you always see pictures of the crater, but u never see the meteorite. So what happens to it?
2007-09-18 01:23:42 · 7 answers · asked by topsoldiersmom 1 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Earth Sciences & Geology
It depends o the size of the meteorite, and its composition.
If the meteorite was small, less than a metre in size, it might survive impact (especially if it landed in soft soil). Smaller ones could actually be picked up, because they would have been cooled as they fell through the atmosphere.
If the meteorite is large (say more than twenty metres across), the force of impact will be so great that not only will the meteorite shatter, but if it is metallic, it will melt or even evaporate. The contents re-bound out of the crater, and get spewed over the surrounding area (ever wonder where the material went that was where the crater now is?). One group of entrepeneurs didn't realise this, and tried to mine the Arizona meteorite crater for the nickel that would have been in the meteorite; but the contents of the meteorite had evaporated, and been spread over thousands of square miles.
A very large meteorite of a few kilometres in size would have a dramatic effect, raining molten rock down over a wide area, and pumping masses of dust into the atmosphere. Life would not be the same, and they say this is what happened to the dinosaurs (I'm not yet convinced).
The impact of a gigantic meteorite of a hundred kilometres or more across would melt the earth's crust for hundreds of kilometres around, and cause cataclasmic earthquakes that would destroy just about every man made object.
2007-09-18 03:34:22 · answer #1 · answered by AndrewG 7 · 5⤊ 0⤋
Meteorites are ones that are on the floor, so no, they are no longer hitting the Moon, and not in any respect did. whether, METEORS are hitting the Moon for all time. The Apollo missions left 4 seismographs on the Moon. One stopped working after in user-friendly terms ten days, however the others continued till NASA ordered them grew to become off. They indicated that one or 2 meteors struck the Moon daily with a means complicated sufficient to be picked up. whether, no craters sufficiently massive to work out from the Earth with a telescope look to have been formed on the Moon because of the fact the 12th Century, whilst a crater named Joliot-Curie (named for Madame Curie's son-in-regulation) seems to have been created. of course, technically even a grain of sand stunning the Moon will make a tiny crater, yet I doubt that's what you're too interested in.
2016-10-18 23:35:16 · answer #2 · answered by hussaini 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
When a large meteorite hits the ground with enough force to make a crater like the one in Arizona or Wolf Creek in Australia , the tremendous energy released will completely shatter the meteorite as it does to the ground. This energy is comparable to an atom bomb and the explosion throws the shattered object and rocks high into the atmosphere as dust.
Winds carry the dust for thousands of miles.
The only time you will find lumps of meteorite in a crater is when the crater is very small because the entry speed of the object was low ( the Earth runs into it as it travels through space rather than the object hitting the Earth head on).
2007-09-18 02:38:52 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 2⤋
take the Diablo canyon crater, the largest open meteorite crater on earth. pieces of the meteorite, which exploded on impct, can be found in the walls of the crater, and all over the surrounding area, for several miles around. small pieces of this meteorite are the easiest to obtain, and the least expensive of any meteorite.
2007-09-19 13:28:47 · answer #4 · answered by deva 6 · 1⤊ 1⤋
Meteorites are not big at all. They are about the size of a pea, but when they enter the atmosphere, they burn so hot and they are coming with so much force into earth due to the pull of gravity, that they cause a massive hol.e When a meteor is larger, though, the force of it hitting the earth causes it to turn into billions of pieces, so it blends into the crater. Also, since the meteor is so hot, it burns up and melts. There are a lot of reasons why you don't see it.
2007-09-18 01:41:50 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 7⤋
It explodes, and pieces of it are found all around and in he crater. Some of it may be vaporized by the explosion.
2007-09-18 03:48:48 · answer #6 · answered by miyuki & kyojin 7 · 3⤊ 1⤋
Typically, it gets buried underneath the bottom of the crater.
2007-09-18 01:41:03 · answer #7 · answered by ZikZak 6 · 2⤊ 5⤋