Question 1

A comet may have two tails; one is the ion tail the other can be a _____.&#10;A) dust&#10;B) plasma&#10;C) phosphorescence&#10;D) fluorescence

Accepted Answer

A comet can have two tails: an ion tail, which is made of gases, and a dust tail, which consists of small solid particles.

Question 2

This comet reappears every 76 years.&#10;A) Encke&#10;B) Borrelly&#10;C) Halley's&#10;D) Hale-Bopp

Accepted Answer

Halley's Comet is the comet that reappears every 76 years, making it one of the most well-known periodic comets.

Question 3

This is the part of the comet that is solid ice:&#10;A) coma&#10;B) nucleus&#10;C) tail&#10;D) ion tail

Accepted Answer

The nucleus is the solid, central part of a comet, made up of ice, dust, and rocky materials, which distinguishes it from the other parts of a comet that are made of gas or plasma.

Question 4

A meteor shower occurs when&#10;A) an asteroid breaks up as it enters the Earth's atmosphere.&#10;B) a comet breaks up near the Earth.&#10;C) the Earth passes through a debris filled comet orbit.&#10;D) the Earth crosses the dust filled ecliptic plane.

Accepted Answer

Meteor showers occur when Earth passes through the debris left by a comet, which is essentially a trail of particles shed by the comet as it orbits the Sun. This debris enters Earth's atmosphere and burns up, creating the visible streaks of light we call a meteor shower.

Question 5

The ________ makes the tail gas of the comet point away from the sun.

Accepted Answer

The answer of The ________ makes the tail gas of...

Question 6

________ makes the dust tail of the comet point away from the sun.

Accepted Answer

The answer of ________ makes the dust tail of the...

Question 7

When a comet gives off gases it is said to sublimate.

Accepted Answer

Sublimation is the process where a substance transitions directly from a solid to a gas without passing through the liquid phase, which is what happens when a comet approaches the Sun and its icy components vaporize.

Question 8

Comets are thought to come from Oort's cloud.

Accepted Answer

The Oort Cloud is theorized to be a distant spherical shell surrounding the solar system, home to billions of comets that can be perturbed by gravitational interactions into orbits bringing them closer to the Sun and the inner solar system.

Deck 49: Comets