Howardites

A printable worksheet for the lesson Three kinds of meteorite (Start here: Beginner). It prints on A4 without the website around it. The answers are on a separate sheet for the teacher.

Answer sheet for teachersBack to the lessonAll worksheets

Start here: Beginner · Ages 7 and upHowardites worksheet

Three kinds of meteorite

Name:Class:Date:

Key words

Asteroid
A rocky or metal-rich object, smaller than a planet, that goes around the Sun.
Stony meteorite
A stony meteorite is one made mostly of rocky minerals, with little or no metal.
Iron-nickel metal
The shiny metal found in most meteorites, made of iron mixed with a little nickel.
Chondrule
A chondrule is a tiny round grain, often smaller than a grain of rice, that formed as a melted droplet in space before the planets existed.
Iron meteorite
An iron meteorite is made mostly of iron and nickel metal.
Pallasite
A stony-iron meteorite with green olivine crystals set in a network of shiny iron-nickel metal.

Choose the right answer

Circle the letter of the right answer.

  1. How did mesosiderites probably form?
    • AWhen lava flowed on Earth
    • BWhere metal and rock met deep inside a calm asteroid
    • CWhen asteroids smashed into each other
    • DWhen ice froze around metal
  2. You hold an iron meteorite in one hand and an Earth rock of the same size in the other. What do you notice?
    • AThey feel exactly the same
    • BThe iron feels far heavier
    • CThe Earth rock feels far heavier
    • DThe iron feels lighter, like a hollow can
  3. Which list matches "mostly rock", "mostly metal" and "a bit of both", in that order?
    • AStony, stony-iron, iron
    • BStony, iron, stony-iron
    • CIron, stony, stony-iron
    • DIron, stony-iron, stony
  4. What does a mesosiderite look like?
    • ASolid shiny metal all the way through
    • BTiny round beads packed tightly in rock
    • CGolden-green crystals set in shiny silver metal
    • DA jumble of broken rock and metal stuck together

True or false?

Is the answer given right? Tick True or False.

  1. Which of the three families is the rarest to fall?

    Answer given: Iron TrueFalse

  2. A cut meteorite is about half shiny metal and half rock. Which family is it from?

    Answer given: Chondrite TrueFalse

Write your answer

Answer in a word or a short sentence.

  1. How did the metal hearts of asteroids end up in space as separate pieces?
  2. Why did metal collect in the middle of some asteroids?

Task

Find a pebble and a metal object, such as a large bolt or a key, of a similar size. Hold one in each hand. Can you feel which is heavier? Iron meteorites feel heavy in the same way.

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