Essay On Space Rocks

1417 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: The solar system essay

Taryn Harris #10567 and Claire Werner #10230
Mr. C
Science 8, Period 6
21 April 2014
The Wonders of Space Rocks
In our solar system, there are a vast variety of space rocks. Space contains comets, asteroids, and meteors that rush through space, but don’t make it to Earth because they burn up along the way. This is due to the amount of friction that is produced on its journey through space. Comets, asteroids, and meteors are only a few objects that orbit through space and in our solar system. As a result, these various space rocks fly throughout our solar system, creating a bunch of chemistry. Comets, asteroids, and meteors are commonly put together in a group because they are all basically the same thing. One thing that comets, asteroids, and meteors all have in common is that they are rocky objects that orbit the sun. A lot of these space rocks originated from the Asteroid Belt, the Kuiper Belt and the Oort cloud, continuing almost to the next star system! We are able to study these space rocks using probes and infrared rays. Asteroids, comets, and meteors are commonly used terms for the objects moving through our solar system, but these rocks have a bigger meaning.
One type of space rock is a comet. Comets contain methane, carbon dioxide, ice, ammonia, and dust. Put all these substances together and you get a comet. It has a solid core, which contains dark, organic material covered with dust and mainly ice inside. The ice consists of frozen water, carbon dioxide, methane, ammonia, and carbon monoxide. Comets orbit for less than 200 years and they orbit in the Oort cloud beyond Pluto’s orbit. Comets also orbit in the Kuiper Belt, its shape resembling a doughnut beyond Neptune’s orbit. When a comet gets pulled out of orbit and is...

... middle of paper ...

...nd many other things. Along with a name, each asteroid is also given a number. Asteroids are just one of the many space rocks that are captivating scientists on Earth.
These three main space rocks aren’t just anything floating in space. Comets may seem unusual, but are made from things that are found on Earth and meteors may also have contributed to the formation of Earth since they contain rocks. That’s why meteors and comets could contain the hidden meaning to the creation of our universe and planet. Comets, meteors, and asteroids are very interesting rocks to have in our solar system that we are able to know about. The wonders of these space rocks are yet to be completely discovered and hopefully we will get to see these fascinating rocks some time in our lives. In conclusion, comets, asteroids and meteors are tiny, but make up a big part of our solar system.

Show More
Related

  • Chondrites: The Most Primitive Rocks in the Solar System

    838 Words  | 2 Pages

    Chondrites are the most primitive rocks in the solar system. Chondrites are stony (non-metallic) meteorites that have not been modified due to melting or differentiation of the parent body. Chondrites are formed when dust and small grains that originated from the early solar system accreted to form asteroids. Chondrites represent 86% of meteorites that fall to Earth. An important diagnosing feature of chondrites is the presence of chondrules. Chondrules are millimeter sized round inclusions made primarily of olivine and pyroxene, and chondrules make up 20-80% of the volume of most chondrites. Chondrites are important to geochemistry because chondrites give insight on the composition and age of the early solar system, the presence of water on Earth, and possibly the origin of life.

    Read More

  • Comets

    1052 Words  | 3 Pages

    Comets are primarily composed of ice and dust, causing some astronomers to refer to them as "dirty snowballs." They typically move through the solar system in orbits ranging from a few years to several hundred thousand years. Comets are not on fire. As they near the sun, the sun's heat melts the comet's ices and releases dust particles which are most evident as the comet's tail. Comets rarely come within a few million miles of Earth and, thus, have a slow apparent motion across our sky. Typical comets remain visible for periods of several weeks up to several months.

    Read More

  • The History Of Comets And Comets

    1519 Words  | 4 Pages

    Comets and asteroids. They are some of the first celestial bodies that humans observed and truly thought about. From ancient cultures interpreting these near-Earth objects as signs of disaster, to 18th century Europeans studying their paths, to even the extinction of the dinosaurs, comets and asteroids have always been prevalent in the majority of Earth’s history. These objects have intrigued the human race for generations, and continue to do so today. These similar subjects of fascination have many unique and interesting characteristics and a rich history with Earth.

    Read More

  • The Rock Cycle

    314 Words  | 1 Pages

    same liquid rock matter that you see coming out of volcanoes. On Earth's surface, wind and water can break rock into pieces. They can also carry rock pieces to another place. Usually, the rock pieces. called sediments, dropped from the wind or water to form a layer.

    Read More

  • The Moon: The Formation Of The Moon

    1516 Words  | 4 Pages

    There are five basic theories in the formation of our moon. The first is the "fission theory" which states that the moon was once a part of earth, but separated a long time ago. The second theory is called the "capture theory". This theory is says that the moon formed somewhere else, and was "captured" by earths gravitational pull. The third theory is called the "condensation theory" this theory states that the moon and earth were condemned together from the original nebula that formed our solar system. The fourth theory called the "Colliding Planetesimals Theory" states that the interaction between the earth orbiting the sun, and the sun orbiting planetesimals, which are large Astroid like rocks, led to the breakup and formation of our moon from the debris of these planetesimals. The fifth and final theory is called ...

