I saw this website on the Leonids,

http://www.cnn.com/2002/TECH/space/1...ors/index.html

and thought it was it error. There is this statement "The tiny fragments, often no bigger than sand grains, heat up and vaporize as they bounce across the upper atmosphere at speeds of about 160,000 mph"

They don't really bounce, do they?

Any comments?

160,000 MPH...isn't that speed a little high to be correct?

Leonids come in at about 70 miles per second or so. That's 70 x 3600 seconds/hour = 250,000 miles per hour or more. So that other number is too small.

Meteors can bounce off the atmosphere like a stone on water, but only if the impact angle is low. "Bouncing around" isn't the term I would use, but it sounds like they were trying to be a bit poetic.

YIKES...what I meant to say was...
160,000 MPH isn't that speed a little off. Yeah, right, sure, that's what I meant to say. [img]/phpBB/images/smiles/icon_biggrin.gif[/img]

http://www.badastronomy.com/phpBB/vi...21#JD2452597.L

the TV "DID" report the speed in units of Miles also
I don not recall that it was eithor figure
given in this thread 1:32 P.M.
{x} Cm/mS