if everyone in China jumped off a chair of the same height at the same time, it would cause a tidal wave big enough to wipe out the whole of Australia?
2006-12-15 22:32:21 · 7 answers · asked by jonny Atlantis 2 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Earth Sciences & Geology
It is not true.
Assume 1.3 billon chinese population
Assume 72 kg is ave weight of chinese person
Assume jump is 0.61 meters high
Assume energy release of Mt. St. Helens = 350 mega-tons
Arguements:
1.
Energy released by 1 chinese person = 706 joules.
[calculation: E (joules) = mass (kg) * acceleration (m/s^2)
E = 72 * 9.8 = 706 joules]
Energy released by 1.3 billion chinese = 918 * 10^9 joules
[calculation: E = 1.3 * 10^9 * 706 = 918 * 10^9 joules]
The energy released by the explosion of Mt. St. Helens in 1980 was 1500 * 10^12 joules
[calculation: 1 mega-ton explosive energy = 4.2 * 10^15 joules
Mt. St. Helens = 350 * 4.2 * 10^15 joules = 1500 * 10^12 joules]
Therefore, Mt. St. Helens explosion was 1600 times larger than chinese jumping on chairs.
[calculation: (1500 * 10^12)/(918 * 10^9) = 1600]
Mt. St. Helens did not produce any significant tsunami.
2.
Most tsunamis are due to pyroclastic flows reaching the ocean from exploding volcanos. The chinese jumping on chairs produce no pyroclastic flows.
3.
Comparing other forms of energy release that are non-volcanic, such as nuclear weapons yields similar results, i.e. the energy released by jumping chinese is very small and will not create tsunamis.
2006-12-16 00:18:33 · answer #1 · answered by cfpops 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
NO, because their weight on the earth's crust was already there, the momentary departure from the surface, if perfectly timed, might give a slight seismic reading, but no tsunami. UNLESS they all jumped into the ocean at the exact same moment. But that is why China has bragged it will detonate nukes on the ocean floor to sink the US fleet if we tried to prevent their invasion of Taiwan (which their military sees as a "stepping stone across the Pacfic"). Australia is a pretty big place to wipe out and most of the interior is pretty sparse, the fear in WW2 was that if the Japanese invaded there, they could have a hardened base before anyone discovered it, fortunatly there was also were no strategic reason for them to do so, as the Southeast of Australia is the most populated and developed region. But such a tidal wave might help put out the fires.
2006-12-16 09:54:55 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
No... The mass of 1 Billion people, while large on a human scale, is still small compared to the mass of the Continent of Asia, and much much smaller than the mass of the Earth as a whole. The impact force would be spread out over a wide area as well... now if you could have the same mass in a smaller package and speed it up to faster than a bullet, like say if a meteor that weighed the same as all the people in China hit the Earth, then the impact force (F=M * A.... Force equals Mass times Acceleration) would be tremendous and could very well create the type of destructive Tsunami and Earthquakes you described.
2006-12-16 06:45:17 · answer #3 · answered by eggman 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
No, I don't think it would even come close.The resonance produced by ALL those people would not match that of the ground. The effect will be dispersed.
2006-12-16 06:54:24 · answer #4 · answered by john michael 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
They got chairs!!!
2006-12-16 06:40:42 · answer #5 · answered by djm749 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
no. my opinion is, china will have earthquake.
2006-12-16 06:42:22 · answer #6 · answered by I am marrying her only. 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
its false
2006-12-16 13:25:48 · answer #7 · answered by hussainalimalik1983 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