How many meteorites strike the Earth each year?
First off, meteors enter the Earth’s atmosphere every minute of the year, but most burn up in the atmosphere. Every 1 out of 10 meteors will impact the Earth, some will cause damage, some will not, maybe dent a car at the most. Now some do leave craters, such as the crater in Arizona that measures somewhere around a mile in diameter. But there is a 1 out of 100 chance that a meteorite that big would impact the Earth everyday, possibly even weeks or months. But we are impacted everyday by meteorites, most are the size of a quarter, even smaller than that. You will occasionally get a meteor the size of a computer monitor or a car that will leave a decent size crater in the Earth. If the meteors impact the Earth they are called “meteorites”. Meteors that burn up in the atmosphere are called “Meteoroids”. Meteors that do not enter the Earth’s atmosphere are called “Meteors”.
