Question

Large meteoroids are thought to collide with Earth?

1) about once a century
2) a few times in every million-year period
3) at least once a decade
4) never; only comets are thought to collide with Earth
5) once every billion years

Answer 1

Large meteoroids typically collide with Earth about once a century, while smaller meteorites fall much more frequently. Asteroids may end up impacting Earth or being ejected due to gravitational interactions within the solar system.

Step-by-step explanation:

Large meteoroids are believed to collide with Earth on different scales depending on their size. While some meteorites fall to Earth quite frequently, larger meteoroids have a less frequent collision rate with Earth.

The probability of large Earth-approaching asteroids impacting Earth or being ejected from the inner solar system is about the same, with a timescale for impact or ejection being about a hundred million years. Nevertheless, when considering larger objects that could potentially pose a significant threat, these are thought to collide with Earth about once every hundred years, which corresponds to option (1).

Meteorites can offer tremendous insights into the formation and early history of the solar system, as they originate from the break-up of meteoroids in Earth's atmosphere or are remnants of cometary material.