4 ms·
So if the universe threw a perfect spiral at us, we'd be fucked
by darkerside 3y ago
So if the universe threw a perfect spiral at us, we'd be fucked
- s3rv3rsi7e 3y agoNo because the vector can also change in magnitude. Even if the spiral was perfectly aligned to impact the perfect center of the Earth we could change the magnitude of the object by nuking either pole to either slow it down or speed it up. Enough energy on any pole could make it miss regardless of the orientation.
- jamesmontalvo3 3y agoPerfectly chaotic rotation might be worse. If it was a spiral then you could hit it at a pole. I think most things rotate about a semi-fixed axis (not totally fixed, often propagating over time)
- shagie 3y agoIf you can make the asteroid cross Earth's orbit 430 seconds sooner or later that's an Earth diameter. Two approaches to getting that number... https://www.wolframalpha.com/input?i=diameter+of+earth+%2F+%28length+of+orbit+of+earth+%2F+%28number+of+seconds+in+a+year%29%29 https://www.wolframalpha.com/input?i=diameter+of+earth+%2F+%... https://www.wolframalpha.com/input?i=%28430+seconds+*+earth+orbital+velocity%29+%2F+earth+diameter https://www.wolframalpha.com/input?i=%28430+seconds+*+earth+... Granted, you'd probably like more than a diameter... but we're talking about it getting there a few minutes faster and it would be a miss.