3 ms·
Would the Earth shield one side of itself? If yes by how much?
by xixixao 4y ago
Would the Earth shield one side of itself? If yes by how much?
- usefulcat 4y agoSeems like that would only help if the duration of the blast was less than 24 hours
- phyzome 4y agoOr perhaps more like 12 hours, as half of the Earth would be exposed instantly. But even then it depends on whether it's the direct radiation that's the issue or something more indirect (atmospheric changes, etc.)
- jiminymcmoogley 4y agodoesn't this depend on the blast's origin relative to the Earth's axis?
- IAmGraydon 4y agoThe longest gamma ray bursts only last a few minutes.
- thfuran 4y agoJust how many nines reduction from peak intensity after a few minutes are we talking? Because I'd imagine 0.01% of a nearby gamma ray burst would still be bad news.
- DavidSJ 4y agoRotation around the axis doesn't expose the northern hemisphere to the southern sky, nor vice versa.
- causality0 4y agoThat depends on the orientation with regard to the poles. If the source were directly over a pole, only fifty percent of the planet would be directly exposed. If it were over the equator, however, the whole planet would be, if it were a magic GRB that lasted way longer than usual.
- Avshalom 4y agoSo the upside is that anything that can get through 10k km of rock is very unlikely to interact with anything on the other side (eg neutrinos)
- ivalm 4y agoIt will affect atmospheric chemistry. It will produce a ton of NO2 and make atmosphere unbreathable without equipment.
- bawolff 4y agoI imagine that killing half the planet is enough to send the "lucky" half into chaos and collapse.