We need to understand what kind of object a meteor is, in layman's terms, a meteor is a small celestial body in the solar system, which is essentially composed of dust and debris, and the reason why it forms a small tail is mainly caused by the burning of meteors.
Imagine that in a silent night sky, you inadvertently look up at the starry sky and find that a meteor occasionally passes by in the night sky, leaving a dazzling trail of light, and this trail of light is what we often call the tail of a meteor.
But have you ever wondered why a meteor has a tail and why does it burn?
Today, let's take a look at science, meteors, also known as meteoroids or meteor particles, belong to small celestial bodies in the solar system, and its main components are composed of dust particles and solid fragments, and these two substances usually come from the natural disintegration of comets and the debris produced after asteroid collisions.
These small celestial bodies orbit in an elliptical orbit in the solar system, but we all know that the earth has a gravitational pull, and because of gravity, these small celestial bodies will also be pulled into the earth's atmosphere by gravity.
Next, the meteor will use the blessing of gravity and its high speed to orbit, causing the meteor to collide violently with molecules in the atmosphere when it enters the Earth's atmosphere.
It is precisely because of the collision of the two that there is a burning meteor, the molecules in the atmosphere are constantly rubbing against the meteor, and the speed of the meteor is very fast, so the two interact, and then the temperature of the surface of the meteor will be quickly heated, reaching a ignition point of thousands of degrees, and the light emitted by the meteor is also how it comes.
If you still don't understand, we can put it another way, meteors are actually the effect of hitting the material in the atmosphere with the movement of the earth around the sun, and in layman's terms, it is the dust and asteroids in the universe, after hitting the earth, rubbing against the earth's atmosphere, resulting in air compression.
When it enters the atmosphere, even if the speed of the meteor is very fast, the resistance of the atmosphere will reduce the speed of the meteor itself, so it will burn, and this is how the light behind the meteor we see is produced.
But do you know that the brightness of meteors is not the same, the reason for this phenomenon is actually related to the mass and flight speed of the meteor, the faster the speed, the greater the friction reaction between it and the molecules in the atmosphere, and the higher the energy produced by the meteor, so it will be brighter.
The mass of the meteor itself is also the key to the brightness of the meteor, the mass of the meteor itself is smaller, the smaller the gravitational force generated, the slower the speed, the friction will be much smaller, and the energy it will produce will be smaller, so the brightness of the meteor will be much darker.
Why meteors have tails, this can also be explained, after the meteor enters the atmosphere, there is a violent friction with the atmosphere, during this period, it produces a lot of heat energy, and after conversion, the heat energy becomes light energy.
The meteoroid is illuminated, because the meteor is running very fast, our human eyes have a phenomenon called visual residue, when a meteor appears in the night sky, the eye transmits an illusion to the brain, the meteor looks like it has a long glowing tail.
But the real reason is actually very simple, it does not have a tail, but is too far away, and the high temperature of the meteor itself causes the density of the air around it to increase dramatically, creating a pressure difference, which makes the air flow to the area of high pressure, that is, around the meteor.
Therefore, the meteor will produce high-speed motion, and the high-speed motion will produce high temperatures, so the high-density area where the meteoroid and the atmosphere are in contact will continue to advance towards the tail, and finally appear at the end of the meteor, and the material of the tail will continue to extend backwards, maintaining a light flame at a distance.
Although meteors bring people a beautiful visual experience, and are even given a romantic definition by some people, the causes and principles are indeed very complex, and people only see its glamorous side, but they don't know that the impact of meteors on the earth is huge.
When a meteor breaks through the atmosphere and hits the earth, it is likely to cause natural disasters such as volcanic eruptions, earthquakes and tsunamis.
Of course, the effects of meteors are good and bad, the good side is that meteors hit the earth, and they themselves can also bring us some meteorites rich in metals and rare substances, which is an important factor for our scientists to study stars to understand the origin of the universe.
In short, the formation of meteor tails and the burning of meteors are the wonderful result of the interaction of the Earth's atmosphere with meteoroids.
By understanding the principles of these scientific celestial bodies, we can not only better appreciate the splendor brought by meteors, but also have a deeper understanding of the motion laws and trajectories of small celestial bodies in the solar system.