Describe characteristics of an impact crater

What will be an ideal response?


ANSWER: One might imagine that an asteroid striking Earth would create a big hole in the ground with a shape dependent on the incoming angle of the object. However, the incredible velocity, and therefore the energy, of the impactor requires that it explode violently on impact. The effect is more like a missile being fired into a sand surface. It blasts a nearly round hole regardless of the impact. If the impactor is large enough, the explosion violently compresses material in the bottom of the crater, accelerating it to speeds of a few kilometers per second and ejecting material outward at hypervelocity. The center of the crater rebounds rapidly to form a central cone; that cone and the outer rim almost immediately collapse inward to form a wider but shallower final crater. Impact craters provide evidence about the size and date of past impacts and also help us speculate about the damage those impacts would have caused.?

Environmental & Atmospheric Sciences

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Why is it so easy for a magnesium atom to lose two electrons?

A. There are lots of electron-electron repulsions that go on within the valence shell. B. The nuclear charge of the magnesium atoms is relatively weak. C. These two electrons are found relatively far from the nucleus. D. These two electrons are well shielded from the nuclear charge.

Environmental & Atmospheric Sciences

What can a continental hot spot lead to?

A) Formation of a curved continental outline along two rifts B) Localization of a river and delta along the failed arm of the rift C) A thick accumulation of basalts and other volcanic rocks D) A region that is high in elevation relative to adjacent parts of the continent E) All of these are correct.

Environmental & Atmospheric Sciences

What tools do fishermen now employ to locate schools of fish?

a. Scouting vessels b. Satellite sensors c. Ariel photography d. All of these choices

Environmental & Atmospheric Sciences

Temperatures will decrease with increasing depth into the Earth

Indicate whether this statement is true or false.

Environmental & Atmospheric Sciences