4 ms·
Apart from the really tiny ones, there's nothing we can do.
by pif 4y ago
Apart from the really tiny ones, there's nothing we can do.
- thehappypm 4y agoTens of thousands of hydrogen bombs can deflect something big.
- pif 4y agoNo, they can't. You need momentum, and no explosion can provide any global momentum.
- thehappypm 4y agoSure they can. They blow a thousand tons of surface off.
- pif 4y agoNo explosion can modify the total momentum.
- thehappypm 4y agoImagine an asteroid made of ice. detonate a nuke near its surface. Super heated steam will eject from the surface at high speeds. Momentum conserved, and energy from the nuke absorbed by the water and turned into kinetic energy.
- n4r9 4y agoYou don't need to modify total momentum in order to divert the course of an object. Think about how a combustion engine works.
- more_corn 4y agoYou don’t even need that. A solar panel and an ion drive will work wonders over time. Heck a solar sail would do the trick.