does it slow down or speed up when shooting round up there
2006-10-05 09:04:29 · 9 answers · asked by paul s 1 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Astronomy & Space
I don't know the speed. But you only see it when it enters the earths atmosphere. That's what makes is glow.
The dense atmosphere in comparison to space slows the object by friction. This generates intense heat which in turn causes the object to burn up.
2006-10-05 09:08:54 · answer #1 · answered by letem haveit 4 · 0⤊ 1⤋
When a body encounters the atmosphere at speeds of 11 km/sec or above, the frictional forces slow it down.
Returning space probes and the shuttle use this to slow down, and the Apollo astronauts experienced 6g in the deceleration caused by the entry into the atmosphere.
Meteors, asteroids and cometary particles enter the atmosphere at various speeds from 11 km/sec upwards.
The speed is dependent on how the thing is moving in relation to the Earth, remembering that the Earth itself is moving at 30 km/sec in orbit. So, for a "head-on" entry you would have to add that speed to the object's speed.
Very few objects come in "head-on" because most objects in the Solar System travel around the sun in the same direction. The fastest objects are the occasional comets that come into the inner Solar System from a different direction, and they can impact at up to 70 km/sec (40 miles/sec).
2006-10-05 16:15:38 · answer #2 · answered by nick s 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
20 km/s is a good number to work with. The actual speed depends on where the shooting star (I.E. pebble) came from. If it is from earth orbit then it might be as slow as 10 km/s, interplanetary stuff is 20-40 km/s and anything from outside the solar system would be > 40 km/s but nobody has ever definitively identified such a particle.
2006-10-07 17:01:48 · answer #3 · answered by m.paley 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
They vary in speed. Most of them enter the Earth's atmosphere at somewhere around 20 kilometers per second. They decelerate because of air resistance, and by the time they appear to go out, they are moving quite a bit slower than when they first hit the atmosphere. Eventually they pretty much come to a stop and just float down through the air like any other dust.
2006-10-05 16:09:50 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
According to Wikipedia, the velocity of a shooting star, or meteor, ranges from 11.2 km/sec to 71 km/sec.
In simple terms, they are fragments of rock and ice, most no larger than a grain of sand, which hit the Earth's atmosphere, and burn up with the friction from the air.
2006-10-05 16:13:20 · answer #5 · answered by Stephen L 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Meteors travel through space at speeds ranging from 36,000 kilometers per hour to 252,000 km/hr ( 22,369 to 156,585 miles per hour.) Upon entering the atmosphere, they slow down due to the large amount of friction with the air (which also causes them to burn up so you can see them.) This slows them down to a couple hundred mph.
2006-10-05 16:15:01 · answer #6 · answered by wdmc 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
A shooting star is an another myth, a shooting star is a merorite burning up as it reaches the earth atmostphere.
2006-10-09 15:24:34 · answer #7 · answered by SARSAT-BT20 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
FYI ITS not a shooting star. its eather a comet, mediore or just a space dust.but the glow is 4m the object entring the atmosphere.
2006-10-05 19:44:52 · answer #8 · answered by tickle650 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
WELL PAUL S , BEST WAY TO FIND OUT IS BORROW A HAND HELD SPEED CAMERA , LIKE THE ONE POLICE USE.
2006-10-05 16:13:36 · answer #9 · answered by perzi c 1 · 0⤊ 1⤋