Brain Teasers
Tale of a Tail
As I get closer, my tail grows longer;
As I leave, my tail leads the way.
What am I?
As I leave, my tail leads the way.
What am I?
Answer
A cometThe tail of a comet is caused by the sun's solar radiation pressure and solar wind. These force dust particles and ions to flow out from the comet, away from the sun. As a comet gets closer to the sun, the radiation pressure and wind get stronger, and the tail grows longer. The tail always extends away from the sun, so as the comet moves away from the sun, the tail is ahead of the comet's general direction of movement (although not directly ahead, just farther away from the sun than the comet's head).
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Comments
Woohoo.... I got here first!!
Great teaser!! Easy enough to guess the answer, but I didn't know the details!!
Great teaser!! Easy enough to guess the answer, but I didn't know the details!!
That was great, keep them coning
I got it but didn't realize the tail headed outward from our view
Very good teaser!
sory but i didnt really like it
o well: didn't get it
that was a good one i would of never guest that.
This Teaser was good. I was totally off. Off the entire Topic, I was thinking English Comp. Don't Ask. Learn something everyday, How new it is, I donnn't know. Is there Wind, real Wind around the Sun?
nice one, not in a million would I have guessed that one.
I was thinking toronado? Nice teaser. Keep 'em coming!
out of this world
Very easy but good job anyhow
I didn't know any of that about a comet. I was thinking a computer mouse
Didn't think of that....great job....keep them coming!!!
I GOT IT!!! omg yay! ^___^
Very good.
i would have 2 b smarter 2 get that one... maybe next time... but it was a real cool teaser!
Fun one thanks!
Mar 15, 2006
Don't tell me you haven't heard that a million times in like... what?? 7th grade?? C'mon guys..
Enjoyed your riddle! Took a semi-educated guess & got it right!
good one
I was thinking about a shooting star, but I never saw one leave Then when I read the answer I understood. I have never seen this actually occur though. Good teaser thanks.
This teaser was out in space.
I said a scuba diver. Sometimes when a diver goes down into a ship, or something like that, they will bring a rope to lead them out.
This one was easy, but enjoyable.
And yes, there is a solar wind; check out www.spaceweather.com.
And yes, there is a solar wind; check out www.spaceweather.com.
Comet was the only thing I could think of. Didn't really know the reasoning behind it but the explanation given was nice. Thanks for making me smarter!
I liked it, had to think for a minute then came up with comet.
I thought of comet before I finished reading the last sentence.
Good one.
Good one.
NICE!!!
tat was easy ! i randomly guessed right ! lol
nice! I thought of a kite, since the tail appears longer as it gets closer, and since it goes in the direction of the wind, it leads the way as a kite goes higher/farther away.
I got it right away.
Thanks for posting.
Thanks for posting.
I also got it right away. Nice teaser. Thanks for posting.
I got it ,but don't know why. Comet was the only thing I could think of with a tail. Did not know about the details. Fun to know you got it without knowing how or why!
Comets can have two tails; one of the gaseous emissions which is blown away from the sun by the solar wind, and one of dust and ice which follows more along the orbit of the comet and to a much lesser extent blown off by the solar wind. So, a comet could be both leading and following its tail when heading away from the sun.
I thought it was a missile, lol.
I got it. Good teaser.
Could this have been any easier? I went straight from the title to the comments.
i concur with catmom; they can't all be hard, though!
Not everyone is an astronomer.
Easy teasy, but with a terrific explanation in the answer. I would put this in the science category, but that might be too big of a hint.
For those not familiar with comets, this would not be easy at all, and could be quite enlightening.
For those not familiar with comets, this would not be easy at all, and could be quite enlightening.
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