What usually happens when large meteor hits the earth?

Answer 1

A meteor impact - is simply a meteor that is too large to completely vaporise as it travels through the Earth's atmosphere. If it survives the journey - it leaves an 'impact crater' as it hits the ground.

Technically a meteor that impacts the Earth surface is a meteorite not a meteor. So the question should be what is a meteorite impact. Meteors burn up in the Earth's atmosphere. Meteorites are rocky objects from space.

Answer 2

Bodies called asteroids passing by the Earth are drawn to Earth by gravity. Depending on the angle of approach and the distance and size of the body, it may be merely deflected in its path or drawn into the Earth's atmosphere, at which point it is called a meteor. As it enters the atmosphere, it burns up because of friction as it rubs against the molecules that make up our atmosphere.

If any part of it survives to make impact with the surface of the Earth, it is called a meteorite. If a large enough part survives, it makes a dent in the Earth's surface known as a crater. If an extremely large part survives, it makes a huge crater, throws up enough dust into the atmosphere to disrupt our climate and kill off almost every living thing. Earth has had at least six of those that we know of in its history.

Answer 3

Meteors strike the Earth every day; thousands of them. The vast majority of them are tiny, dust-sized, or rice-sized. But sometimes bigger ones do hit the atmosphere. Last month, a meteor that was probably about 6 feet in diameter struck the Earth and exploded with the power of a small nuclear bomb high in the atmosphere over eastern Indonesia. Fortunately, it was high enough that it caused no damage. In early November, 2009 (just a few days ago!) a small asteroid was observed only 15 hours before passing within 8000 miles of the Earth.

If a LARGE meteor were to strike the Earth, it could be devastating. In addition to the actual impact if you happened to be underneath it, the impact might fling tons of debris into the air, much as water splashes when you throw a rock into a lake. The shock wave from the impact would be like a nuclear explosion, knocking down trees, buildings, and anything in the way. Depending on the mass of the meteor, it might throw a cloud of dust into the atmosphere, which could darken the sky, much like the eruption a volcano. If the impactor were large enough, the amount of dust thrown into the sky might cause an artificial winter, as the Sun's light would be reflected back into space instead of warming the Earth as it does now.

65 million years ago, dinosaurs ruled the Earth. We believe that over the course of a few thousand years, they all became extinct because an asteroid almost 10 miles in diameter struck the Earth. The devastation killed off every large animal on the planet, and about 60% of all life on Earth.

Answer 4

Earth's gravitational pull kept the meteor in orbit around Earth slowly pulling it closer to it, eventually causing it to land into Earth's atmosphere.

Answer 5

because a planets gravitational field pulls them in. the meteors come from asteroid belts and things left over from supernovas

Answer 6

We are constantly being hit by meteorites. They burn up in the atmosphere and become so tiny and minuscule that they make no impact upon us