| Line | When asteroids collide, some collisions cause |
| an asteroid to spin faster; others slow it down. If |
| asteroids are all monoliths—single rocks—undergoing |
| random collisions, a graph of their rotation rates |
| (5) | should show a bell-shaped distribution with statistical |
| “tails” of very fast and very slow rotators. If asteroids |
| are rubble piles, however, the tail representing the |
| very fast rotators would be missing, because any |
| loose aggregate spinning faster than once every few |
| (10) | hours (depending on the asteroid’s bulk density) |
| would fly apart. Researchers have discovered that |
| all but five observed asteroids obey a strict limit on |
| rate of rotation. The exceptions are all smaller than |
| 200 meters in diameter, with an abrupt cutoff for |
| (15) | asteroids larger than that. |
| The evident conclusion—that asteroids larger than |
| 200 meters across are multicomponent structures or |
| rubble piles—agrees with recent computer modeling |
| of collisions, which also finds a transition at that |
| (20) | diameter. A collision can blast a large asteroid to bits, |
| but after the collision those bits will usually move |
| slower than their mutual escape velocity. Over several |
| hours, gravity will reassemble all but the fastest |
| pieces into a rubble pile. Because collisions among |
| (25) | asteroids are relatively frequent, most large bodies |
| have already suffered this fate. Conversely, most |
| small asteroids should be monolithic, because impact |
| fragments easily escape their feeble gravity. |