A meteorite made of dark matter.?

Question

From some place beyond the solar system, a meteorite composed entirely of dark matter is headed sraight for the earth. It has a mass of 50,000 kg and is the size of a loaf of bread. Should we worry?

You can assume that dark matter has no interaction via the electromagnetism.

This is a hypothetical question.

The general consensus is that dark matter exists. See generally the Bullet Cluster http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bullet_cluster

And that dark matter does not interact via the electromagnetic force. Little else is known about it. It may not form objects the size of a loaf of bread, but we don't know.

The question was inartfully phrased, but was designed to look at what the effects would be if dark matter did not interact electromagnetically. Particularly if it were composed of WIMPs.

The stuff would just whiz right through us without interacting.

[Yes, I know, the stuff probably wouldn't clump together, but I wanted to make it dramatic].

Answer 1

I would not think so. If there is no EM interaction, the majority of the meteoroid (not meteorite) would pass through the Earth with no effect. When it comes down to it, any impact is an EM interaction. The two nuclear forces affect quarks so, unless the dark matter is a new form of quark (highly unlikely), it won't affect the meteoroid either. This leaves gravity. Thew dark matter would accelerate towards the Earth and, after passing though, decelerate at the same rate. It would head out back into deep space since its velocity would be too great for the Sun to hold it.

BTW: Most likely, the meteoroid would be a bunch of dark matter traveling together rather than being a solid object since a solid object of that mass would be held together by EM interactions, which the dark matter lacks

Answer 2

No. Current experimental limits on dark matter interaction rates set by the XENON10 experiment state that dark matter interacts so rarely that we should not worry. If dark matter, say, interacts once per tonne per year (a rate that is smaller than current experimental limits), then a 50 tonne meteorite will cause absolutely no damage to people on Earth. The meteorite will mostly pass through without interacting with us (via the weak interaction, if WIMP models of supersymmetry are correct).

Second: Dark matter does not "clump" into a meteorite, since it does not exhibit the EM force, which keeps regular matter together.

Answer 3

First off, meteorites can ONLY be called such because they have ALREADY hit the Earth. So the worry is over.

Now, obviously this meteroid, as it is properly called while in space, is not your average loaf of bread. However, your assumption about no interactions with electromagentic forces is not necessarily valid. Just because we think it might be swarms of neutrinos, and odd assortments of baryons does not prove that that is what dark matter is.

More than likely, this "dark matter" and "dark energy" is a macro-manifestation of the least understood, and most powerful force in the universe: gravity. What we are calling dark matter are probably folds in the fabric of what we have yet to figure out space-time really "is." Who knows, the jury is still out.

Your "loaf of bread" was probably just a carbonaceous chondrite anyway... :-)

Answer 4

No really, the "size" is extremely small and so is the mass, it will probably disintegrate in the atmosphere and in the unlikely case it does crash, the impact will be relatively harmless (in a world scale).

NOTE: most people wont bother to research a bit about some of the terms that you provide (eg. "dark matter"), I suggest that you use a language more appropriate for the average layman.

Answer 5

there is not any such ingredient as dark remember Asteroids,dark remember is non-Byronic remember ,we in simple terms experience its presence via its gravitational result. it may supply gravitational rigidity for Byronic concerns like asteroids to interrupt down and to sort in shape even though it would not make their actual physique. the galaxies that are seen to us mark the places the place dark remember is targeted.

Answer 6

Can you give me just a little of whatever you are smoking. It must be powerful stuff. By the way, go out and get a life,,,,you have way too much time on your hands.pp

Answer 7

It's velocity would be a factor.

SO let's assume it is travelling at a mere 250,000kph.

Even at a tenth of that speed...

We should be worried.

What was the genesis of your question?