4 ms·
> How are they dismissing it’s not a result of material from space striking the surface? The earthquakes are magnitude 5.5, plugging that into an energy calcul
by flukus 7y ago
> How are they dismissing it’s not a result of material from space striking the surface?
The earthquakes are magnitude 5.5, plugging that into an energy calculator (http://earthalabama.com/energy.html#/ http://earthalabama.com/energy.html#/) gives a result of 0.2 Hiroshima bombs, which I think would be noticeable.
- IanSanders 7y agoI wonder if the calculation requires correction due to moon/earth mass difference.
- saagarjha 7y agoMoment magnitude is generally supposed to be correlated to the amount of energy released, so I would tend to think that it wouldn’t need correction.
- sandworm101 7y ago>> 0.2 Hiroshima bombs, which I think would be noticeable. Maybe not. Hiroshima wasn't all that big on geological scales. A medium-sized meteor stroking the moon would have equivalent energy. Tidal forces can also break meteors up, spreading them into streams of smaller bits that land over a period of time. So I am not so dismissive of potential impacts.