Impactite

Have you ever played with a ball outside and then accidentally hit your head with it? Ouch, that hurts, right? Imagine if something much bigger, like a big rock, hits the ground or another rock really hard, like a huge game of catch. The impact creates a lot of heat and pressure and causes the rock to melt and turn into a hot liquid. Then the liquid cools down really quickly and solidifies, like when you put Jell-O in the fridge. This solid rock that is formed by the heat and pressure of the impact is called impactite. Scientists study impactite to learn about how big rocks and asteroids can affect our planet and its history.