Effects of a huge asteroid collision with earth

Do you think the humans could survive the next collision with a asteroid the size of lets say a major city? What would be the effects and how long until civilization completely falls apart? Then how long until last human dies
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Depends on what are the effects of the asteroid after the impact, its usually after the impact the worst comes.

 

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Maybe. If we have endured through Toba in primitive conditions, then yes, we probably will survive an asteroid impact of the same scale that destroyed the dinosaurs. But we can't survive the super sterilizing type like the hypothetical Orpheus planet that slammed into earth long ago.

There are no guarantees, however.

 

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We may have to ponder the scenario sooner than we think, have a look at this http://www.mtvdance.com/pages/comet rumors.htm

kula

 

Is that site to be trusted?

 

The source and the interview itself sounds quite flaky.

 

that site is completely fake

 

What do you mean fake, it looks real to me........

kula

 

The Toba supervolcano was nothing like as catastrophic as the K-T impact event. Sure, it would have resulted in widespread acid rain, weeks of darkness and smothering ashfalls over much of the Far East, several years without summer, huge disruption to the food chain and a subsequent crash in population for most large animals (including humans). But there was no mass extinction.

The heat of the giant impact would generate continent-wide firestorms, destroying virtually all crops within days. Half-molten ejecta from the crater would rain back around the World and flatten almost everything we've ever built. Not to mention that the shock to Earth's crust would set off earthquakes and volcanos everywhere. Underground shelters, like the ones depicted in the movie Deep Impact, probably wouldn't survive either.

Anyone who chanced to live through the initial devastation would face years of cold, darkness and starvation, before anything much could be made to grow again. Could you really scrape a living off a land of snow, rubble and ashes?

Even submarines deep in the oceans would be vulnerable to the huge seismic disturbances, and probably couldn't store enough food to be viable as shelters throughout the ensuing cosmic winter. High-velocity ejecta would most likely knock out spacecraft in orbit as well.

In fact, the only places humans could could be fairly certain of surviving such a cataclysm would be self-sustaining colonies on the Moon, Mars or further afield. And, for now, there are no such refuges.

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Wouldn’t it be far, far easier to build such self-sustaining ‘colonies’ here on earth? Sure, a large impact would ruin the climate, but the environment on earth afterward still wouldn’t be anywhere near as hostile as on the moon or mars. At least you would still have the correct atmospheric pressure and an approximately correct temperature. Just tunnel you way deep into a mountain or something.

 

Are u guys just being sarcastic here with these comments?! I really hope u are

 

Well, i'm being sarcastic, its my site and i wrote the article !

kula

 

Your mountain refuge would be liable to cave in under the ubiquitous earth tremors caused by the impact - like I said earlier.

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Might be possible to reinforce a series of separate shelters enough that some of them would be statistically likely to remain intact. You're right that, even with the severe limitations on the number of people who could survive this way, it's cetrtainly more than we could fly out to the Moon in a hurry!

The best long-term solution - assuming we couldn't actually stop the impactor - would depend on how much lead time we had. An Earth-bound asteroid might be spotted dozens of years in advance; or we might, even now, be unaware of a celestial hammerblow only weeks away.

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It only takes an asteroid 9 miles wide to wipe out most life on this planet, wherever it lands, in the ocean it causes huge tidal waves, on land an incredably thick blanket of dust that would block out the sun and stop plants from growing, simply put to survive would require a lot of luck, an odd spaceship may survive(but it would need to be a self sustaining one), if enough underground bunkers(again self sustaining) are built one may survive, and perhaps the same to submarines(again self sustaining), but the odds are pretty crappy for all the above.
Realistically it would take years to build any of those to a reasonable standard and they would have to be pretty huge, alternatively as someones mentioned the moon or mars or colonization of other planets would save many people, that would take a while even if it started tomorrow, and would also leave them the same vulnerablity earth has but at least gives us all a place to retreat to, i'd say for about the next century we could die from asteroid impact, if measures are taken now we may have some hope in the future though.
Just remember, the last global killer sized one to hit was 65 million years ago, we are probably overdue for another.

 

The term overdue is very misleading in this context. Impacts on the scale we're discussing may occur once every 50 - 100 million years as a statistical average: but an average is a long way from being a regular timetable!

The Permian Period ended with a mass extinction; the relatively short Triassic Period ended with another one, only about 15 million years later.

Alternatively, there may well be no such event for the next 150 million years. Or longer.

 

It's my guess that big business people, military and governments (if there is a difference !) , if sufficiently concerned will already have contingency plans. Deep bunkers on Earth that, even if the personnel inside are killed, would house food and equipment for use by the astronaughts when they return to earth. We already have space tourists, the military will have planned putting military and leaders into space in time of crisis, allbeit not many, but those descisions must have been taken. 100,000 personnel on Earth, six leaders in space, 1000 survive on Earth, the leaders return and start again.

I wonder what technology has been designed (and possibly already stored) to cope with Global scale disasters ?

kula

 

I did say probably overdue, of course it goes without saying that like everything it may happen sooner or it may happen later than predicted/average, as you pointed out.
All we know for certain is it WILL happen again, and we have to be prepared, also impacts on a slightly smaller scale occur more often and are still fairly catastrophic, we should be prepared for these too(of course impacts occur every year but on a harmless scale).
Plus i enjoy causing mass hysteria(by the way have you heard about 2002 NT7's possible impact due in 2019?)

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It depends on many factors but I'd say it would cause quite a disruption in the Earths well being, just how much disruption is hard to say but many species would be destroyed and life could become difficult for every living thing.

 

Also depends where it hits. Large body of water or land?....Which body of water and which piece of land?

The biggest concern isn't getting ready for a possible future impact, it is getting the government to get serious about possible future impact. U.S government has looked into to it but with so much already on the plate caused by humans alone the government isn't willing to spend seriously on, what is easily a, ridiculiously expensive endeavor.

 

well im sure the goverment will be worried if a huge asteroid rams into canada and everything goes downhill from then. I guess i mean the effects ofa 20 mile wide asteroid slamming into lets say china ro something.. I ment this more toward land impacts. I heard the effects of a ocean getting hit by one could be just as devistation. Disrupt all ocean life. Still has power to turn the sky dark and blockout the sun if it were to hit the ocean.. Then wipes out land with the huge wave it would create.. Well wash extremely far inland