Well I've been doing a bit of GCSE Science Coursework. And I'm stuck. How do I explain why the greater the mass of an asteroid, the bigger the crater it creates? I did an experiment on this and need to explain it using ' detailed higher level science'. Yeah I know it seems pretty easy, basic science for some of you but I'm only in Year 9 so bare with me. I kind of have an idea of what to write but I'm not completely sure on how to write it. :|
A greater mass means greater momentum. A greater momentum means the asteroid is more difficult to stop when it collides so it must go deeper before it stops. If you want to go a little more in depth... A larger mass also means less air friction which increases the impact velocity and thus even greater momentum.
Thanks <3 - but I didn't measure how deep the crater was, I measured the diameter of the crater. Do you know how I could explain the diameter of the crater being bigger?
Well, the deeper the asteroid goes, the more dirt is displaced. And since the asteroid is colliding the ground from above, the displaced dirt has no where to go except towards the sides which results in a fatter crater fisix ftw <3