What are the possibilities that a meteor might hit earth?

Question

...and kill us all

Answer 1

IT WILL HAPPEN TONIGHT
You will be the only one to die.

Answer 2

Really good. Thousands of meteors, mostly tiny ones, the size of grains of sand, enter the atmosphere each day. Most of them burn up in the atmosphere, long before they actually reach the ground. The earth receives tons of meteor "dust" every day. When the meteors are large enough to survive their passage through the atmosphere, they fall to the ground or into the oceans, at which time they are called meteorites. Meteorites hit somewhere on earth every day. The smaller ones usually escape notice. Larger ones can produce sonic booms, trails of light and smoke, and craters in the ground. These may be found if there is someone nearby who takes notice and then works to locate where the meteorite fell.

70% of meteorites go into the oceans and are pretty much lost until someone figures out how to harvest them from the ocean bottom in the same way that they can be picked up on the ice in Antartica.

The odds of you or your home or car being hit by a meteorite are extremely small. You'd win a lot of lotteries before you had to worry about that. BUT, as with lotteries, sometimes it happens. People, homes, cars, and animals have been hit before, but it happens so rarely that it's always newsworthy, and when was the last time you read about it happening?

Answer 3

A small, newly discovered asteroid has a one-in-500 chance of striking the Earth in 2030, scientists said, stressing that while the odds are slim, theyve never been worse.
"This is the first time we have ever had a prediction of an impact at this high a probability level, but its still very unlikely," said David Morrison, chairman of the International Astronomical Unions Working Group on Near-Earth Objects.
Initial estimates peg the objects diameter at 98 to 230 feet (30 to 70 meters). The upper limit would mean the object merits careful monitoring, since it would be of a size that could cause considerable local damage were it to strike the Earth.
Paul Chodas, the principal engineer in the Near-Earth Object Program office at NASAs Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), estimates a one-in-500 chance it would collide with Earth on September 21, 2030.

Answer 4

Need a few definitions here...

Meteoroid - A dust to boulder sized rock in interplanetary space, smaller than 50 meters in diameter (or 10 meters by another definition), but significantly larger than an atom (at least 100 micrometers generally). anything larger is considered an asteroid, and anything smaller is just interstellar dust.

Meteor - The visible light event that is seen when a meteoroid impacts Earth's atmosphere, sometimes called a shooting or falling star. It is caused by the high energy of the ram pressure of the meteoroid moving through the air (not friction). It can sometimes leave behind a visible ion trail that will last for awhile

Meteorite - A meteoroid that has survived it's trek through the atmosphere and has landed on Earth's surface intact.

Tektite - Often mistaken for meteorites, this is solidified molten rock that was splashed away from an impact event of a meteoroid.

Meteoroids impact the Earth's atmosphere constantly. They generally do no harm. A vast majority of Earth's surface is unpopulated so when one does hit the surface, it is usually in water or away from people.

The objects that pose a potential threat to Earth are asteroids and comets. We are likely to notice an asteroid on an impact trajectory for Earth many years before it will happen, though whether or not we can do something to prevent it's impact is another matter.

Comets are far more dangerous because they are moving much faster than asteroids are, and they come from the outer solar system so we are unlikely to see them until a few months before impact, giving us little warning or time to prepare.

Catastrophic impacts have happened to Earth in the past and its likely one may be in store for us in the future. However right now there are no known objects that have a chance of hitting us that is larger than the overall chance of an impact.

Answer 5

One hits every day. So the chance is 100%. If you are thinking of a much bigger impact read below:

The risk of an impact by asteroid 2004 MN4 went up slightly on Saturday, Dec. 25. It is now pegged at having a 1-in -45 chance of striking the planet on April 13, 2029. That's up from 1-in-63 late on Dec. 24, and 1-in-300 early on Dec. 24.

Astronomers still stress that it is very likely the risk will be reduced to zero with further observations. And even as it stands with present knowledge, the chances are 97.8 percent the rock will miss Earth.

Answer 6

There are many parts of meteors hitting the earth each day. There is always a possibility of a large meteor hitting us, but it is not something that I worry about.

Answer 7

Meteors hit earth all the time. Thankfully, most of their matter has burned off in our atmosphere, so the impact is greatly reduced. Space is full of hurtling projectiles and it's only a matter of time until we are hit by a big one. The effect it will have depends entirely upon it's size and where it lands. If it's big enough, it will have a huge impact on our climate.

Answer 8

Excellent. Many small meteors hit the earth every day.

Answer 9

it depends on the trajectory of the spacial element. many objects travel into the earths atmosphere but because of their size the friction caused by our atmosphere causes them to disintergrate before they actually hit the planet. Unless you can actually see what objects may be on their way to comming close to earth then I guess you wouldn't be able to tell really. But i guess it's a pretty good possibility that there may be some objects considered meteors that may have the mass needed to break through our atmosphere and impact on the earth

Answer 10

well the possiblities are less
infact many hit earth daily .. but they are too small to make a impact .. before they reach earth surface they will get burned ..
there are many rumours that meteor will hit earth..
but i dont think sooo

Answer 11

in reality 100%, because everyday one meteor is hitting the earth, what you probably means is a global killer, one big enough to destroy man life on earth.
That change is not to calculate, but since we found big impact of meteors who has hit us in the past, i would say probably bigger than 50% , but it is not really to put in figure.
we never see them coming on time anyway.

Films as armagetdon are nice but we are not yet prepared to destroy them.

Eddy