Study Questions Week 5

Earth impacts by asteroids and comets

(From the video and articles)

1) What characteristics of the rock layer at the KT boundary suggest a major impact occurred then?

2) Discuss the mechanisms that are proposed for killing the dinosaurs.

3) How far does the Oort cloud extend towards the nearest star?

4) Discuss the evidence that a major impact 65 million years ago was responsible for the extinction of the dinosaurs.

5) Describe the Tungaska event.

6) What options are possible for dealing with a potentially earth impacting asteroid?

7) Discuss the possible scenario of events following a major earth impact.

8) Discuss what is known about the layers in the KT boundary.

9) What type and size of object is thought to have caused Meteor Crater in Arizona?

10) Which asteroids are considered to be a threat to Earth? These asteroids are sometimes classified as "small", "medium" and "large". What are the sizes of the medium and the large asteroids. How many of each are expected? How often do we expect an Earth impact from each size?

11) Describe what is known about the crater Chicxulub. How was it discovered? Why is it so difficult to measure the size of the crater? Why is it important to know the size of the crater?

12) How many comets are thought to be in the Kuiper belt?

13) Calculate the kinetic energy in comet Swift-Tuttle, which has a diameter of 25km and is traveling with a speed of 60 km/s.

 Comets, Meteors, and Asteriods: Chapter 14:

1) What are the differences between asteroids and comets?

2) What are the different classes of asteroids as based on composition? How abundant are each kind?

3) Compare and contrast the orbital properties of the different groups of asteroids.

4) Explain the terms: meteor, meteorite, and meteoroid.

5) What is the connection between comets and meteors?

6) Discuss the composition of meteorites. What does this tell us about their origins?

7) Compare and contrast the places where comets originate. (Oort cloud and Kuiper belt)

8) Describe the structure and composition of a comet. What happens as a comet approaches the Sun?

9) Compare and contrast the orbits of comets and asteroids.

10) How many asteroids are known? What is the total mass of all the known asteroids?

11) What are the composition and physical properties of a typical asteroid?

12) On what quantities does the kinetic energy of an impact depend?

Questions from the article: "Repeated Blows", Scientific American March 2002

1) Be able to summarize the main points of the article.

2) What is significant about iridium?

3) What are impact tracers? What impact tracers are discussed in the article?

4) What impact tracers are associated with the extinction of the dinosaurs?

5) What are fullerenes? Why are they important to the question of finding evidence of impacts on Earth?

Study questions from other weeks:

week 1 | week2 | week 3 | week 4 | week 5 | week 6 | week 7 | week 8 | week 9 | week 10 | week 11 | week 12 | week 13 | week 14