Can Large Meteors Really Fall Directly on Me?

[Pattielli]

Can this happen ?
I mean really big meteors which can't be smashed or destroyed when coming near our Earth...
Thank you

 

[selfAdjoint]

Nickel-Iron meteors will mostly stay together as they pass through the atmosphere. They are presumably the ones that make meteor craters like the one in Arizona.

 

[Phobos]

Yes...but don't worry. The odds are "astronomically" small of being directly hit by one (see the first link below).

As selfAdjoint indicated, the size & type & velocity of the object determines if it makes it through Earth's atmosphere to reach the ground. Small stuff burns up when it hits the atmosphere. Large stuff plows through the atmosphere and hits the ground.

AFAIK, there's no records of a meteorite hitting a person, but there have been close calls.

Someone's living room...
http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap030506.html

Someone's car...
http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap021118.html

Now the odds of a large meteorite doing regional damage are more concerning...but still nothing to lose sleep over.