2007-10-25 19:35:39 · 10 answers · asked by ez f 1 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Astronomy & Space
An 800 m diameter asteroid made of Iron and hitting the Earth at 11 km/s (minimum impact velocity, the speed you provided is far too slow for an asteroid) at an angle of 45° and hitting sedimentary rock would have energy equivalent to 31 Gigatonnes of TNT (which will happen about every few hundred thousand years).
The crater produced will be 13.8 km in diameter and 650 m deep. There will also be a Magnitude 7.6 earthquake.
100 km away the earthquake will do a lot of damage to poorly made buildings, some to ordinary buildings and essentially no damage to well designed buildings.
There will be almost 10 cm of ejecta covering everything though which will arrive 144 s after impact.
The shock wave will arrive 303 s after impact and will involve 118 m/s winds and have a sound of 96 dB. It will shatter windows, blow over a lot of buildings and blow down most of the trees with the remainder left with no branches.
1000 km away the earthquake will only be felt by at rest and won't do any damage. The ejecta will take 494 s to arrive and be less than a 100 μm thick and the shockwave will only be as loud as heavy traffic (66 dB) and not do any damage.
Of course if it came in faster it would be worse and if it were made of something less dense than Iron it would be less worse. Either way I wouldn't want to be anywhere near the impact site.
2007-10-25 20:10:44 · answer #1 · answered by bestonnet_00 7 · 2⤊ 0⤋
You know the old joke - what do you do when your plane is about to do an emergency landing?
You put your hands behind your head - your head between your knees and brace.....
So to answer your question about what would happen if a 1/2 mile wide asteroid hit in the center of the USA at 5000 miles an hour -
You put your hands behind your head - your head between your knees and KISS YOUR *** GOODBYE!!
2007-10-25 19:46:11 · answer #2 · answered by Old Man Mozz 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Since it hasn't happened in the past 5000 years, I don't expect this to happen very soon, if at all. That being the case, I don't care what would happen in your scenario.
2007-10-25 19:45:52 · answer #3 · answered by Smartassawhip 7 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Perhaps the cloud of dust raised into the atmosphere would slow global warming by blocking sunlight.
Seriously, it would be catastrophic for the impact zone. I think some of your more learned answers have nailed the consequences for you.
2007-10-26 03:18:59 · answer #4 · answered by Arby 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋
The rest of the world would cheer loudly.
2007-10-25 23:34:42 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
Hey! I live in Colorado!
2007-10-25 20:34:27 · answer #6 · answered by Life goes on... 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
We would duck for cover but still get incinerated. That would suck.
2007-10-25 19:52:05 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
humans? what are humans? we cockroaches rule the world!LOL
2007-10-25 19:44:08 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Please tell me when so I can get the hell out of there :-)
Oh Man I love Denver.
2007-10-25 19:46:17 · answer #9 · answered by chenzen 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
duck!
2007-10-25 20:38:15 · answer #10 · answered by pete the pirate 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