CSB #3: Fluffy Ice??

Picture: The comet spewing chunks of fluffy ice.

Definitions:

Primordial: Existing from the beginning of time

Aggregate: A whole formed by combining several elements, typically different in essence

Summary:

Two weeks ago, a spacecraft from NASA flew by a comet. However, the comet was doing something extremely irregular: analyzing the photo, experts say that jets of carbon dioxide are pushing out frozen chunks of ice and dust particles into the air as opposed to the norm of water

vapor. The carbon dioxide, they say, must be primordial dry ice because if not, the CO2 would have become part of the atmosphere long ago. Because dry ice has a much lower sublimation point than water's melting point, the water could have remained in frozen chunks whilst the dry ice was converted to gas. Comparing the chunks to dandelion puffs, an NASA worker says that the pieces have a lot of air in them, and are aggregates of small pieces of ice. The CO2 jets were coming from the two ends of the comet, but in the center, water vapor was coming out, and there was no carbon dioxide gas. The analysts say "the middle part of the comet does not contain much carbon dioxide, and thus the water ice in it can warm into vapor." NASA workers have not seen anything like this comet before, and say that it goes to prove how different the space rocks can be.

Discussion:

I was very interested in this article because I am fascinated by astronomy, especially things that are new and different. One detail that caught my attention is that the center of the comet was spewing a different substance, namely water vapor, than the two ends of the comet, something that has not happened before. It was also amazing that gas from the beginning of time was preserved for so long and is only now being released into the atmosphere - obviously, after the gas went into the atmosphere, it would not solidify inside a comet again. Lastly, the fact that the pieces of ice were "fluffy" is odd: why would it collect with large pockets of air in between? Although, it is probably good it did - had the fragments not been mostly hollow, the NASA spaceship, which was flying close to the comet at 27,000 miles per hour, would have been seriously damaged!

Questions:

1. Why is there less carbon dioxide in the center of the comet?
2. Why is the ice "fluffy" rather than solid?
3. How can this comet do two things at once while others cannot?

Resources:

Link to original article

Citation:

Chang, Kenneth. "Surprise at a Comet Visited by NASA: A Snowstorm." New York
Times. New York Times, 18 Nov. 2010. Web. 18 Nov. 2010.
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