Meteorites, Meteors and Meteoroids

My roommate and I were talking about the weather earlier tonight because of how bizarre the weather has been in Riverside lately.  This conversation led us to wonder about the study of meteorology and then we both asked ourselves why in the world it is actually called 'meteorology'.  How important could meteors actually be in studying the weather?

It goes to show how little I know about my Greek roots. I soon discovered the word meteorology comes from the Greek word 'meteoros' meaning high in the air, meaning many things up in the high atmosphere could be described with that root word.

So after learning about all this, I took the next logical step and decided to once and for all get it all sorted out what is the difference between meteors, meteorites and meteoroids.

Meteoroids are small pieces of space debris floating around the Solar System minding their own business. Sometimes when meteoroids are just cruising along a massive object will swoop by them and gravity will yank it out of its own orbit. When Earth is that massive object that swoops by, often times, the meteoroids will have the misfortune of being pulled right into Earth's mesosphere and massively slowed down until they burn up and fall to Earth's surface. When burning up through the atmosphere a large path will generally show up in the sky behind the burning meteoroid. This large ribbon of color in the night sky is called the meteor. If the meteoroid isn't completely burnt up when it touches down on Earth, the surviving solid is called a meteorite.

Most meteoroids are only the size of your pinky toe and burn up completely in the atmosphere. However if they're large, they have a higher chance of creating meteorites impacting the ground.

One great way to remember the difference between meteoroids, meteors and meteorites is to do what one of my favorite musicians, Joanna Newsom, did in a section of her song, "Emily".

    That the meteorite is a source of the light
    and the meteor's just what we see
    and the meteoroid is a stone that's devoid of the fire that propelled it to thee.


    And the meteorite's just what causes the light
    and the meteor's how it's perceived
    and the meteoroid's a bone thrown from the void that lies quiet in offering to thee.