Asteroids Flashcards
(15 cards)
what is a Asteroid
they are pits of rock, ice and metal the obit around the sun and other solar systems
what do scientists think that asteroids are responsible for
scientists think they are responsible for the formation of stars and planets
what are the different types of asteroids
stony and icy
what type of metal asteroids are there
iron and nickel
what are icy asteroids made out of
methane, ammonia, water and carbon dioxide
what are chondrites
they are asteroids with the same composition as the sun
what are non-chondrites
they are asteroids that have the same composition as the Earth
the are asteroids called when they hit another body
meteorites
the hydrogen gas and dust collapsed and started to become denser but from what?
most likely from a shock wave from a dying start (supernova)
when the matter becomes denser what happens to it
as the size of the cloud decreases the cloud starts to rotate around the centre of gravity and forms a protoplanetary disk.
as the gas and dust is pulled towards the centre of gravity the middle becomes what?
more hot and dense
eventually the gas becomes so dense and hot it forms what?
A star
the planets form from what?
the left over gas and dust the the gravity didn’t pull into the centre
near to the sun we have terrestrial planets but on the outer parts of the solar system there are gas giants and ice giants. why is that?
terrestrial planets are made out of metal and rock which have a lot higher melting points which is why they are able to form together near to a star. however gas giants and icy planets are made of material that have very low melting points so they can only can come together a lot further away form the star where it is much colder.
why does the moon have loads of impact craters but earth has barely any?
it is because of the earth has fast geological processes. however the moon has no geological processes so the craters don’t get eroded or weathered away.
