What is the Meteor ?
A meteoroid that is observed as it burns up in the Earth atmosphere. For an example, when you look at the stars in the dark sky, after that you see the a light streak across the sky and disappear. People call that is shooting star or Meteor.
What is the Meteorite ?
Meteors do not disintergrate completely when they come across the Earth atmosphere. Those are space rocks that fall on the surface of planet.
When you see a Meteor, it’s a Meteoroid that comes into the Earth from the atmosphere at high speed and burns due to warming when it collides with atoms and molecules in the atmosphere.
Most Meteoroid that fly into the earth’s atmosphere will burn completely in the form of Meteor. However, some Meteors do not burn completely but will fall to the surface of the earth as an object and they are called Meteorites.
In conclusion, a small object which is a Meteoroid floating through the planet until it fall across the atmosphere of the Earth as a Meteor, then, if it does not burn completely and land on the surface of the Earth as a Meteorite.
What is the difference of Meteor and Meteorite?
When meteoroids enter Earth’s atmosphere (or that of another planet, like Mars) at high speed and burn up, the fireballs or “shooting stars” are called meteors. When a meteoroid survives a trip through the atmosphere and hits the ground, it’s called a meteorite.
