[meteorite-list] Fireball question / sonic boom

[Chris Peterson]

The vast majority of meteorites retard while they are still far too high for 
sonic booms to reach the ground. The big, impressive fireballs that are more 
massive and reach lower heights are the exceptions. The meteoroids that slow 
down while still high are more likely to produce single meteorites; those 
that have enough mass to reach low altitudes still traveling at high speed 
tend to fragment and produce strewn fields.

Chris

*****************************************
Chris L Peterson
Cloudbait Observatory
http://www.cloudbait.com


----- Original Message ----- 
From: <GeoZay at aol.com>
To: <meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com>
Sent: Tuesday, March 29, 2011 11:12 PM
Subject: Re: [meteorite-list] Fireball question / sonic boom


>>>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.<<
>
>
> Wouldn't these(meteorites) that  are high enuf that no sonic boom will
> reach the ground end up being rather small  meteorites? This because a 
> small
> meteorite will be slowed down rather quickly  higher up. The larger 
> meteorites
> having more momentum to carry it on down to the  lower atmosphere will 
> still
> have a velocity fast enuf to produce the big thunder  like sonics?
> GeoZay