I was curiouse.?

Question

Is there a meteor that can fly by earth that could shut down or temporally disable our technology?

Could anything even close to that happen?

if so...
How?
Does the size of the meteor matter?
Does it have to be giving off some sort of radiation?

My mind has been wondering and I've been thinking about this all day.

Any sort of information would help. I want to learn more about this type of thing.

Thanks. : )

I know it's something that is not likely to happen, I just wanted to know if there was ANY chance at all, even 1%, what would it have to be? I was thinking of using this in a story.

Answer 1

Hi. A large meteor can disturb the ionosphere or strike a power grid. This would of course be very disruptive.

Answer 2

The opening part of John Wyndham's novel "The Day of the Triffids" has Earth encountering a spectacular meteor shower. All over the world people come out to watch the wonderful display. It seems no-one is aware that the meteors have collided with some top-secret orbiting space weapons. As day dawns around the world in the ensuing 24 hours everyone who watched the display of the previous night has gone blind. Those few who are spared are a mixed collection of people who were drunk/stoned/whatever and others like the protagonist, a triffid biologist recovering in hospital after having been struck in the face and thus having his head and eyes wrapped in bandages.

Answer 3

Hey nrao_kid just cause you're an antagonistic dork whose only love is your right hand, PRETEND to be polite. If you can't, then do everyone a favor and stfu and put yourself out of everyone else's misery.
Anyway, for the asker...
google or yahoo the tunguska event. This is a decent example of what can happen when a netor airbursts just above the earth's surface. It's always amazed me how the trees are blown over in a pattern similar to the buildings of Nagasaki after the atomic device was dropped: standing at point of detonation, blown down around it. As far as an airbursting meteor giving off an EMP [electromagnetic pulse] I am not sure. I know the tunguska flash was seen hundreds of miles away, but they didn't have the tech back then to detect EMPs.
Sorry I cannot answer that part of your question, so have fun with your research and good luck. :)

Answer 4

A large enough meteor that came close enough could disrupt the tides and the atmosphere such that it could cause devastation on the surface.
It would unlikely emit any electro-magnetic radiation that would be significant.
Good question!

Answer 5

I'm curious about something else.... is there a rule that says people can't be pompous, pugelistic jerks? I wish there were - then we could all be free of Nrao_Kid's bile forever.

Kid - if you hate stupidity so much, I suggest you go to a library, find a nice stack of scholarly journals, and lock yourself in a reading room with them. By all that's holy - get OFF the net! If you hate loud music, don't go to a rock concert, yaknow?

At least the people you routinely scoff here are usually looking for answers and trying to learn things. If you're going to scorn the ignorant, go scorn those not even trying to better themselves and save us all the carpal tunnel mileage scrolling past your responses.

Answer 6

A msgnetic storm on the sun can disrupt radio communnication on earth and also disrupt the power grid.They happen not infrequently.