Meteors

Nearly everything we understand about the universe comes from ___

• ancient fossils
• physical specimens
• light emitted or reflected by objects
• electrical experiments

A "shooting star" is really a tiny bit of interplanetary debris heated to ___

• fluorescence
• phosphorescence
• incandescence
• chemiluminescence

Before it becomes a "shooting star", the actual bit of solid stuff coming from space is called ___

• a meteoroid
• a meteor
• a meteorite
• an asteroid

The phenomenon of a meteoroid getting hot and blazing across the sky is called ___

• a comet
• a meteor
• a meteorite
• an asteroid

If a meteor hits the ground, we call it ___

• a meteoroid
• a fallen star
• a meteorite
• an asteroid

According to Phil Plait, what's the best way to tick off an astronomer?

• mix up the terms meteor and meteorite
• Ask 'em, "Hey, what's your sign?"
• Ask "How old are you in light years?"
• complain about Pluto not being a planet anymore

For a typical meteor that you'll see, what is the size of the meteoroid?

• smaller than a grain of sand
• about the size of a marble
• about the size of a softball
• about the size of a basketball

When a meteoroid enters our atmosphere, it can be moving at speeds up to __

• 70 kilometers per hour
• 700 kilometers per hour
• 70 kilometers per second
• 700 kilometers per second

The energy of motion is called ___

• elastic energy
• kinetic energy
• kathartic energy
• kickback energy

If you double an objects speed, it will have ___

• half the kinetic energy
• twice the kinetic energy
• four times the kinetic energy
• 16 times the kinetic energy