Eli5: How do objects entering the earth atmosphere catch fire? is it from travelling to quick?
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They don’t necessarily catch fire, but they do get very hot (and could catch fire, melt, explode, or do whatever they do when they get that hot).
When something falls from space, it can build up a LOT of speed because until it hits the atmosphere, there’s nothing in the way to slow it down. Eventually, though, it hits the atmosphere and there’s a bunch of gas in the way trying to slow it down. The object is moving so fast, that the air can’t move out of the way fast enough and bunches up in front of it and causes lots of friction and shockwaves (sonic booms like supersonic fighter jets), and all this rubbing against the object heats it really fast (just rub your hands together to feel them warm up; imagine being able to move those hands at tens of thousands of miles an hour).
So, all that energy the object is using to punch through the air becomes heat, and the object can get very hot. It could break apart, catch fire, explode … whatever an object might do if it gets really hot, is being tossed about, and is punching it’s way through a wall of massively compressed air.
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