How can I use fireballs in maths lessons?
Fireballs offer real data for speed, distance, angles, triangulation, scale and statistics, from simple calculations to trigonometry.
Fireball and meteor data provide real-world contexts for many maths topics.
Speed, distance and time. A meteoroid travels at, say, 20 kilometres per second. How far does it go in a 4-second fireball? How long would it take to cross the UK? Compare with an aeroplane at about 250 metres per second.
Unit conversion. Convert 72 kilometres per second into kilometres per hour, about 259,000, or into metres per second.
Angles and triangulation. Two observers 50 kilometres apart see the end of a fireball at different elevation angles. Using trigonometry, pupils calculate its height. This is how fireball networks work. Simple scale drawings serve younger pupils.
Statistics. Meteor counts from a shower can be plotted against time, giving practice in bar charts, line graphs and averages. Pupils can compare rates before and after midnight and suggest reasons.
Probability and risk. The chance of being hit by a meteorite is tiny. Compare with other everyday risks, discussing how such probabilities are estimated.
Kinetic energy. For GCSE, calculate the energy of a 1-tonne meteoroid at 20 kilometres per second using half m v squared: 2 times 10 to the power 11 joules, roughly equivalent to 50 tonnes of TNT.
Scale. Compare sizes of asteroids, craters and planets using ratios, or build a scale model of the Solar System.
Using real numbers from recent events, such as the Chelyabinsk fireball's speed of about 19 kilometres per second, shows pupils that maths describes the world.
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