(meteorobs) Some general questions on the physics and orbital behaviour of meteors

[Mike Thornbury]

Sorry if these questions seem a bit naive, but I have no experience at all with astronomy and meteorics in particular and was hoping to get some layman's answers :)

Am I right in thinking that when we encounter a swarm such as the Leonids, it is travelling towards us, rather than catching us up, or striking us from 'the side' (please forgive my lack of appropriate celestial mechanics terminology).?

If an object were to come to earth via the shortest-path through the atmosphere (through the windshield, as it were), how much of an effect would ablation have? Assuming it was going significantly faster than our own 30km/s, it would be in the atmosphere for less than three seconds. Is this enough time to ablate away a 1kg lump of rocky meteoroid to nothing? Or is that a 'how long is a piece of string' question and totally dependent on the mass and make-up of the meteoroid?