    Read More

  • Comets Research Paper

    225 Words  | 1 Pages

    A very small solar system body made mostly of ices mixed with smaller amounts of dust and rock. Most comets are no larger than a few kilometers across.the main body of the comet is called the nucleus, and it can contain water, methane, nitrogen, and other ices. When a comet is heated by the sun, its ices began to melt off. The mixture of ice crystals and dust blows away from the comet nucleus in the solar wind, creating a pair of tails. The dust tail is what we usually see when we view comets from earth. The tail happens when gas molecules interact with the solar wind. The tail is not usually seen by the naked eye but can be imaged. Comets normally orbit around the sun and have come from the further outer solar system.The nucleus of a comet

    Read More

  • ASTEROIDS

    792 Words  | 2 Pages

    Scientists get a good idea of what asteroids are made of by studying them through telescopes. They can tell what an asteroid is made of by the color and brightness of the asteroid. A lot of asteroids that we have discovered are very dark and made of stone, but there are shiny ones that are made of nickel and iron.

    Read More

  • How the Big Bang Evolved into Life On Earth

    1957 Words  | 4 Pages

    Production of planets is an entirely different process. Planets form from the accretion disk surrounding newly formed stars. This material, comprised of dust and rock, collides and sticks together eventually gaining ...

    Read More

  • Comets

    452 Words  | 1 Pages

    Comets are made up of four distinct features. The first is the nucleus. The nucleus is made up of frozen gases, mostly water vapor with lesser amounts of carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide, and imbedded in the frozen gases are interplanetary dust and tiny fragments of stony and metallic meteoric material. Some comets, the larger ones, have a nucleus of 10 kilometers (Schweighauser 22).

    Read More

  • Space Debris

    1453 Words  | 3 Pages

    By the third millennium, mankind is actively studying and exploring space. The number of space flights is increasing and they are constantly running into a number of problems. One of these is a question of the increasing contamination of space with objects from our explorations. These objects are better known as space debris or simply said – space junk.

    Read More

  • Igneous Rocks Essay

    1413 Words  | 3 Pages

    Igneous rocks are formed from the ejection of earth’s volcanoes. Deep down inside earth’s mantle there lies hot magma. Magma is molten rock that is kept below the surface. This mixture is usually made up of four parts: a hot liquid substance which is called the melt; minerals that have been crystallized by the melt; solid rocks that have made themselves tangled in the melt because of loose materials, and finally gases that have become liquid. Magma is created by an increase in temperatures, pressure change, and a alter in composition. When this magma is ejected from earth’s crust it earns a new name called lava. The lava hardens and becomes an Igneous rock.

    Read More

  • Comets And Asteroids Essay

    1245 Words  | 3 Pages

    Though most people have heard about Comets and Asteroids many are unware of what they are and more significantly, their importance to life itself. Comets and asteroids are often described as small planets differentiating in sizes, some are baseball-sized meteors while some others are about one third the size of the moon. Other common terms used to describe them are rocky and icy bodies left over from the formation of the solar system. According to Don Yeomans from the Propulsion Lab, “Initially there was a great number of Comets and Asteroids, however, most of these bodies have either collided together and formed some of the major planets, were ejected from the inner solar system into the Oort cloud, or were ejected out of the solar system altogether.” Therefore, the Comets and Asteroids we see today are the residual population. One basic question to ask is why should we study Comets and Asteroids?

    Read More

  • What Is Rock Mechanics Essay

    748 Words  | 2 Pages

    Igneous rock is formed when molten rock (magma) cools and solidifies, with or without crystallization. Igneous rock is then further classified into intrusive and extrusive; this phenomenon will affect the grain texture of the rocks. Intrusive igneous rock is rock that formed below the Earth surface whereas extrusive igneous rock is erupted onto the surface, hence this leads to the formation of coarse-grained and fine-grained rocks respectively. Sedimentary rock is formed from several ways; (i) the deposition of the weathered remains of the other rocks, (ii) the deposition of the results of biogenic activity, and (iii) the precipitation of solution. As for metamorphic rock, it is the formation of new rock from the transformation of an existing rock through metamorphism, i.e. the process in which the rock is subjected high heat and pressure. In comparison between the three types of rocks; igneous, sedimentary and metamorphic rocks, sedimentary rocks have a lower material strength than igneous and metamorphic rocks. This is due to the texture of the rock itself. In another words, the grains of sedimentary rocks are usually clastic which means that the

    Read More

  • Essay On Space Junk

    949 Words  | 2 Pages

    According to NASA, more than 500,000 pieces of debris, or “space junk,” are tracked as they orbit the Earth- just hundreds of miles above us. Space junk-which is also known by the names space and orbital debris, are made up of a mixture of natural (meteorites) and man-made materials that no longer serves a further purpose or function.

    Read More

  • Meteoroid Essay

    713 Words  | 2 Pages

    The purpose of this lab was to determine the impacts meteorites have on the surface of the Earth in the form of craters, dependent upon their varying density, size and the height from which they fall. However, before explaining why it is important to understand the characteristics of meteorites and their impacts, it is vital to first describe the basics of different aspects that will be discussed in this lab report, to further enhance understanding.

    Read More

More about Essay On Space Rocks

Open Document