3 ms·
Well, but the basic assumption is, the more surface of the asteroid is exposed, the more will burn up in the sky. And that is pretty solid physic and should be
by hutzlibu 3y ago
Well, but the basic assumption is, the more surface of the asteroid is exposed, the more will burn up in the sky. And that is pretty solid physic and should be valid.
Also most of the surface on earth is water. And one big impact would create a mega tsunami. And that is magnitudes worse, than many small impacts, where the waves will then even partly cancel each other out.
So obviously deflecting is the prefered solution - but breaking up as much as possible will always result in way less damage overall to the planet - but the more impacts you have, the more likely it is, that they will also hit densly populated areas. So this decision will be highly political, as if something goes wrong and for example china gets mainly hit - the final outcome might be worse.
- OscarCunningham 3y agoWaves don't cancel out, they pass through each other.
- hutzlibu 3y agoOrdinary waves travelling through the ocean, mostly yes. But when 2 Tsunamis crash into each other, you can bet, that there is lots of turbulence and energy lost and they wont have the same height afterwards.
- OscarCunningham 3y agoI think you're imagining two towering waves crashing into each other. But in fact tsunamis only pile up like that when they enter shallow water. In the open ocean a tsunami is a wide area (~100km) of slightly raised (~1m) water. If two overlapped it would just be raised twice as high, which wouldn't cause much turbulence.
- hutzlibu 3y agoOk, yes I do, but I think mega Tsunamies do pile up a bit more? And the scenario in my head was many impacts in a close area - and the resulting waves then interacting with each other with turbulence.