How likely is it for Earth to be hit by an Asteroid?

Summary

Episode Summary: "How Likely is it for Earth to be Hit by an Asteroid?"

Podcast: Who Smarted? - Educational Podcast for Kids
Host/Author: Atomic Entertainment / Starglow Media
Release Date: July 11, 2025

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Introduction

In this thrilling episode of Who Smarted?, titled "How Likely is it for Earth to be Hit by an Asteroid?", host Atomic Entertainment delves deep into the fascinating world of asteroids. Tailored for curious young minds and their families, the episode combines humor, storytelling, and scientific insights to explore the origins, behaviors, and potential threats posed by these celestial rocks.

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Understanding Asteroids

The episode kicks off with an engaging metaphor, comparing the iconic drumbeats of Queen’s "We Will Rock You" to the literal rocks from space that occasionally collide with Earth.

• Host [00:03]: “Psst. Smarty pants. Hear that? That could be the opening stomps and claps from the rock song We Will Rock You by Queen. Or it could be the sound of rocks from space smashing into Earth.”

Listeners quickly grasp that asteroids, often perceived merely as "rocks," are dynamic entities within our solar system.

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Impact on Earth: Then and Now

The host highlights historical and recent asteroid impacts to illustrate their varying degrees of influence:

• Host [00:33]: “These rocks, known as asteroids, hit Earth all the time. Sometimes it's hardly noticeable. Sometimes it causes a sonic blast powerful enough to shatter windows and injure people. Like the asteroid strike in Russia in 2013. And sometimes it completely changes the planet, wiping out entire species. Like the asteroid that caused the dinosaurs to go extinct 65 million years ago.”

A playful exchange underscores the dragon-like consequences of these impacts:

• Listener 2 [00:25]: “And we will. We will get rocked by you.”

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Origins and Characteristics of Asteroids

The discussion transitions to the origins of asteroids, primarily focusing on the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter.

• Host [02:15]: “As you may know, our solar system consists of one sun, eight planets, several dwarf planets, and lots and lots of rocks. These rocks, or asteroids, can be found throughout the solar system, sharing orbits with some planets, including Earth.”

The host explains the vast number of asteroids and their sizes, providing relatable comparisons to help young listeners visualize their scale.

• Host [03:37]: “A bag the size of the Earth would also be too big. And believe it or not, if you put all the asteroids together, you still wouldn't fill a bag the size of the moon.”

Asteroids Vesta and others are mentioned to emphasize the diversity in their sizes.

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Asteroids as Characters: Petey and Star

Infusing personality into asteroids, the characters Petey and Star interact with the host, challenging the simplistic view of asteroids as mere rocks.

• Petey [04:16]: “Ahem. Beg your pardon, bub. I couldn't help but overhear you keep referring to asteroids as rocks.”

• Star [04:25]: “Yeah, we're not just rocks.”

They express their uniqueness and the necessity for recognition beyond being faceless celestial objects.

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Frequency of Asteroid Strikes

A pivotal segment addresses the likelihood of asteroid impacts on Earth, dispelling common fears with scientific facts.

• Host [08:08]: “On average, how often do asteroids strike Earth? Do you think it's A, once every million years, B, once every hundred years, or C, almost every day?”

• Host [08:23]: “A lot of them remembered me saying earlier that bits of asteroids hit the Earth practically every day. These little bits burn and break apart in the atmosphere, so they don't usually reach the ground.”

It is clarified that while tiny meteoroids enter Earth's atmosphere daily, significant impacts are exceedingly rare.

• Host [09:05]: “Scientists say asteroids big enough to cause a global disaster only strike once every 100,000 years. So right now, it looks like we're all gonna be just fine.”

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Planetary Defense: Protecting Earth

The episode reassures listeners about Earth's defenses against potential asteroid threats.

• Host [09:21]: “NASA is always on the lookout and has defense plans just in case. If an asteroid is spotted heading towards Earth, we'd use spacecraft or weapons to break it apart or nudge it off course.”

The practicality of intervention methods, such as rockets or missiles, is explained to mitigate fears.

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Asteroids' Positive Contributions

Challenging the predominantly negative portrayal, Petey and Star shed light on the beneficial roles asteroids have played:

• Petey [14:45]: “Way back when the solar system was first forming nearly 5 billion years ago, asteroids and other space objects called comets was zipping around everywhere. Some of these may have brought water ice and other molecules necessary for life to Earth.”

• Star [15:59]: “Asteroid strikes can help scientists learn more about the beginnings of the solar system.”

These insights highlight the essential contributions of asteroids to Earth's development and scientific knowledge.

