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WorksheetsMeteors
Total questions: 23
Worksheet time: 12mins
Name
Class
Date
1.
Nearly everything we understand about the universe comes from ___
a)
ancient fossils
b)
physical specimens
c)
light emitted or reflected by objects
d)
electrical experiments
2.
A "shooting star" is really a tiny bit of interplanetary debris heated to ___
a)
fluorescence
b)
phosphorescence
c)
incandescence
d)
chemiluminescence
3.
Before it becomes a "shooting star", the actual bit of solid stuff coming from space is called ___
a)
a meteoroid
b)
a meteor
c)
a meteorite
d)
an asteroid
4.
The phenomenon of a meteoroid getting hot and blazing across the sky is called ___
a)
a comet
b)
a meteor
c)
a meteorite
d)
an asteroid
5.
If a meteor hits the ground, we call it ___
a)
a meteoroid
b)
a fallen star
c)
a meteorite
d)
an asteroid
6.
According to Phil Plait, what's the best way to tick off an astronomer?
a)
mix up the terms meteor and meteorite
b)
Ask 'em, "Hey, what's your sign?"
c)
Ask "How old are you in light years?"
d)
complain about Pluto not being a planet anymore
7.
For a typical meteor that you'll see, what is the size of the meteoroid?
a)
smaller than a grain of sand
b)
about the size of a marble
c)
about the size of a softball
d)
about the size of a basketball
8.
When a meteoroid enters our atmosphere, it can be moving at speeds up to __
a)
70 kilometers per hour
b)
700 kilometers per hour
c)
70 kilometers per second
d)
700 kilometers per second
9.
The energy of motion is called ___
a)
elastic energy
b)
kinetic energy
c)
kathartic energy
d)
kickback energy
10.
If you double an objects speed, it will have ___
a)
half the kinetic energy
b)
twice the kinetic energy
c)
four times the kinetic energy
d)
16 times the kinetic energy
11.
Meteors get hot due to friction with air, but a far bigger contributor to their heat is ___
a)
thermal expansion of material
b)
expansion of air
c)
compression of air
d)
ablation
12.
The material on the surface of a meteor vaporizes and blows away during a process called ___
a)
sublimation
b)
condensation
c)
ablation
d)
abstraction
13.
When you add up all the meteors, Earth is getting pelted with about __
a)
a ton of material a day
b)
a hundred tons of material a day
c)
a ton of material a year
d)
a hundred tons of material a year
14.
Random meteors, which generally come from the collision of asteroids, are called ___
a)
dependable meteors
b)
sporadic meteors
c)
meteor showers
d)
methodical meteors
15.
Meteor showers, many dozens or even hundreds of meteors per hour, come from ___
a)
asteroids
b)
comets
c)
asteroid collisions
d)
planet collisions
16.
During a meteor shower, the point on the sky where the meteors come from is called ___
a)
the radiant
b)
the vertex
c)
the origin
d)
the locus
17.
A meteor shower is named after ___
a)
famous astronomers
b)
the time of year of the shower
c)
the closest star to the radiant
d)
the constellation the radiant's in
18.
Generally, when is the best time to watch a meteor shower?
a)
just before sunrise
b)
just after sunset
c)
after local midnight
d)
during astronomical twilight
19.
An extremely bright meteor, which can be about the size of a grapefruit, is called ___
a)
a bolide or fireball
b)
a bovine or hairball
c)
a bovine or fireball
d)
a bolide or hairball
20.
The majority of meteorites we find are mostly rock, and are classified as ___
a)
stony
b)
stony iron
c)
composite
d)
rocky iron
21.
The small grains of minerals, found in very primitive meteorites are called ___
a)
seeds
b)
bolides
c)
chondrules
d)
morsels
22.
Iron meteorites most likely come from the center of ___
a)
a small comet
b)
a small asteroid
c)
a large comet
d)
a large asteroid
23.
On February 15th, 2013, which city was hit with a shock wave from an exploding meteor?
a)
Chelyabinsk, Russia
b)
Naples, Italy
c)
Shenzhen, China
d)
Luhansk, Ukraine
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