Friday, May 21, 2004

More Asteroid Fun

I'm running a more reasonable scenario, using my backyard as the impact site and my front yard as the observation point. In these scenarios, L's second fondest (geology) dream is realized -a meteorite of his very own to add to his rock collection. :) (his first fondest (geology) dream is to unearth a flawless diamond the size of the shed)

Parameters are the same as before; porous rock, 40 degree angle, 22 km/hr velocity, St. Louis type soil

A 2 inch pebble: burns up in the atmosphere, happens a few times a month
A foot wide rock: burns up in the atmosphere, happens a few times a month
A 4.5 foot rock: finally leaves a remnant. It also showers the block with dirt and leaves a shallow crater in my back yard.

Now, personally, I like iron meteorites. They have such lovely crystalline patterns. I doubt I'll ever have one to add to my collection; but for the sake of fantasy, I'll imagine one striking my back yard. I had to reduce the velocity to 17 km/hr

a 2 inch hunk of iron: burns up in the atmosphere (damn!)
10.5 inches: leaves a nice, big crater and dumps dirt on the fire station 2 blocks away. It also makes a fireball 65.5 times larger than the sun. Oh, and the air blast would flatten my house.
Anything smaller than 10.5 inches or so would burn up in the atmosphere. So that's it then. Either I don't get an iron meteorite in my yard, or I get one at the cost of my home. I think I'll keep my home and hope the rocks fall elsewhere.

BTW, kudos to the University of Arizona for sponsoring the calculator; and MAJOR kudos to Robert Marcus, H. Jay Melosh, and Gareth Collins for creating it. I know they put a ton of effort into this project, and I -for one- appreciate it.

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