SOLAR SYSTEM

UNIVERSE

COMETS

Question [CLICK ON ANY CHOICE TO KNOW THE RIGHT ANSWER]
True or False:The two tails of a comet usually point in two different directions because the gas tail is moving faster than the dust tail.
A
true
B
false
C
Either A or B
D
None of the above
Explanation: 

Detailed explanation-1: -Sunlight and solar wind sweep the dust and gas of the coma into trailing tails. Because sunlight and solar wind always flow outward from our Sun’s surface, the tails always point away from our Sun no matter what direction the comet is moving in its orbit.

Detailed explanation-2: -Comets typically show 2 main tails. The gas tail consists of charged particles swept along by magnetic fields embedded in the solar wind. The dust tail is composed, not surprisingly, of dust particles, released from the nucleus by escaping gases and pushed out into a curved tail by radiation pressure.

Detailed explanation-3: -One looks white and is made of dust. This dust tail traces a broad, gently curving path behind the comet. The other tail is bluish and is made up of electrically charged gas molecules, or ions. The ion tail always points directly away from the Sun.

Detailed explanation-4: -Comet tails will always point away from the sun because of the radiation pressure of sunlight. The force from sunlight on the small dust particles pushing them away from the sun is greater than the force of gravity acting in the direction toward the sun.

Detailed explanation-5: -properties of comets The dust tail forms from those dust particles and is blown back by solar radiation pressure to form a long curving tail that is typically white or yellow in colour.

There is 1 question to complete.