Meteoroid Essay

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INTRODUCTION
The purpose of this lab was to determine the impacts meteorites have on the surface of the Earth in the form of craters, dependent upon their varying density, size and the height from which they fall. However, before explaining why it is important to understand the characteristics of meteorites and their impacts, it is vital to first describe the basics of different aspects that will be discussed in this lab report, to further enhance understanding.
A meteoroid is a small portion of either dust, rock, ice or metal that is traveling in space. Meteoroids can be the size of a speck of dust, or upwards of 10 meters in diameter (Science Kids, 2016). Furthermore, when a meteoroid enters the Earth’s atmosphere and burns radiantly, leaving a tail of flames or smoke, it is known as a meteor. These meteors, sometimes called ‘shooting stars’ burn through in the atmosphere. However, what is a meteorite? When a meteoroid passes through the Earth’s atmosphere and reaches the Earth’s surface, unlike meteors, they are classified as meteorites (Bevan and Laeter, 2013). When reaching Earth’s surface, these meteorites are not exactly traveling slowly. Instead, their high-speed …show more content…

Varying characteristics of craters affect the impact it creates. These aspects are the density which is the compactness of an object, (Jones, 2017) the size in regards to diameter, and the height of its fall, (force of impact), of a meteorite. What is the effect of an increased density, size, and/or height of fall of a meteorite on the crater it creates? It is imperative to understand how craters are formed and the characteristics of meteorites that affect their size, in order to predict damage control. If a meteorite is forecasted to hit the Earth at a given time, and its density, size or height of fall (force of impact) are known, the size of its crater can be predicted, allowing for the victim area to prepare for a

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