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Notable Quotes

• Host [00:33]: “These rocks, known as asteroids, hit Earth all the time... wiping out entire species.”

• Petey [04:16]: “I couldn't help but overhear you keep referring to asteroids as rocks.”

• Host [09:05]: “Scientists say asteroids big enough to cause a global disaster only strike once every 100,000 years.”

• Petey [14:45]: “Some of these may have brought water ice and other molecules necessary for life to Earth.”

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Conclusion

The episode wraps up by balancing the inherent risks of asteroid impacts with the robust measures in place to prevent potential disasters. Through animated characters and factual explanations, Who Smarted? succeeds in imparting knowledge while keeping the atmosphere light and engaging. Listeners are left with a nuanced understanding of asteroids—acknowledging their potential threats and appreciating their pivotal role in Earth's history and the broader cosmos.

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Production Credits

While the user requested skipping non-content sections, for completeness:

• Written by: Dave Beaudry
• Voiced by: Taya Garland, Charlotte Cohn, Brandon Bayless, Max Kamasky, Jerry Colber
• Technical Direction and Sound Design: Josh Hahn
• Recorded at: Relic Room Studios
• Created and Produced by: Adam Tex Davis and Jerry Colbert
• Production Company: Atomic Entertainment

Transcript

[Host]

Psst. Smarty pants. Hear that? That could be the opening stomps and claps from the rock song We Will Rock youk by the rock band Queen. Or it could be the sound of rocks from space smashing into Earth.

[Listener 1]

What?

[Host]

That's right. There are literally millions of giant, irregularly shaped rocks swirling around our solar system. And every so often, an object will break free.

[Listener 2]

And we will. We will get rocked by you.

[Host]

These rocks, known as asteroids, hit Earth all the time. Sometimes it's hardly noticeable. Sometimes it causes a sonic blast powerful enough to shatter windows and injure people. Like the asteroid strike in Russia in 2013. And sometimes it completely changes the planet, wiping out entire species. Like the asteroid that caused the dinosaurs to go extinct 65 million years ago.

[Listener 2]

Nobody dino saw that coming.

[Host]

But what are asteroids? And where do they come from? What causes them to break free of their orbit and attack Earth? And could what happened to the dinosaurs happen again? It's time for another whiff of science on who's Smarted?

[Narrator]

Who's smarted? Who's smart? Is it you? Is it me? Is it science or history? Listen up, everyone. We make smarting lots of fun. But who's smarted?

[Host]

Hi, smarty pants.

[Trusty Narrator]

It's the trusty narrator, the host of who's Smarted? First, a big welcome to all our new listeners. Welcome to the smarty family.

[Host]

Here's a nice five star review from one of you.

[Trusty Narrator]

Hi, trusty. This is my new favorite podcast. I listen in the car with my sister and even before bed. I'm telling all my friends, too.

[Host]

Sean P. Ohio. Thanks, Sean. And that's a great idea.

[Trusty Narrator]

So, smarty fam, would you mind doing me a favor? Tell one friend or another parent or an educator today about who smarted. Because the only thing that's better than listening to whosmarted is listening to whosmarted with a friend.

[Host]

As you may know, our solar system consists of one sun, eight planets, several dwarf planets, and lots and lots of rocks. These rocks, or asteroids, can be found throughout the solar system, sharing orbits with some planets, including Earth. Most of them are located in a region known as the asteroid belt. This giant loop of asteroids is located between the planets Mars and Jupiter and completely encircles Mars, Earth, Venus and Mercury. And even the Sun.

[Listener 1]

Whoa.

[Host]

The closest edge of the asteroid belt, first discovered in the early 1800s, is about 100 to 200 million miles away. In fact, Earth is almost exactly in the middle between the sun and the asteroid belt. Scientists believe there are between 1 and 2 million large asteroids. Those over a kilometer Wide. And millions more smaller ones. Say we were able to gather all the asteroids together and put them into a bag. How big a bag do you think we'd need? Would we need a bag the size of the sun, the Earth, or the Moon? Well, a bag as big as the sun would be way too big. You'd be able to fit all the planets and all the asteroids in there and still have room to spare.

[Listener 1]

Whoa.

[Host]

A bag the size of the Earth would also be too big. And believe it or not, if you put all the asteroids together, you still wouldn't fill a bag the size of the moon. That's because compared to all the giant objects in the universe, asteroids are relatively small. One of the largest asteroids in the Belt is called Vesta. And it's only about 329 miles across, about the length of New York State. The smallest asteroids are no bigger than your average house. And one that flew by Earth five years ago was just 2 meters or 6ft wide, which is smaller than your average NBA player.

[Petey]

Ahem. Beg your pardon, bub. I couldn't help but overhear you keep referring to asteroids as rocks.

[Star]

Yeah, we're not just rocks.

[Petey]

Also, us asteroids have names.

[Trusty Narrator]

You know, names.

[Host]

Asteroids have names.

[Petey]

That's right. What's my name? What's her name, huh?

[Star]

Yeah. What's my name?

[Host]

I have no idea.

[Petey]

Figures. I'm Petey and this is my girlfriend, Star.

[Host]

An asteroid named Star?

[Star]

Why not? The word asteroid comes from the Greek word meaning star like or star shaped.

[Host]

Interesting. No offense, but why would I know your names? We just met.

[Petey]

Tell me, bub, can you name all the planets?

[Trusty Narrator]

Help me out, smarty pants.

[Host]

Let's name all the planets. There's Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Neptune, Uranus. And the jury's still out on Pluto.

[Petey]

Uh huh. Have you ever met any of them?

[Host]

Well, actually, Mars and Venus were on the show, but.

[Petey]

All right, all right, look, all's I'm saying is asteroids are more than just rocks. We unique. No two asteroids are the same shape or size. We're not all round like the planets. Except for Ceres. But she's called both an asteroid and a dwarf planet like Pluto. The rest of us, we're jagged with craters and skies. And I think it's about time we get a little respect. How come you know all the planets names but not one asteroid's name? Answer me that.

[Host]

Because I was taught the names of the planets.

[Petey]

Oh, sure, yeah. Well, maybe people should start learning asteroid names too.

[Star]

There's Ceres, Pallas, Juna, Vesta. Astraea Hebe, Iris, Flora, Medis, Hygiea, Parthenope.

[Host]

Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. There's no way I can remember all those names. What about you, smarty pants? Can you remember all those?

[Petey]

Those were just the first 12 I thought of. There's a million more.

[Host]

Yeah, not gonna happen. No disrespect.

[Star]

No disrespect, he says as he disrespects us.

[Host]

Hey, that's not true. Even if we don't know all your names, everyone listening cares about asteroids. Isn't that right, smarty pants? Tell em that you care.

[Trusty Narrator]

See?

[Petey]

Yeah. You only care because of the dinosaurs.

[Star]

Everyone loves to blame asteroids for that.

[Host]

Well, it was a giant asteroid that made them go extinct.

[Petey]

Oh, that was like one time, for crying out loud. And suddenly we're the bad guys at a galaxy. Nobody cares when something happens to us. Take my asteroid pal, Cheekxaloob. Old Cheeks was just minding his business. Orbiting the sun went pow. Jupiter got annoyed that Cheeks was flying too close to him. So he used his massive gravitational force to send him flying, flying through the solar system. It's not Cheek's fault it crashed into the blue and white planet and was never heard from again. Poor guy.

[Host]

The blue and white planet?

[Petey]

Yeah.

[Host]

You mean Earth?

[Star]

Uh, Petey Yet I think Chicxulub was the asteroid that killed the dinosaurs.

[Petey]

But it was just an accident.

[Host]

Yeah, well, when an accident can cause an extinction event, you can understand why.

[Trusty Narrator]

The people of Earth are more than.

[Host]

A little concerned about asteroid strikes.

[Star]

Fair points. But hey, how often does that actually happen? Go ahead, ask your smarty pants what they think.

[Host]

Good idea. Okay, smarty pants, on average, how often do asteroids strike Earth? Do you think it's A, once every million years, B, once every hundred years, or C, almost every day?

[Petey]

So what did they say?

[Host]

Well, a lot of them remembered me saying earlier that bits of asteroids hit the Earth practically every day. These little bits burn and break apart in the atmosphere, so they don't usually reach the ground. As for the bigger known asteroids, scientists say none of them pose a risk to Earth for at least the next hundred years. And even if a huge asteroid were to strike, chances are it would miss hitting a populated area, since the majority of the Earth, 95%, is relatively unpopulated or covered with water. And scientists say asteroids big enough to cause a global disaster only strike once every 100,000 years. So right now, it looks like we're all gonna be just fine.

[Star]

Ah, but there's always a chance one of us could be hiding from your scientists. And they could strike without warning.

[Listener 2]

We will. We will get rocked by you.

[Host]

That's true. And false. While an unknown asteroid could appear, NASA is always on the lookout and has defense plans just in case. If an asteroid is spotted heading towards Earth, we'd use spacecraft or weapons to break it apart or nudge it off course. Remember, the largest asteroids, even ones that could damage the Earth, are still smaller than many states. A rocket or missile would have a big impact on an asteroid in space long before it makes a big impact down here.

[Petey]

Tough guy over here talking about busting up asteroids.

