Sentence:  The mass scale used in Table 5 - 1 was derived on the assumption that the motion of the glowing trail is related to the momentum transfer to the trail by the <WSD>meteorite</WSD> , permitting the calculation of the mass if the velocity is known ( Cook and Whipple , 1958 ) . 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  stony or metallic object that is the remains of a meteoroid that has reached the earth's surface