4 ms·
Shattering a big rock into smaller pieces doesn't actually change anything about how hard it hits. At these kinds of energy scales, it's really just all about t
by Tuna-Fish 14y ago
Shattering a big rock into smaller pieces doesn't actually change anything about how hard it hits. At these kinds of energy scales, it's really just all about the kinetic energy it delivers. Even if the entire asteroid was vaporized before it hit it would still hit more or less as hard.
- marcosdumay 14y agoIt changes the aerodynamics properties, that are what protect us from most impacts.
- dredmorbius 14y agoYou're still heating up the atmosphere and generating shock waves. The difference is that you're distributing the initial shock over a larger area (and possibly longer time period). Any sufficiently large strike would create similar results by way of ejecta which would be thrown from the impact site and re-enter the atmosphere and strike the planet elsewhere. You might be able to avoid certain order-of-magnitude effects, such as piercing the crust and exposing the mantle, but at that scale of impact, it's pretty much assured to be a bad day regardless.