How Craters are Formed? Essay

Submitted By charley1489
Words: 544
Pages: 3

You are going to do an investigation into a factor that affects the crater formed by collision
Aim
In this investigation i plan to look into the factors that affect a crater being formed and then looking in depth to one of these factors. I will look at the size of a crater is imprinted into a surface. Once ive chosen a factor to investigate i will perform an experiment where i can look into it and then i will conclude my results. How are craters formed?
Craters are formed when a large amount of energy is produced when an object travelling of a high speed hits a surface.This is called kinetic energy. When objects pass through the atmosphere, a fast­moving meteoroid compresses the air in front of it, heating up both the air and the meteoroid. This heat vaporizes small impactors before they reach the surface. Larger meteoroids reach the Earth’s surface and can produce craters. Variables in the creation of crater
Mass­If the projectile has a larger mass, the bigger the crater formed as it will have more kinetic energy and will hit the surface harder.
Speed­ The faster the speed of the projectile the more kinetic energy there is and therefore will form a crater.
Height­The speed of the projectile depends on the height, the further away the projectile is to the surface, the faster the speed will be because of kinetic energy.

Hypothesis
I think that the higher the ball bearing the greater the width of the crater. The scientific knowledge that supports this is that the Ball Bearing has Gravitational Potential
Energy and as it falls the Gravitational Potential

Energy converts into kinetic energy . The pull of gravity on Earth is 9.81 Newtons/kg or 9.8 Metres/sec .The higher the ball bearing falls from the more Gravitational Potential Energy it has so the more kinetic energy it gains. When it hits the sand the kinetic energy is transferred into the sand as heat and more kinetic energy moving the sand out of the way.