meteorites

This worksheet will guide you through how to download Google Earth, how to navigate to each impact crater, how to measure the diameter of each crater and to put the sizes of these craters into perspective. You will then be asked to calculate the kinetic energies involved in some of the impacts which have created these craters.

What will I need for this activity?

• Google Earth - download from: http://earth.google.com/

Use Google Mars to observe some real impact craters on the Martian surface.

We suggest you try the activity; 'Measuring impact craters on the Earth' first as this activity compares craters and surface features on the two planets.

The Down2Earth Meteorite Loan Box is the focal point for this activity. Students examine and draw the meteorites, with and without magnification, consider their density and compare them with Earth rocks.

Back Down 2 Earth (BD2E) is an expansion of the existing Down 2 Earth (D2E) education project which teaches school students aged 11-19 about the geological side to astronomy. In this 46-page booklet you will learn about the wonders of comets and asteroids and the possible destruction that these bodies can cause on planets such as our own.

View this as a web-page (some material omitted).

Meteorite impacts are devastating events but it is not only the impact itself which causes destruction but the after effects of these phenomena which can be just as catastrophic. From stratigraphic records and accounts of recent impact events we can build up a picture of various resulting disasters encountered when these space rocks collide with the Earth.

OverviewThis lesson aims to introduce pupils to the different effects of a meteorite impact and develop their understanding of various mitigation techniques for these events.

This lesson allows pupils to create impact craters in layered dry materials. Pupils can perform controlled experiments by varying the velocity or mass of crater-forming objects and observing and measuring their effects.

Aims

Students will determine the effects of wind, sandblasting and water on regolith formation and deposition on Earth. After discussing whether or not they think that lunar regolith is formed in the same way, the students will simulate regolith formation on the Moon by meteoritic bombardment.

This document provides a concise background to meteorites including what they are and where they come from.