Prob. 19QPCh. 12 - Prob. 20QPCh. 12 - Prob. 22QPCh. 12 - Prob. 23QPCh. 12 - Prob. 24QPCh. 12 - Prob. 25QPCh. 12 - Prob. 26QPCh. 12 - Prob. 27QPCh. 12 - Prob. 28QPCh. 12 - Prob. 29QPCh. 12 - Prob. 30QPCh. 12 - Prob. 31QPCh. 12 - Prob. 32QPCh. 12 - Prob. 33QPCh. 12 - Prob. 34QPCh. 12 - Prob. 35QPCh. 12 - Prob. 36QPCh. 12 - Prob. 37QPCh. 12 - Prob. 38QPCh. 12 - Prob. 39QPCh. 12 - Prob. 40QPCh. 12 - Prob. 41QPCh. 12 - Prob. 42QPCh. 12 - Prob. 43QPCh. 12 - Prob. 44QP
Knowledge Booster
Learn more about
Need a deep-dive on the concept behind this application? Look no further. Learn more about this topic, physics and related others by exploring similar questions and additional content below.Similar questions
- The mass of an average comet's nucleus is about 1.0 ✕ 1014 kg. If the Oort cloud contains 2.0 ✕ 1011 comet nuclei, what is the mass of the cloud in units of Earth masses? (Note: Earth's mass is 5.97 ✕ 1024 kg.)________ marrow_forwardThe mass of an average comet's nucleus is about 1.0 ✕ 1014 kg. If the Oort cloud contains 2.0 ✕ 1011 comet nuclei, what is the mass of the cloud in units of Earth masses? (Note: Earth's mass is 5.97 ✕ 1024 kg.)________ m Compare that with Uranus's mass. (Note: Uranus's mass in units of Earth's mass is 14.5 M.) mass of the Oort Cloud / mas of Uranus =________arrow_forwardThe mass of an average comet's nucleus is about 1.0 x 1014 kg. If the Oort cloud contains 2.0 x 1011 comet nuclei, what is the mass of the cloud in units of Earth masses? (Note: Earth's mass is 5.97 x 1024 kg.) M. Compare that with Saturn's mass. (Note: Saturn's mass in units of Earth's mass is 95.2 Ma) mass of the Oort cloud mass of Saturn Need Help? Read Itarrow_forward
- Planetary scientists are excited about the possibility that some of the moons in the outer solar system might have a global subsurface ocean of liquid water. It's uncertain whether or not Jupiter's moon Callisto has a subsurface ocean, but some scientists think it might. Let's imagine that a short distance below the surface, Callisto has a water layer 20,000 meters thick. Callisto has a radius of 2.410x106 meters. Earth has a radius of 6.378x106 meters, and its oceans are equivalent to a layer of water 3000 meters thick all over the surface of the planet. Which of the following is an accurate comparison of the Earth’s amount of liquid water with this estimate of the amount of water Callisto might have? Group of answer choices If this scenario is correct, Earth and Callisto have roughly the same amount of liquid water. If these scientists are right, Callisto has about one-sixth as much liquid water as the Earth does. If these scientists are right, Callisto has about 11 times as…arrow_forwardA comet with a 2km diameter will make a crater about 20 km in diameter. If the comet has a mass of 4.5 x1012kg and impacts the surface at 35 km/sec, what is the kinetic energy of the comet in Joules?arrow_forwardThe mass of an average comets nucleus is about 1.0 x 10^14 kg. If the Oort Cloud contains 20 x 10^11 comet nuclei, what is the mass of the clouds in units of Earth masses? (Note: Earths mass is 5.97 x 10^24 kg) _______ m compare that with Uranus's mass. (Note: Uranus's mass im units of Earth's mass is 14.5m) mass of the Oort Cloud/mass of Uranus:_____arrow_forward
- It is believed there are 2.7 x 1012 comets in the Oort Cloud, which has a radius of 71000.0 AU. Calculate the average volume that each comet has to itself. Then take the cube root of the average volume per comet to find their typical spacing in AU.arrow_forwardSuppose the average mass of each of 20,000 asteroids in the solar system is 1017 kg. Compare the total mass of these asteroids to the mass of Earth. Assuming a spherical shape and a density of 3000 kg/m3, estimate the diameter of an asteroid having this average mass.arrow_forwardA 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? 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?arrow_forward
- This is a challenging problem. Solve it on paper, writing out each step carefully. When doing calculations, do not round intermediate values. Note: If you have approached the problem in a principled way, do not abandon your approach if your numerical answer is not accepted; check your calculations! This problem is closely related to the spectacular impact of the comet Shoemaker-Levy with Jupiter in July 1994. (More information about the event can be found here.) A rock far outside a solar system similar to ours is initially moving very slowly relative to its sun, in the plane of the orbit of a large planet (about the size of Jupiter) around its sun. The rock falls toward the sun, but on its way to the sun it collides with the planet. The mass of the planet is 4 x 1027 kg, the mass of its sun is 3.2 x 1030 kg, the radius of the planet is 1.4 x 10® m, and the center-to-center distance from the planet to the sun is 9.2 x 1011 m. Part 1 (a) Calculate the rock's speed just before it…arrow_forwardOn February 7, 1999, NASA launched a spacecraft with the ambitious mission of making a close encounter with a comet, collecting samples from its tail, and returning the samples to Earth for analysis. This spacecraft, appropriately named Stardust, took almost five years to rendezvous with its objective-comet Wild 2 (pronounced "Vilt 2")-and another two years to return its samples. The reason for the long round trip is that the spacecraft had to make three orbits around the Sun, and also an Earth Gravity Assist (EGA) flyby, to increase its speed enough to put it in an orbit appropriate for the encounter.When Stardust finally reached comet Wild 2 on January 2, 2004, it flew within 147 miles of the comet's nucleus, snapping pictures and collecting tiny specks of dust in the glistening coma. The approach speed between the spacecraft and the comet at the encounter was a relatively "slow" 6200 m/s, so that dust particles could be collected safely without destroying the vehicle. Note that…arrow_forwardThe European Space Agency’s (ESA) Rosetta mission reached Comet 67P at the time when the comet approached perihelion. Figure 20 shows jets emerging from the comet. Do these images confirm that comets are ‘dirty snowballs’? Why, or why not?arrow_forward
arrow_back_ios
SEE MORE QUESTIONS
arrow_forward_ios
Recommended textbooks for you
Foundations of Astronomy (MindTap Course List)PhysicsISBN:9781337399920Author:Michael A. Seeds, Dana BackmanPublisher:Cengage Learning
Foundations of Astronomy (MindTap Course List)
Physics
ISBN:9781337399920
Author:Michael A. Seeds, Dana Backman
Publisher:Cengage Learning
Kepler's Three Laws Explained; Author: PhysicsHigh;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kyR6EO_RMKE;License: Standard YouTube License, CC-BY