| Questions | 5 |
| Topics | Comets, Infiltration, Moon, Third Law of Motion, Work |
A comet is a loose collection of ice, dust, and small rocky particles that, in contrast to an asteroid, has an extended atmosphere surrounding the center. When passing close to the Sun, this atmosphere warms and begins to release gases forming a visible coma or tail.
The water then accumulates as runoff and eventually returns to bodies of water or is absorbed into the Earth (infiltration) and becomes part of the water table, an underground resevoir of fresh water.
Tides are caused by the gravitational interaction of Earth and the Moon.
Newton's third law of motion states that For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. When an object exerts a force on another object, the second object exerts a force of equal magnitude in the opposite direction on the first object.
Work is performed on an object when an applied force causes displacement along the same vector. Measured in joules (J) or newton-meters (Nm), work is calculated by multiplying force times displacement: \(W = \vec{F}\vec{d}\)