What is the dirty snowball theory?

Answer 1

What are comets made of?

Gravity holds stars and planets together, but what holds the other (little stuff) together.

Ionic bonds. And it turns out that are only 3 that seem to work:

Water (ice), Silicon oxide rock, and ferromagnetic metals (iron, nickel, cobalt).

Comets don't seem to have much metal, so "dirty snow-ball".

In 1949, Fred Lawrence Whipple theorized that the nucleus of a comet is made of frozen water, rocky debris, and frozen gases. This was called the "icy comglomerate" theory and is now known as the "dirty snowball" theory.

However, in 1999, the Stardust spacecraft was launched and in 2004 it retrieved tiny particles from the comet Wild-2's surface and came back two years later in a capsule, landing in Utah. Minerals that formed in the presence of liquid water were discovered, proving that, at some point, pockets of water had existed on the comet. This disproved the "dirty snowball" theory.

Answer 2

The dirty snowball theory, also known as the standard model of a comet, proposes that comets are icy bodies composed of a mixture of water, gases, dust, and rocky materials. When comets approach the Sun, the heat causes the ices to vaporize, releasing gas and dust that form the characteristic coma and tail of a comet.

Answer 3

A dirty snowball is another name for a comet.

Answer 4

Comets are normally refered to as "Dirty Snowballs"

Answer 5

Comets are often referred to as "dirty snowballs" because they are mostly composed of ice with some rock, dust, and frozen gasses all blended together.

Answer 6

A comet which orbits the sun is often considered to be ice mixed with debris, or a large dirty snowball

Answer 7

filthy ball of frozen water ?

Answer 8

comet

Answer 9

A comet.

Answer 10

A comet