Name:______________________________________ Grade & Sec.

:________ Score:_______
Teacher:_____________________________________ Date:_______________ Rating:______

Activity 1
What happens when a comet or an asteroid hits Earth?

Objectives:
After performing this activity, you should be able to:
1. describe how impact craters are formed when a comet or asteroid hits Earth
based on a simulation; and
2. present observations on simulating a comet or asteroid impact using
drawings.

Materials Needed:
 1 rectangular container (aluminum tray or plastic)
 1 pebble (1-4 cm in diameter)
 colored flour/colored starch
 pencil

Procedure:
1. Fill the rectangular tray with colored flour about 3-4 centimeters deep.

2. Place the tray on top of a table (or arm rest of a chair).

3. Throw a pebble to hit the flour in the tray. Do this about four times, hitting
different parts of the flour in the tray.

4. On the space below, draw the shape of the “craters” made by the pebble on the
colored flour as:
5. Compare the shape of the pebble’s “crater” with the impact crater photo shown
below.

Q1. What do you notice about the shape of your pebble’s crater and the impact crater
shown in the photo?

Q2. What do you think happened to the plants and animals living in the area where the
comet or asteroid crashed?

Conclusion:
Name:______________________________________ Grade & Sec.:________ Score:_______
Teacher:_____________________________________ Date:_______________ Rating:______

Activity 2
Meteoroid, meteor, and meteorite: How are they
related?
Objectives:
After performing this activity, you should be able to:
1. describe the changes that happens to a fragment from a comet or asteroid
as it enters Earth’s atmosphere;
2. represent the relationship between a meteoroid, meteor, and meteorite using a
diagram; and
3. explain how meteoroid, meteor, and meteorite are related.

Procedure:
Read the selection below and answer the questions as you go along.

Q1. What is a meteor?

Q2. What is a meteoroid?

Q3. From what celestial (space) objects can a meteoroid come from?
 A meteoroid can be small as a grain of sand or as big as a boulder. When
it inters Earth’s atmosphere, the air in front of the meteoroid heats up,
causing materials to burn up. From Earth, these glowing materials appear
as a streak of light or a fast-moving bright object that appears to have a
tail just like a comet. What differentiates the two when we see them in the
sky is that a comet moves slowly and appears in the sky for a longer time.
A meteor moves swiftly and seems to fall on the ground. It “shoots” from
a point in the sky, making people think that it is a shooting or falling star.
Also, a comet is difficult to see with the unaided eye because it is farther
from the Earth compared to a meteoroid entering Earth’s atmosphere.
Sometimes, a comet can be bright enough to be seen by the unaided eye,
but this is rare, just like in the case of Comet Hale-Bopp.

Q4. What causes a meteor?

Q5. How can you differentiate a meteor from a comet when viewed from Earth?

A meteoroid usually all burns up when it enters Earth’s atmosphere. But

when a fragment from the meteoroid survives and makes it to the
ground, this space rock fragment is now called a meteorite. So if you
heard from the news on radio or television or read the news from the
newspaper about a meteorite exploding over Russia in February 2013,
their use of the word meteorite is inaccurate. Instead, a meteoroid
exploded over Russia. The space rock fragments they collected on the
ground is the meteorite.

Q6. Show where a meteoroid, meteor, and meteorite are most likely to be found in
the diagram below. Use the following sym meteor;
Q7. How are a meteor, meteoroid, and a meteorite related?

Earlier, we mentioned that a meteoroid can come from comets. Comets

orbit the Sun and leave fragments on their orbit as they continue their
journey around the Sun. These fragments continue to orbit the Sun just like
their parent comets. When Earth orbits the Sun and passes through the
orbit of a comet where these comet fragments are found, we observe many
streaks of light from Earth which is called a meteor shower. During a meteor
shower, meteors seem to originate from only one point in the sky because the
meteoroids are traveling in parallel paths with the same velocity. The
meteor shower is named after the constellation where they seem to
originate from, but this does not mean that the meteoroids come from the
associated constellation. Remember: a meteor and a meteor shower are light
phenomena; they are not stars.
Q8. What is a meteor shower?

Q9. Why does a meteor shower occur?

Q10. Why does it seem that meteors during a meteor shower appear to come from only
one point in the sky?

Conclusion:
Name:______________________________________ Grade & Sec.:________ Score:_______
Teacher:_____________________________________ Date:_______________ Rating:______

Activity 3
Do superstitions about comets, asteroids, and
meteors have scientific basis?

Objectives:
After performing this activity, you should be able to:
1. provide sound, scientific evidence to support one’s stand about
superstitions on comets, asteroids, and meteors; and
2. formulate doable actions to address superstitions on comets, asteroids,
and meteors.

Materials Needed:
 pen
 paper (for taking notes)
 Procedure

Procedure
1. Research about superstitions related to comet and asteroid in the library,
internet, and by interviewing your parents or elderly neighbors.

2. Choose at least three superstitions (one from the Philippines, and the rest from other
countries).

3. Discuss each superstition with the group to answer the question: Do superstitions
about comets and asteroids have scientific basis? Why or why not?

4. List down as many scientific evidence to support the group’s answer to the
question. The group may go back to the library to research for more evidence in
books or online resources.

5. Propose doable actions that the group can do to promote a more scientific
attitude towards comets, asteroids, and meteors to their fellow students or to
family members.
Group ______________ Date _____________________

Members ___________________________________________________________

Do superstitions about comets and asteroids have scientific basis? Why?

Answer:
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________

Scientific facts/evidence to support the group’s answer:

Proposed actions to promote a more scientific understanding of comets, asteroids, and

meteors: