Why are meteorites less common than meteors?

How are meteoroids meteors and meteorites different?

• Answer:

  A meteoroid (like an asteroid) is a chunk floating about in space (ranging in size from dust to boulders, and in composition from ice to metal) that can be billions of years old. A meteoroid becomes a meteor or "shooting star" when it starts to fall through Earth's atmosphere. It heats up by friction with air molecules, emitting light along its trail to form a fireball, and shrinks as it falls toward Earth's surface because the friction gradually wears it away. The meteor that is large and durable enough becomes a meteorite when it has hit the Earth's surface. Any chunk or fragment of original meteoroid on or below earth's surface is a meteorite.