(meteorobs) flaming meteors

To: "Meteor" <meteorobs@atmob.org>
Subject: (meteorobs) flaming meteors
From: "Tom Fleming" <enders_gt1@prodigydot net>
Date: Wed, 25 Jul 2001 21:09:07 -0500
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It might be best to respond the the inquiring public by saying that meteors are only flaming at impact when Hollywood makes a movie.... Much more dramatic that way and that is what the general public expects to see.

It does still raise a point that has yet to be answered satisfactorily at this site (to my knowledge). At what point (range of masses) does a meteor (let's say a stony iron) have sufficient mass to retain most of its hypersonic velocity and heat to the earth's surface. Obviously the dinosaur killers did it but there is a lower limit. Any discussion?

I'm thinking the damage zone wouldnt be a burning corn field or an acre of scrub - but rather a sizable crater with a surrounding region burned by superheated air -

Would it be railroad car size at impact -- passenger car size -- Hayden museum specimen size??

Some suggested the grazer over the Tetons in 1972 might have been sufficient for that.