Influence of a phase transition of ice on the heat and mass balance of comets

Details Influence of a phase transition of ice on the heat and mass balance of comets Influence of a phase transition of ice on the heat and mass balance of comets

Jul 1980

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1980sci...209..271k&link_type=abstract

Science, vol. 209, July 11, 1980, p. 271, 272.

Other

80

Comet Tails, Comets, Heat Balance, Ice, Material Balance, Phase Transformations, Astronomical Models, Conductive Heat Transfer, Heat Transfer Coefficients, Temperature Dependence, Temperature Effects, Comets, Mass, Heat, Ice, Phases, Gases, Production Rate, Nuclei, Conduction, Temperatures, Models, Vapor Pressure, Evaporation, Radiation, Intensity, Crystallization, Crust

Scientific paper

The effects of the presence of amorphous ice, crystallized at temperatures below 100 K, in comet nuclei on the heat and mass balance of comets are examined. The heat conduction coefficient of amorphous ice is estimated to be at least ten times lower than that of hexagonal ice above 20 K, with the amorphous ice coefficient increasing with temperature up to the amorphous stability limit at 135 K. For a comet entering the solar system for the first time, it is shown that water vapor production will increase with temperature above 100 K, and that when a temperature of 130-140 K is reached, the amorphous ice on the comet surface will undergo an irreversible exothermal phase transition to the cubic form, leading to increased heat transfer to deeper layers. The model predicts asymmetric heat production with respect to perihelion and decreased gas production due to preferential heat conduction through cubic and possibly hexagonal ice, in periodic comets, in accordance with observations. A further consequence of the mechanism is that some cometary orbits will be inherently more productive of gas than others, depending on temperature.

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