/sci/ - Science & Math

900 feet? Almost as large as my cock.

Half the world would be fucked.

>>1855281

I understand that this is a field that obviously can't really be researched, but could you be any more specific than that, please? This is kind of important info for me to know right now, and I don't know where else to look for quick, easy-to-understand-because-I-know-shit-all-about-science answers.

>>1855294
>This is kind of important info for me to know right now
Why?

You're not going to get any conclusive answers from /sci/. Why? Because nobody in the world, let alone here has witnessed an almost 1000 foot asteroid made of rock and metal travel at over 10 kilometers per second into the crust of the Earth.

>>1855320
I have.
It was pretty cool

We're assuming that it's travelling at 90-95% c right?

>>1855341

>>1855341

nah

it was probably pretty hot actually

>>1855268
Well, we'd see it coming, for sure. Probably some amateur would spot it, maybe a kid. And so we'd have to name the thing after him, of course. You may be thinking "who the hell wants the destruction of the Earth named after them?" And I'd say, "Every 9 year old boy in existence." Anyway, we'd still have some time, and I'm sure the government would do their best to hush it up or downplay the danger until a nosy female reporter cornered the president somehow. We'd pretty much have to build shelters. If there isn't much time, we could probably stock existing mines with food and supplies. There wouldn't be much room, so we'd have to make some tough decisions ("cannot allow a mineshaft gap" etc etc). A lottery would be the more democratic option. People left out in the world would probably make up with long ignored relatives, and have poignant conversations such as "The asteroid is coming, I love you!" "No, I love you more!" Then probably a tidal wave or something as a father and his daughter held hands on the beach. That daughter may have been the nosy reporter, I don't really remember.

>>1855354

900 feet?
that's chump change
local environment killer, probably equivalent if slightly less damaging than a yellowstone eruption, with much less atmospheric debris

Well, the Barringer Crater was cause by a meteorite only 50 meters in diameter. You're talking about an object nearly 6 times the size. Basically, it would create a fuck huge impact.

>>1855268
diameter of earth = 41,851,049
diameter of meteor = 900
ratio of mass meteor to earth = 900^3/41851049^3=10^14

I feel sorry for the poor meteor :(

maybe like a really big volcanic eruption that causes really bad air quality for awhile?

>>1855345
It doesn't need to be traveling at any significant percentage of c to do a shitload of damage.

>>1855404
depends on how you define 'shitload'

>>1855359
>yellowstone eruption
>chump change
that would destroy like half the continental US as well as a bunch of Canada

>>1855354

>we'd see it coming, for sure

Says who? 900 feet is fucking tiny in astronomical terms, and the sky is retardedly huge.

its over 900?
wouldn't it pretty much redo the clowd ice age thing and kill most mammals, leave primitive yet adaptive animals?

900 feet diameter? That's about a hundred meters. T'would be a few times bigger than this.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tunguska_event

Speed is very important, if that motherfucker is traveling anywhere near the speed of light we are fucked, we would be fucked if it hit the moon.

Given the material and density of the asteroid, we would need the velocity at impact on the atmosphere to estimate the amount of energy imparted, and thereby have an appropriate hydrogen bomb analogy.

>>1855511
90-95% c

Figure out the mass of the asteroid. Multiply that by the 90% the speed of light, squared, or (.9c)^2, and divide by two. There's your impact energy in joules. Divide that by 4.184x10^9 and you have the equivalent tons of TNT. Compare with thermonuclear explosion scales, etc.

>>1855511

Surprised this topic is still alive.

For the sake of simplicity, let's say it's a standard space rock, about 90% silica and 10% metal/miscellaneous. Speed is about 10 km a second.

90-95% C
Are you fucking kidding me, you better not think that is remotely realistic

It wouldn't do much, OP, because the diameter is small. Most of it would vaporise before hitting the earth. Especially if it's mostly made of silica.

Depending on whether it hits a continent, an island or a surface covered by water, I'd say it could cause either a large crater followed by an earthquake, or a tsunami.

>>1855268
900ft vs 9mile. Wtf, you have got to be a troll or a failure at life.

>>1855649
Also, if it hit a big city, then yep, it would cause major damage. Probably most of the inhabitants would be killed by the impact and or the dust produced by the impact.