OT- Impact of an asteriod hitting Eastern USA

[narf poit chez BOOM]

ok. but i suppose if we really want to know, we're going to have to blow up a nuke in space.

[Captain Kwok]

Originally posted by Roanon:
Except on diskworld, I have not yet seen light been slowed down by air .

Are you sure? It happens every day for me...the speed of light here through air on Earth is .9998c - a measly difference of just under 90,000 m/s.

[Cyrien]

In fact certain cosmic particles have exceeded the speed of light... in the earths atmosphere where the speed of light is marginally slower than in a vacuum. Ever heard of Cherenkov radiation? The Sonic Boom of Light Speed?

Also the largest nuke ever detonated on Earth by the old Soviets was not measured in kt but in Mt 50 of them to be exact. Most are kt due to reduced efficiency in larger explosions compared to smaller ones for military purposes. The largest bomb ever built again by the Soviets (same as the one they detonated actually) is 100Mt. If ever used to full effect it could increase global fallout from a nuclear war by 50% all by itself.

I love humans.

[ November 27, 2003, 03:46: Message edited by: Cyrien ]

[Cyrien]

Oh yah. And solar sails and painting it white would only work with significant lead time on the asteroid. The current expected lead time on an earth impacting asteroid is not sufficient for such methods to work. You would have to detect it years out and have the system you plan on using on the asteroid already ready to be deployed. After all it has to be setup, launched, get to the asteroid, and then deploy whatever it deploys, and only after sufficient time will it alter the path.

For discovering something a few days or months out about all you could do is launch all the earths nukes at it with your best missiles pray, have a party whatever your pick is and hope enough get their to vaporize it. Nukes won't change the path but enough of them in waves can vaporize just about anything. There are advantages to having an internal explosion core temperature that exceeds the temperaturs of the sun.

[Cyrien]

Oh yah. And a triple post! Woo.

I actually saw one of these suckers as it exploded over the city.

El Paso Meteorite?

What most save a few experts failed to note was that had it been composed of say iron instead of softer rocks and lighter rocks the city and surrounding areas would be by-by and I wouldn't be here.

And no one detected this sucker until it exploded into smaller pieces over the city.