When a meteoroid enters earths atmosphere friction causes it to burn up and produce a streak of light called?

Answer 1

As a meteoroid encounters the Earth's atmosphere frictional heating begins at an altitude of 100 to 120 km. What happens next depends on the speed, mass, and friability (tendency to break up) of the meteoroid. Micrometeoroids radiate heat so effectively that they survive unchanged to reach the surface as micrometeorites. Objects about the size of sugar grains burn up as meteors or "shooting stars". Friable meteoroids break up and are destroyed at altitudes of 80 to 90 km. Those which are tougher survive longer and produce fireballs as their surface is melted and eaten away at temperatures of several thousand degrees. Fireballs are often followed by meteorite falls.

Answer 2

A meteoroid entering Earths atmosphere producing a streak of light is known as a "Shooting Star" or sometimes a "Falling Star".

Just a sub note that if the meteoroid enters the atmosphere but does not hit the ground it is known as a meteor. If it hits the ground it is a meteoroid.

Answer 3

The streak of light from a meteoroid skimming through the Earth's atmosphere is called a Meteor. The light is produced by the ionization of gas as the meteroroid heats up with friction in the thin upper atmosphere.

Answer 4

It's called a "meteor", but friction isn't the primary cause of the heat. The cause of the heat, which often causes the meteoroid to explode or vaporize entirely, is caused even more by the heat of compression.

As you compress a gas, it heats up. (If you've ever filled a Scuba tank, you know that you have to have cold water running over the tank to remove the heat of compression; otherwise, the tank can fracture!) The more or the faster you heat it, the faster it heats up. A rock moving at 40,000 miles per hour or more is slamming into the atmosphere, but the air CANNOT MOVE OUT OF THE WAY fast enough. Air can't travel faster than the "speed of sound", which varies by altitude but isn't much higher than 800 MPH. So the column of air that's being compressed by the speeding rock, the superheating air can incinerate the rock, and thermal stresses can cause parts of the rock to heat up unevenly, causing it to fracture.

Oh, yeah, and there's a lot of heat of friction too, on top of the thermal compression.

Answer 5

"Meteor", "shooting star", or "falling star".
meteor

Answer 6

Those are called meteorites. The actual visual phenomenon (the thing you see) is also called a meteor, or a shooting star (but it's not really a star).

Answer 7

Friction is only part of the force that causes a meteor to heat up; compressive heating of the meteor compressing the air ahead of it is a more significant component.

Answer 8

The streak of light is usually called a shooting star.

The word used by astronomers is "meteor". Then, if it hits the ground, it's

called a meteorite.

Answer 9

A shooting star.

Answer 10

It is commonly called a shooting star