Why are the largest meteorites usually made of iron?

Answer 1

There are three main classifications of Martian meteorite, Shergotty, Nakhla and Chassigny. There is a new single example which more closely resembles the moon specimens as it is basaltic breccia.

Answer 2

The largest meteorites are usually made of iron because iron is more dense than other materials commonly found in meteorites, such as silicate minerals. This density allows iron meteorites to survive the intense heat and pressure of entering Earth's atmosphere and make it to the surface relatively intact.

Answer 3

As we don't know which asteroid is going to hit the earth it is impossible to know what is is made of.

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Asteroid 2012 DA14, the one that's in the press in early February 2013, was never predicted to hit the Earth. Today, February 15, 2013, the asteroid passed by the Earth at a distance of about 17,000 miles; a very close call in astronomical terms!

A couple of smaller objects did strike the Earth today, although we cannot yet know whether these are related at all. Tens of thousands of meteoroids strike the Earth each day; the only thing unusual would be that TWO fairly substantial objects would strike on the same day. One exploded over Chelyabinsk, Russia; this object was probably about the size of a car, and the object exploded due to compressive and frictional heating. The shock wave broke windows and caused over a thousand injuries from flying glass.

I'm reading accounts of a second object that hit eastern Cuba, but haven't seen any pictures yet.

It's quite likely that people will find fragments of the Chelyabinsk meteorite, and at least possible that people may find pieces of the one that hit Cuba.

Answer 4

The largest meteorites are made actually made of iron and stone. The meteorites get the stone from from floating debris in space, such as the belt of meteorites around the sun. The meteorites get the iron from the same place.

Answer 5

If an asteroid (pretty much a small planet) smashes into enough space debris, it can possibly become small enough to not destroy the Earth when it lands here.

A meteorite is classified as a piece of space debris that survives re-entry into the Earth's atmosphere. So if an asteroid breaks down enough, Yes it can be a meteorite.

Answer 6

While in space the lump of rock or metal is called a meteoroid

When it hits the atmosphere and becomes a "shooting star" it is called a meteor.

Meteors are brief flashes of light that we see in the sky, caused by the atoms which have been excited in the air from the object's high speed

If it survives the transit through the atmosphere and hits the ground, the bit hitting the ground is called a meteorite.

So in answer to your question - to become a meteorite a meteor must survive ablation by Earth's atmosphere and hit the ground.

Answer 7

When they are on the planets surface. Its all to do with the location. They are `meteors` when seen in the sky, burning up and `meteoroids` when out in space.

"Rite" when it hits the Earth!

Answer 8

A lump of matter orbiting the sun is a meteoroid.

Answer 9

There are 3 basic types: irons (siderites), stony-irons (siderolites) and stones (aerolites).

Answer 10

Meteoroids are made up of debris left from comets.