St.

Joseph’s Academy of Malinao, Aklan, Inc

(A Catholic Institution)
Malinao, Aklan

LEARNING ACTIVITY SHEET

Grade 8- SCIENCE
SECOND QUARTER
“My God will supply every need” Philippians 4:19
Name: Date:
Grade & Section: Week: 7 Session/s: 1
Learning Activity No: 7 Cluster:
Topic: Meteoriod, Meteor, and Meteorite Pick-up Location:
EXPECTATION: At the end of Week 7, the students will be able to:
1. Differentiate meteoroid from meteor and meteorite; and
2. Explain how meteors, meteoroid and meteorite related to each other.

Core Value: SELFLESS- Being able to give a help by spreading awareness.

I. EXPLORATION

If you were given a chance to wish between a Genie and shooting star, what would you choose? Why?
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II. EXPLANATION

What’s the difference between a meteor, meteoroid and meteorite?

They’re all related to the flashes of light called “shooting stars”

sometimes seen streaking across the sky. But we call the same
object by different names, depending on where it is.

Meteoroids are objects in space that range in size from dust grains
to small asteroids. Think of them as “space rocks."

When meteoroids enter Earth’s atmosphere (or that of another

planet, like Mars) at high speed and burn up, the fireballs or
“shooting stars” are called meteors.

When a meteoroid survives a trip through the atmosphere and hits

the ground, it’s called a meteorite.
Scientists collecting a meteorite from the Miller
Range in Antarctica.

III. ELABORATION
Using the table below, differentiate meteoroid from meteor and meteorite.
METEOROID METEOR METEORITE

IV. EVALUATION.
 In 3 sentences, write on how a meteor, meteoroid and meteorite related to each other?

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V. EXTENSION

If you find a shooting star up in the night sky, you will wish for something. Do you think there is a connection between
the occurrence of a shooting star and the realization of your dreams? Why?

VI. RESOURCES

 All photos were obtained from Google images.

Prepared by:

Magica Pearl S. Revicente

Science 8 Teacher
Facebook Account: Maj Sison

Checked by:
MS. MARYLY ARBOLEDA
Academic Coordinator

Approved by:

REV. FR. LAURENCE ANDREW U. OLIVA

Director-Principal

SUPPLEMENTAL READING
What’s that flash of light streaking across the sky? We call the objects that creates this brilliant effect by different names, depending on
where it is.

Meteoroids are what we call “space rocks” that range in size from dust grains to small asteroids. This term only applies when they’re in
space.

NASA astronomer Peter Jenniskens with a asteroid meteorite

found in the Nubian Desert of northern Sudan. Credit:
NASA/SETI/P. Jenniskens

Most are pieces of other, larger bodies that have been broken or
blasted off. Some come from comets, others from asteroids, and
some even come from the Moon and other planets. Some
meteoroids are rocky, while others are metallic, or combinations of
rock and metal.

When meteoroids enter Earth’s atmosphere, or that of another

planet, like Mars, at high speed and burn up, they’re
called meteors. This is also when we refer to them as “shooting
stars.” Sometimes meteors can even appear brighter than Venus --
that’s when we call them “fireballs.” Scientists estimate that about
48.5 tons (44,000 kilograms) of meteoritic material falls on Earth
each day.

When a meteoroid survives its trip through the atmosphere and hits the ground, it’s called a meteorite.

Meteor Showers

Several meteors per hour can usually be seen on any given night. When there are lots more meteors, you’re watching a meteor
shower. Some meteor showers occur annually or at regular intervals as the Earth passes through the trail of dusty debris left by a
comet (and, in a few cases, asteroids).

Meteor showers are usually named after a star or constellation that is close to where the meteors appear to originate in the sky.
Perhaps the most famous are the Perseids, which peak around August 12 every year. Every Perseid meteor is a tiny piece of the
comet Swift-Tuttle, which swings by the Sun every 135 years. Other notable meteor showers include the Leonids, associated with
comet Tempel-Tuttle; the Aquarids and Orionids, linked to comet Halley, and the Taurids, associated with comet Encke. Most of this
comet debris is between the size of a grain of sand and a pea and burns up in the atmosphere before reaching the ground. Sometimes,
meteor dust is captured by high-altitude aircraft and analyzed in NASA laboratories.

Finding Meteorites

Most space rocks smaller than a football field will break apart in Earth’s atmosphere. Traveling at tens of thousands of miles per hour,
the object disintegrates as pressure exceeds the strength of the object, resulting a bright flare. Typically less than 5 percent of the
original object will ever make it down to the ground. These meteorites, pieces of meteors that are found, typically range between the
size of a pebble and a fist.

Don’t expect to find meteorites after a meteor shower. Most meteor showers come from comets, whose material is quite fragile. Small
comet fragments generally won’t survive entry into our atmosphere. In theory, the Taurids and Geminids could send meteorites down to
our surface every once in a while, but no remnants have been traced to them definitively.

It can be difficult to distinguish a meteorite from an Earth rock by appearance alone in most parts of the world, but there are some
special places where they’re much easier to identify: deserts. In sandy deserts with large, open regions of sand and few rocks, dark
meteorites stand out clearly. Similarly, meteorites can be much easier to spot in cold, icy deserts, such as the frozen plains of
Antarctica.

Why Do We Care About Meteorites?

Meteorites that fall to Earth represent some of the original, diverse materials that formed planets billions of years ago. By studying
meteorites we can learn about early conditions and processes in the solar system’s history. These include the age and composition of
different planetary building blocks, the temperatures achieved at the surfaces and interiors of asteroids, and the degree to which
materials were shocked by impacts in the past.

What Do Meteorites Look Like?

Meteorites may resemble Earth rocks, but they usually have a burned exterior that can appear shiny. This “fusion crust” forms as the
meteorite’s outer surface melts while passing through the atmosphere.
There are three major types of meteorites: the "irons," the "stonys," and the stony-irons. Although the majority of meteorites that fall to
Earth are stony, most of the meteorites discovered long after they fall are irons. Irons are heavier and easier to distinguish from Earth
rocks than stony meteorites.

How Do We Know Where Meteorites Come From?

Most meteorites found on Earth come from shattered asteroids, although some come from Mars or the Moon. In theory, small pieces of
Mercury or Venus could have also reached Earth, but none have been conclusively identified.

Scientists can tell where meteorites originate based on several lines of evidence. They can use photographic observations of meteorite
falls to calculate orbits and project their paths back to the asteroid belt. They can also compare compositional properties of meteorites
to the different classes of asteroids. And they can study how old the meteorites are – up to 4.6 billion years.

Martian rocks can be traced to the Red Planet because they contain pockets of trapped gas that matches what satellites and rovers
have found at Mars. Similarly, if the composition of a meteorite resembles rocks that astronauts brought back from the Moon during the
Apollo mission, it is likely to be lunar, too. We know that a class of meteorites called “howardite-eucrite-diogenite” (HED) came from the
planet-like world Vesta in the asteroid belt, thanks to NASA’s Dawn mission.