Project in Science: Submitted By: Alvin Lou D. Recososa
Project in Science: Submitted By: Alvin Lou D. Recososa
though recent research has led some scientists to call them snowy dirtballs. Comets contain
dust, ice, carbon dioxide, ammonia, methane and more. Astronomers think comets
are leftovers from the gas, dust, ice and rocks that initially formed the solar system about 4.6
Some researchers think comets might have originally brought some of the water and organic
molecules to Earth that now make up life here. To research this hypothesis, the Rosetta
mission, which landed a probe on a comet on Nov. 12, 2014, is studying its nucleus and
Comets orbit the sun, but most are believed to inhabit in an area known as the Oort Cloud, far
beyond the orbit of Pluto. Occasionally a comet streaks through the inner solar system; some do
so regularly, some only once every few centuries. Many people have never seen a comet, but
A meteoroid is a small rocky or metallic body in outer space. Meteoroids are significantly
smaller thanasteroids, and range in size from small grains to 1 meter-wide objects. Object
smaller than this are classified as micrometeoroids or space dust. Most are fragments
from comets or asteroids, whereas others are collision impact debris ejected from bodies such
of 20 km/s (72,000 km/h; 45,000 mph), aerodynamic heating of that object produces a streak of
light, both from the glowing object and the trail of glowing particles that it leaves in its wake. This
phenomenon is called a meteor or "shooting star". A series of many meteors appearing seconds
or minutes apart and appearing to originate from the same fixed point in the sky is called
a meteor shower. If that object withstands ablation from its passage through the atmosphere as
a meteor and impacts with the ground, it is then called a meteorite. An estimated 15,000 tonnes
of meteoroids, micrometeoroids and different forms of space dust enter Earth's atmosphere
each year.
ASTEROID
Asteroids are minor planets, especially those of the inner Solar System. The larger ones have
also been called planetoids. These terms have historically been applied to any astronomical
object orbiting the Sun that did not show the disc of a planet and was not observed to have the
characteristics of an active comet. As minor planets in the outer Solar System were discovered
and found to have volatile-based surfaces that resemble those of comets, they were often
distinguished from asteroids of the asteroid belt. In this article, the term "asteroid" refers to the
minor planets of the inner Solar System including those co-orbital with Jupiter.
There are millions of asteroids, many thought to be the shattered remnants of planetesimals,
bodies within the young Sun's solar nebula that never grew large enough to become planets.
The large majority of known asteroids orbit in the asteroid belt between the orbits of Mars and
Jupiter, or are co-orbital with Jupiter (the Jupiter trojans). However, other orbital families exist
with significant populations, including the near-Earth objects. Individual asteroids are classified
by their characteristic spectra, with the majority falling into three main groups: C-type, M-type,
and S-type. These were named after and are generally identified with carbon-rich, metallic,
and silicate (stony) compositions, respectively. The size of asteroids varies greatly, some
reaching as much as1000 km across.
Asteroids are differentiated from comets and meteoroids. In the case of comets, the difference
is one of composition: while asteroids are mainly composed of mineral and rock, comets are
composed of dust and ice. In addition, asteroids formed closer to the sun, preventing the
development of the aforementioned cometary ice. The difference between asteroids and
meteoroids is mainly one of size: meteoroids have a diameter of less than one meter, whereas
asteroids have a diameter of greater than one meter.[4] Finally, meteoroids can be composed of
either cometary or asteroidal materials.
Only one asteroid, 4 Vesta, which has a relatively reflective surface, is normally visible to the
naked eye, and this only in very dark skies when it is favorably positioned. Rarely, small
asteroids passing close to Earth may be visible to the naked eye for a short time. As of March
2016, theMinor Planet Center had data on more than 1.3 million objects in the inner and outer
Solar System, of which 750,000 had enough information to be given numbered designations.
EFFECTS OF EARTHQUAKE
Earthquake environmental effects are the effects caused by an earthquake on the natural
environment, including surface faulting, tectonic uplift and subsidence, tsunamis, soil
liquefactions, ground resonance, landslides and ground failure, either directly linked to the
earthquake source or provoked by the ground shaking. These are common features produced
both in their near and far fields, routinely recorded and surveyed in recent events, very often
effects (e.g., soil liquefaction, landslides) not only leave permanent imprints in the environment,
but also dramatically affect human structures. Moreover, underwater fault ruptures and
earthquakes. This was observed for example during more or less catastrophic seismic events
Coseismic surface faulting induced by the 1915 Fucino, Central Italy, earthquake primary
effects, which are the surface expression of the seismogenic source (e.g., surface faulting),
normally observed for crustal earthquakes above a given magnitude threshold (typically
Mw=5.5-6.0);
Coseismic liquefaction induced by one of the 2012 Emilia, Northern Italy, earthquakes
secondary effects, mostly this are the intensity of the ground shaking (e.g., landslides,
liquefaction, etc.).
The importance of a tool to measure earthquake Intensity was already outlined early in the
1990s. In 2007 the Environmental Seismic Intensity scale (ESI scale) was released, a new
seismic intensity scale based only on the characteristics, size and areal distribution of
A huge amount of data about associated with modern, historical and paleoearthquakes
Weather forecasting is the application of science and technology to predict the state of
the atmosphere for a given location. Human beings have attempted to predict the weather informally
for millennia, and formally since the nineteenth century. Weather forecasts are made by collecting
quantitative data about the current state of the atmosphere at a given place and using scientific
Once an all-human endeavor based mainly upon changes in barometric pressure, current weather
conditions, and sky condition, weather forecasting now relies on computer-based models that take
many atmospheric factors into account. Human input is still required to pick the best possible
forecast model to base the forecast upon, which involves pattern recognition skills, teleconnections,
knowledge of model performance, and knowledge of model biases. The inaccuracy of forecasting is
due to the chaotic nature of the atmosphere, the massive computational power required to solve the
equations that describe the atmosphere, the error involved in measuring the initial conditions, and an
incomplete understanding of atmospheric processes. Hence, forecasts become less accurate as the
difference between current time and the time for which the forecast is being made (the range of the
forecast) increases. The use of ensembles and model consensus help narrow the error and pick the
There are a variety of end users to weather forecasts. Weather warnings are important forecasts
because they are used to protect life and property. Forecasts based on temperature and
precipitation are important to agriculture, and therefore to traders within commodity markets.
Temperature forecasts are used by utility companies to estimate demand over coming days. On an
everyday basis, people use weather forecasts to determine what to wear on a given day. Since
outdoor activities are severely curtailed by heavy rain, snow and wind chill, forecasts can be used to
plan activities around these events, and to plan ahead and survive them.