how many newspapers does it take to weigh a ton?

Question

the helgard

Answer 1

My Sunday paper weighs around 2 lbs, so I'd say 1000 newspapers.

During the week the paper weighs about 1/2 lb. That make 4000 daily papers.

Answer 2

I did some calculations, assuming the object is roughly spherical. If it is a comet, it would be something like 250 to 300 meters in diameter. If it was a metallic meteoroid, it would be maybe 175 to 200 meters in diameter. Surprising, huh? At a specific gravity of 1, (equal to water), it would be 1000 kg/m^3. Call it a ton. So it would take 10 million cubic meters to weigh 10 billion tons. A sphere of 10 million cubic meters would have a radius of 134 meters, or a diameter of 268 meters. So a mass of this size would probably not mean mass extinctions and global catastrophe. But you said 160 miles per second. Where do you get this figure? I think it's unreasonable. Speeds should range between something like 10 miles per second to 50 miles per second. It doesn't really matter, though, since I can't figure out the amount of energy involved in either case. :-) There would be serious local destruction. This thing could wipe out a city or small country. World climate may be affected somewhat for a few years after an impact like this, but not too much, I would think. If it hit in the ocean, it could kill millions with the resulting wave. I'm not the mathematician you were looking for, but it looks like this size object would not cause the effects you predicted or that some others have claimed. BTW, the mass of the comet would not be turned into heat, thank goodness. But its momentum is.

Answer 3

Are you asking about the New York times or the Podunk Herald????