4 ms·
If the sand cloud has expanded enough before impact, then a large portion of it may miss earth entirely and therefore reduce the kinetic energy earth's atmosphe
by darkpuma 8y ago
If the sand cloud has expanded enough before impact, then a large portion of it may miss earth entirely and therefore reduce the kinetic energy earth's atmosphere has to absorb.
- _ph_ 8y agoAs the post I was answering to just talked about converting the asterioid to sand, I assumed, that all of it would hit the atmosphere. But indeed, if in this way part of the asteroid misses the earth entirely, it would be a win. I was also a bit simplifiying/exaggerating. When talking about heating up the atmosphere, the consequences entirely depend on how high the thermal impact is going to be. If spread far enough, there could be a "global warming" which is below the limit for an instant disaster. (And when caused by a single event, would decay quickly)
- darkpuma 8y agoSomething else to potentially consider is the spread in the 'z axis', which would spread out the heating across time, not just space. Although I think that only helps if there is enough time for Earth to radiate a lot of that heat.