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Name: April W.
Status: educator
Age: 40s
Location: N/A
Country: N/A
Date: Friday, April 26, 2002
Question:
I am April, a 4th grade teacher at Riverlawn Elementary School in Virginia. My class is conducting a science project entitled: "What are the affects of a meteorite hitting a surface?" Could you please help us with our research?

We would like to know:

What is the average damage of a meteorite hitting a surface?

What are most meteorites made of?

Would the amount of damage to an area depend on size and speed of the meteorite?

I understand that most meteorites burn up before reaching the surface, what kind of material is the most common that does not burn up?

Replies:
The following may be useful.

http://www.psrd.hawaii.edu/Dec97/impactBlast.html

http://students.gallaudet.edu/Vienna.Baches/VBlab3PH.html

http://www.lpl.arizona.edu/SIC/impact_cratering/Enviropages/Barringer/barrin gerstartpage.html

http://www.meteor.co.nz/

Sky and Telescope and Astronomy magazines:
http://www.skypub.com/excite/AT-skypubquery.shtml

http://www.astronomy.com/home.asp

You may also wish to check the following NASA sites:
http://www.nasa.gov

http://www.jpl.nasa.gov

http://teachspacescience.stsci.edu/cgi-bin/ssrtop.plex

---Nathan A. Unterman


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