3 ms·

Only 400m in diameter.

by xwdv 3y ago

Tuna-Fish 3y ago
... The Chelyabinsk meteor had ~20m of diameter. The impact energy of a 400m diameter asteroid is somewhere in the same ballpark as the deployed nuclear arsenal of the United States. Not extinction-level impact, but wherever it hit would definitely feel it.
- xwdv 3y ago
  Yes some place will feel it somehow, 70% chance it strikes an ocean and creates a tsunami. But the world will go on, people will shrug their shoulders and go on with life. If it was a 60 mile wide asteroid, now that would truly be the end.
  - jacquesm 3y ago
    This would wipe out an area equivalent to a mid sized country and would possibly have global effects. The threshold for that is somewhere between 250 meters and a kilometer but we fortunately do not have any data to make that much more precise. You definitely wouldn't shrug your shoulders and get on with life, it would be the most important event in your life assuming it didn't end. Depending on where it happened the economic impact of such an incident would destabilize the world economy for decades.
deleted 3y ago
[deleted]
lijok 3y ago
Going at 55~ km/s
- lucb1e 3y ago
  Or 8. The page isn't quite sure. Bad news for any life forms on its path either way, to be fair
brink 3y ago
How much of that would burn up in the atmosphere if it did hit?
- deepakg 3y ago
  This video has comparisons of devastation that would be caused by different sizes (around 7:50 mark) of asteroids: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Wrc4fHSCpw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Wrc4fHSCpw
  - hoten 3y ago
    So a 500m is roughly a couple thousand or ten thousand times more than a Hiroshima nuke?
    - jacquesm 3y ago
      More like 50,000 or so (back of the envelope).
- wheelerof4te 3y ago
  A lot.
- throwanem 3y ago
  The better question to ask is, how much energy would that transfer to the atmosphere on its way to dumping the rest into the planet proper?
- jacquesm 3y ago
  Not enough.
- vkou 3y ago
  As a fraction of the overall asteroid, very little, thanks to the square-cube law.
- pcblues 3y ago
  https://www.quora.com/Would-an-asteroid-measuring-400-metres-in-length-wipe-all-life-on-earth-if-it-was-travelling-fast-enough https://www.quora.com/Would-an-asteroid-measuring-400-metres... I googled your question :)

Only 400m in diameter.

by xwdv 3y ago

Only 400m in diameter.

... The Chelyabinsk meteor had ~20m of diameter. The impact energy of a 400m diameter asteroid is somewhere in the same ballpark as the deployed nuclear arsenal of the United States. Not extinction-level impact, but wherever it hit would definitely feel it.

xwdv 3y ago
Yes some place will feel it somehow, 70% chance it strikes an ocean and creates a tsunami. But the world will go on, people will shrug their shoulders and go on with life. If it was a 60 mile wide asteroid, now that would truly be the end.
- jacquesm 3y ago
  This would wipe out an area equivalent to a mid sized country and would possibly have global effects. The threshold for that is somewhere between 250 meters and a kilometer but we fortunately do not have any data to make that much more precise. You definitely wouldn't shrug your shoulders and get on with life, it would be the most important event in your life assuming it didn't end. Depending on where it happened the economic impact of such an incident would destabilize the world economy for decades.

deleted 3y ago

[deleted]

lijok 3y ago

Going at 55~ km/s

lucb1e 3y ago
Or 8. The page isn't quite sure. Bad news for any life forms on its path either way, to be fair

brink 3y ago

How much of that would burn up in the atmosphere if it did hit?

deepakg 3y ago
This video has comparisons of devastation that would be caused by different sizes (around 7:50 mark) of asteroids: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Wrc4fHSCpw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Wrc4fHSCpw
- hoten 3y ago
  So a 500m is roughly a couple thousand or ten thousand times more than a Hiroshima nuke?
  - jacquesm 3y ago
    More like 50,000 or so (back of the envelope).
wheelerof4te 3y ago
A lot.
throwanem 3y ago
The better question to ask is, how much energy would that transfer to the atmosphere on its way to dumping the rest into the planet proper?
jacquesm 3y ago
Not enough.
vkou 3y ago
As a fraction of the overall asteroid, very little, thanks to the square-cube law.
pcblues 3y ago
https://www.quora.com/Would-an-asteroid-measuring-400-metres-in-length-wipe-all-life-on-earth-if-it-was-travelling-fast-enough https://www.quora.com/Would-an-asteroid-measuring-400-metres... I googled your question :)