2006-12-21 15:25:53 · 14 answers · asked by xtreker 1 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Astronomy & Space
At "normal" speeds in space, a rock that size would not be able to pass through the earth for the reasons listed in the other answers--it doesn't have enought mass and would burn up pitifully in the atmosphere before we had to worry about it.
However, since you want to know how fast it would have to go to "pass through" the earth, I think I can offer you an answer.
When any object that has mass is accelerated to near the speed of light it's mass increases, and as it approaches the speed of light the mass becomes infinite. These speeds you simply would not see in a rock in space--it also requires exponentially more energy to accelerate said rock as it approaches the speed of light!
Once the rock reaches such relativistic speeds (speeds where the effects of relativity are quite pronounced) it would have enough mass to do some serious damage to the earth it if hit us. The energy released in the collision would be quite enormous. I still don't think that the marble would "pass through" the earth, but there would be fireworks! (Think all the nuclear weapons on earth detonating in one spot--A LOT of energy released)
Now, you may have heard of a thing called neutronium--supposedly the super-dense material (made of all neutrons) that one might expect to find on a neutron star. Because it is so heavy, some predict that if you had some and dropped it on the earth, it would fall into the surface, plunge to the core, and "orbit" the earth as it slowly lost momentum, all the while punching holes in the earth! I beleive this was the center of a sci fi novel, but I haven't read it and can't remember what it was called.
How do you get neutronium? How do you get a marble sized rock to relativistic speeds? You don't find either floating around free in nature.
So don't worry, nothing coming this way is going to punch a hole through the earth. Now, killer asteroids--thats a whole different problem!
2006-12-21 17:04:04 · answer #1 · answered by ~XenoFluX 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
considering the speeds others are talking about, after a certain velocity the rock would no longer be a rock, it would be plasma (if it collided with our atmostphere). btw, most asteroids travel anywhere between 10-60 miles per second. That's DANG fast already, and a marble sized asteroid would come close to the earth, but usually only leave a beautiful shower of light.
Most asteroids leave a crater 500:1 its size. Here is some rough math: an asteroid 1/2 inch in dia. = crater 20.8 feet in dia (This is with known / established data). The added velocity would increase that crater size, but i don't know the math to back up any figures.
2006-12-21 17:25:20 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
A rock the size of a marble would burn up in the Earth's atmosphere and never make it TO the Earth...much less THROUGH it....no matter how fast it was travelling.
2006-12-21 15:28:11 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
well ...
I believe that it is impossible for a rock the size of a marble to pass through earth. This is because the maximum speed it can reach is ~300000000 m/s and EVEN if the rock does reach that speed, I don't think that it's strong enough to pass through all of earth without being stopped.
Plus, a rock that small will probably melt before it reaches earth's surface (the ozone layer will melt will destroy it).
hope this helps
2006-12-21 15:30:56 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
Oddly enough, neutrinos are particles that travel almost the speed of light. There are billions passing thru the earth every day. There are billions passing thru you right now. The Fermi lab has a vat of flourine set up where you can see the ones that react with it as it passes thru.
2006-12-21 16:37:18 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
It would just probably hit the earth and cause some devistation of some kind. It depends on where it hits. If it hits a person it could kill them. If you throw a rock from the top of the grand canyon it can hit a person and be at the speed of a bullet.
2006-12-21 15:33:32 · answer #6 · answered by adobeprincess 6 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Escape Velocity for Earth is around 11 km/s.
2006-12-21 15:34:26 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
Hi. Only a black hole with that dimension could pass through the Earth. It's speed would not matter.
2006-12-21 16:19:39 · answer #8 · answered by Cirric 7 · 0⤊ 1⤋
this would not be possible an object of this size would burn up in the atmosphere.. no matter how fast it was going...
it would never be able to make it through thousands of km's of rock
2006-12-21 15:34:21 · answer #9 · answered by Galtor 2 · 0⤊ 1⤋
There is no speed fast enough for that to happen. A rock that small does not have enough mass
2006-12-21 15:29:52 · answer #10 · answered by Michael da Man 6 · 0⤊ 1⤋