3 ms·
What does this actually mean? Obviously it is pretty obvious if it lands on top of you, but if there is a 1 megaton impact of a meteorite landing 10 miles away
by lucaspiller 14y ago
What does this actually mean? Obviously it is pretty obvious if it lands on top of you, but if there is a 1 megaton impact of a meteorite landing 10 miles away what are the consequences? Given the lower gravity and atmospheric pressure would you be basically sand blasted with remnants?
- arethuza 14y agoUsing some online calculators for the effects of nuclear weapons, I suspect the answer would be that you'd be reasonably safe at 16km: http://www.alternatewars.com/BBOW/ABC_Weapons/Nuke_Effects_Calculator.htm http://www.alternatewars.com/BBOW/ABC_Weapons/Nuke_Effects_C... http://meyerweb.com/eric/tools/gmap/hydesim.html http://meyerweb.com/eric/tools/gmap/hydesim.html I don't know if a meteor impact would produce the same prompt radiation as a H-bomb, but the much less dense Martian atmosphere might negate that.
- tgflynn 14y agoMost of the ionizing radiation from an H bomb is produced by nuclear fusion or from fission from the trigger and decay products. An asteroid impact wouldn't produce any of that. The only ionizing radiation it might produce are some x-rays from the fireball plasma (but I'm not sure the plasma would even be hot enough for that). The blast and thermal effects would presumably be comparable, however, so at 16 km you'd definitely notice (and might be in a very uncomfortable situation).