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A printable worksheet for the lesson What falls from the sky (Adult). It prints on A4 without the website around it. The answers are on a separate sheet for the teacher.

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Adult · Adults; no background neededHowardites worksheet

What falls from the sky

Name:Class:Date:

Key words

Meteoroid
A meteoroid is a small piece of rock or metal travelling through space.
Fireball
A fireball is an extra-bright meteor, brighter than the planet Venus.
Bolide
A bolide is a very bright fireball, often one that explodes or breaks apart in the sky.
Micrometeorite
A micrometeorite is a tiny particle of space dust, usually smaller than a millimetre, that has reached Earth's surface.
Fall
A fall is a meteorite that people saw coming down and then collected.
Find
A find is a meteorite discovered on the ground without anyone having seen it fall.

Choose the right answer

Circle the letter of the right answer.

  1. If meteorites land at random over the globe, roughly what share would you expect to fall into the sea?
    • AAbout 30%
    • BAbout 70%
    • CAbout 95%
    • DAbout 10%
  2. Which kind of meteorite makes up the great majority of the tens of thousands known?
    • AFinds
    • BFalls
    • CMicrometeorites
    • DBolides
  3. A country covers 1% of Earth's surface. If 10,000 meteorites land at random in a year, how many would it receive?
    • AAbout 100
    • BAbout 1,000
    • CAbout 10
    • DAbout 1
  4. Why can the orbit of a find not usually be worked out?
    • AFinds come from outside the Solar System
    • BFinds are too heavy to be measured
    • CNobody recorded its path through the sky
    • DFinds are always too weathered to study
  5. What happens over time to a meteorite that lands unseen and is never collected?
    • AIt is pulled back into space by the Sun
    • BIt always burns away within a few days
    • CIt may be found later, or slowly weather away
    • DIt sinks deep underground within weeks

True or false?

Is the answer given right? Tick True or False.

  1. How often do rocks big enough to leave meteorites of more than a few grams land on Earth?

    Answer given: Many thousands of times a year worldwide TrueFalse

  2. Two stones of the same type are studied: one picked up the day after a seen fall, one found in a desert. Which is likely fresher?

    Answer given: Both, as space rocks never weather TrueFalse

Write your answer

Answer in a word or a short sentence.

  1. A bright meteor crosses the sky, but nothing survives to the ground. Was a meteorite produced?
  2. Where have most of the world's known meteorites been collected?
  3. In the strict vocabulary of the lesson, what is a meteor?

Task

Read about one recent fireball on this site's fireball pages. Note the time, where it was seen and how long it lasted. Then think about what you would do if you saw one: where you were, which direction you faced, and how long it lasted are the most useful details for scientists.

Howardites · free to copy for use in your classroom · answers are on the separate teacher's answer sheet