[Star]

So disrespectful.

[Listener 2]

Excuse me, Are these asteroids causing a problem?

[Petey]

Hey, stay out of this, Jupiter. Me and Star were just having a friendly conversation with our new pal here.

[Star]

Right, New pal?

[Host]

Uh, yeah, we were just talking.

[Petey]

See? No need to butt in.

[Host]

Uh huh.

[Listener 2]

Don't make me knock some heads again.

[Host]

Excuse me? Knock some heads?

[Petey]

Yep, that's kinda how the story goes back in the day, nearly 5 billion years ago, when your solar system was born. Big Jupz here wanted to prevent any rock planets from forming between him and Mars. He did this by using his super powerful gravity to force any newly formed small objects to smash into each other. That's how asteroids were created.

[Host]

Oh, and that's why the asteroid belt is between Jupiter and Mars.

[Listener 2]

Yep, all because of me.

[Star]

But guess what? If it weren't for us asteroids narrator and his smarty pants friends might not be here either.

[Listener 1]

Huh?

[Host]

What do you mean by that?

[Petey]

Wouldn't you like to know?

[Host]

I would, right after this quick break.

[Trusty Narrator]

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[Host]

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[Trusty Narrator]

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[Host]

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[Trusty Narrator]

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[Adam Gidwitz]

Hi, I'm Adam Gidwitz, host of Grim Grimmer Grimmest. On every episode we tell a grim fairy tale.

[Host]

Not.

[Adam Gidwitz]

Not the cute, sweet versions of the fairy tales that your children have heard so many times. No, we tell the real grim fairy tales. They're funny, they're weird, sometimes they're a little bit scary. But don't worry, we rate every episode Grim, Grimmer or Grimmest. So you, your child, your family can choose the episode that's the right level of scary for you. Tune in to Grim, Grimmer Grimmest and our new season available now.

[Host]

Now back to Whosmarted. Okay, smarty pants. I'm here with Asteroids Petey and Star.

[Star]

Oh, look who remembers our names.

[Host]

And Jupiter.

[Trusty Narrator]

Yo.

[Host]

And I was just informed that asteroids may have played a part in why humans are on Earth. But that sounds crazy. Care to explain asteroids?

[Star]

Certainly. But first, answer this question. True or false? A big asteroid strike is always harmful to Earth. What do you think?

[Petey]

I think Rada. I know the answer is false.

[Listener 1]

Huh?

[Host]

False? But how can that be?

[Petey]

Alright, listen. Way back when the solar system was first forming nearly 5 billion years ago, asteroids and other space objects called comets was zipping around everywhere. A lot of them smacked in planets on a regular basis. Way before that was even Considered a bad thing, some of these asteroids and comets may have brought water ice and other molecules necessary for life to Earth. Then, when asteroids stopped hitting Earth as much, those molecules helped form life on Earth, only to be interrupted occasionally by one of us.

[Star]

Like when Chicxulub killed the dinosaurs.

[Petey]

Uh, thanks to Jupiter.

[Listener 2]

Well, hang on. The end of the dinosaurs allowed mammals and humans to develop. So me giving that asteroid a shove might not have been such a bad thing after all.

[Host]

Not to mention, asteroid strikes can help scientists learn more about the beginnings of the solar system.

[Listener 1]

Whoa.

[Host]

Recently, a family in the United Kingdom discovered a meteorite in their driveway. A meteorite is a solid object from space that survives our atmosphere to land on Earth. And this particular meteorite came from an asteroid formed at the beginning of the solar system. Scientists say it may contain the building blocks of life known as amino acids. They're studying it closely right now. In other words, they're giving it a lot of respect.

[Petey]

You know, pal, you're all right, yeah.

[Star]

But step out of line and we'll be back.

[Listener 2]

We will, we will get rocked by you.

[Trusty Narrator]

A spaced out shout out to Nate in Greenbelt, Maryland. We hear you love all the episodes, but especially the space one ones. You even hope we'll do one on YouTube someday. Well, Nate, keep the good ideas coming and keep on smarting, smarty pants.

[Host]

This episode, Asteroids was written by Dave Beaudry and voiced by Taya Garland, Charlotte Cohn, Brandon Bayless, Max Kamasky and Jerry Colber. Technical direction and sound design by Josh Hahn, who smart. It is recorded and mixed at the Relic Room studios. Our associate producer is Max Kamasky. These credits were recorded in Shelly Colbert's closet. The theme song is by Brian Suarez with lyrics written and performed by Adam Tex Davis. Whosmarted was created and produced by Adam Tex Davis and Jerry Colbert. This is an Atomic Entertainment production.