Quiz 4 Review

Near-Earth Asteroids:
-What makes them dangerous (orbit, size, composition, approach distance)
-"Keyhole" concept
-Best way to prevent one from hitting Earth

K-T Boundary:
-Alvarez hypothesis
-Signature of material from space
-Location and characteristics of crater
-Typical crater shapes (peak, peak-ring, high crater walls)
-How the dinosaurs died

Meteorites:
-Definitions of meteor, meteorite, meteoroid
-Falls vs. finds: which type of meteor is most likely to enter the atmosphere? Which are we most likely to find?
-Evidence that some asteroids chemically differentiated
-Characteristics and composition of chondrites, achondrites, carbonaceous chondrites, iron and stony/iron meteorites
-Significance of calcium-aluminum inclusions

Comets:
-How meteor showers happen
-Danger of comet impacts vs. asteroid impacts
-Shoemaker-Levy and its effect on Jupiter
-Composition of comets
-Consequences of "No strength, no gravity" rule
-Where comets come from

Asteroids:
-Albedo-color diagram and classes S, M and C
-How contact binaries are formed
-Largest asteroid, its size and class

Kuiper Belt Objects:
-Definition of planet: round, orbits sun, dynamically dominant
-Problems with the definition
-Why Pluto was demoted to dwarf planet
-Largest two Kuiper Belt Objects
-How to find KBOs