I think most large fireballs do not produce meteorites. Most meteorites are
the product of rather ordinary meteors, which survive because they are slow
and shallow and slow down while still very high, don't fragment, and produce
single individuals. Of course, the vast majority of these are never found,
and those that are have no associated fireball. When there are big
fireballs- the sort that get meteorite hunters salivating- the situation is
different. Most big fireballs probably don't produce meteorites. Those that
do, however, do so because they start off with enough mass that they can
afford to lose 95% of it and still have something get low enough to hit
dense air at a low enough speed to avoid complete destruction. That height
is below about 30 km, which happens to be about the height where sonic booms
can be produced and reach the ground. So the presence of a sonic boom with a
fireball is a useful indicator that meteorites might be produced. The
absence of one, however, probably shouldn't be taken as an indicator that
they were not, since a meteor can still end (without complete ablation) high
enough that no sonic boom will reach the ground.
Chris
*****************************************
Chris L Peterson
Cloudbait Observatory
http://www.cloudbait.com
----- Original Message -----
From: <[email protected]>
To: <[email protected]>
Sent: Tuesday, March 29, 2011 7:34 AM
Subject: [meteorite-list] Fireball question / sonic boom
Hi List,
It seems like there have been many fireball sightings in the past few
months but no material being found on the ground, as in the recent
Oklahoma event. I was wondering if the absence of a sonic boom has
anything to do with it.
Does a sonic boom or explosion have to be present for a major meteorite
producing event? Could there still be a few meteorites on the ground with
no sonic boom? With Buzzard Coulee, Mifflin, Ash Creek these events all
produced meteorites and sonic booms were heard by the locals. Does anyone
know if there were sonic booms associated with the Park Forest and
Whetstone events?
Thanks,
Sonny
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