SOLAR SYSTEM

Detailed explanation-1: -A meteor is made up of bits of dust and rock that broke away from colliding asteroids, comets, or planets. Most of these chunks of rock and metal burn up in the Earth’s atmosphere and become meteoroids. If they reach Earth’s surface we call them meteorites.

Detailed explanation-2: -Some come from comets, others from asteroids, and some even come from the Moon and other planets. Some meteoroids are rocky, while others are metallic, or combinations of rock and metal. When meteoroids enter Earth’s atmosphere, or that of another planet, like Mars, at high speed and burn up, they’re called meteors.

Detailed explanation-3: -Ordinary chondrites are the most common type of stony meteorite, accounting for 86 percent of all meteorites that have fallen to Earth. They are named for the hardened droplets of lava, called chondrules, embedded in them.

Detailed explanation-4: -In simplest terms, a meteorite is a rock that falls to Earth from space. Meteorites are rocks, but they are not like Earth rocks. Most are far older, and they provide some of the only samples we have of other worlds – other planets, asteroids and possibly comets – in our solar system.

Detailed explanation-5: -Friction can produce heat. This can be observed if you rub your palm against each other. Likewise, when a meteorite enters the earth’s atmosphere, the air applies a frictional force against the motion of the meteorite. Due to this frictional force, heat is produced and the meteor starts burning.

Detailed explanation-6: -They consist mainly of iron-nickel metal with small amounts of sulphide and carbide minerals. During the decay of radioactive elements in the early history of the solar system, many asteroids melted and the iron they contained, being dense, sank to the centre to form a metallic core.