Effects of a huge asteroid collision with earth

Im fairly sure a 20 mile wide asteroid is a global killer, wherever it hits.

 

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Bang on.

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(Ha, ha.)

A 20 mile-wide asteroid could certainly extinguish the human race. But at least some life would continue.

In the movie Armageddon, the term "global killer" was used to designate a preposterously large impactor which would have completely eliminated life on Earth. It would have to be about 100 km across or more; a collision with something that big would generate enough heat to boil the oceans dry, shatter the crust like an eggshell, and sterilize the planet like a petri dish.

Needless to say, no such collision has befallen our planet since its formative stage.

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BTW, this is known as the Torino Impact Hazard Chart. It doesn't go as far as mass extinction-size impactors, let alone "global killers."

 

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Well i suppose global killer isnt strictly accurate, It would almost certainly affect climate enough to kill humans, plus all the earthquakes, tidal waves, and the huge dust cloud, although other creatures may survive, but its called a global killer because lets be honest, we dont give a crap about any creatures but humans do we??(if them).

 

Haven’t they cataloged all of the really big near-earth asteroids?

 

nope. If i remember right we only track about 2 percent of space around earth.... Doesn't seem to be in much favor of us even seeing a killer asteroid on direct collision path with earth. We probably will never see it. For all we know a asteroid is about to slam into earth and kill us all tonight. In the movie armegeddon or whatever didn't they say the asteroid was the size of texas? If i remember the movie right.

 

If think you'd notice an asteroid the size of texas bearing down on the earth, thats kinda hard to miss, your probably right about the movie, so i suppose its educational in a way, but deep impact was better as it actually hit and gave an idea of how much damage a smaller asteroid could do.

 

There are only a couple of asteroids known which approach the diameter of the state of Texas. It should certainly have been spherical in shape. Such an object would be more like a small moon, and you're right - astronomers would have spotted it long ago. Plus, drilling a few hundred metres into it would barely be scratching the surface: that single nuke which Bruce Willis heroically stayed behind to plant could never have broken the asteroid in two.

I agree that Deep Impact was much better than Armageddon, if less sensationalised.

 

Drilling a hole in the middle of texas and setting off a nuke might be a nice idea. Maybe there were hidden meanings in that film ! Whats the link between texas and possible world destruction, erm.........let me think.............

kula

 

That the scriptwriters always hated the oil barons of Dallas?

Perhaps they also thought the classic soap opera should have featured the humble hands-on drilling crews of Texan oil fields, not to the poncy billionaire CEOs in their cowboy boots.

 

I heard the best way to stop a moving asteroid is to place thrusters on it and push it off course if you see it coming soon enough.

 

In a way yes, the best way is to change its course, blowing it in half would be incredably difficult like in armageddon, i suppose depending on if it has a weak section but thats unlikely, the problem with changing its course is it revolves on 3 axes, so very precise movement is required, though im sure its theoretically possible, if you can get the thrusters on it or an explosion to change its course(but that requires incredable precision and is probably not an option).

 

How about a 3 to 5 mile wide asteroid impacting in the center of Yellowstone Lake, the home of the worlds largest Supervolcano which is approx. 40,000 years overdue for an eruption........Should be considered a near global extinction event I would think!

Yob Atta

 

I heard that one of the reasons for soft landing on that comet is to see how feasible the gentle thrust idea is. It only needs a gentle sustained thrust too allow it to miss the earth. I believe that the throw a nuke at it school, is discredited. If we blow it too bits, we then just end up with multiple asteroids heading our way. I think its correct to say that an asteroid only 1 mile across would be enough to destroy all life on earth, it does`nt have to be anywhere near the size of Texas to do the deed.

 

I'm sure there is an asteroid out there of some significant size that has Earth's name on it. It isn't really a question of "if" an asteroid impacts on earth again, it is question of "when"........."When" could come tomorrow, next week, next year or whenever!

Yob Atta

 

Its debatable, 6 miles (10km) is believed to be the size of the asteroid that supposedly wiped out the dinosaurs and they impact roughly every 100 million years(its been 65 million), though some people think a 1 mile wide asteroid impacts every 10 million years, and i would think if they did then they wouldnt quite be big enough for a mass extinction.

 

I really doesn't matter if it's 1 mile or 6 mile wide asteroid.......If you're at ground zero, just leave that day blank on your calendar and the others to.

Yob Atta

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I should have put in my post that it depends on landing position, but never mind, if a asteroid hits a super volcano and makes it erupt we could be killed by a relatively small asteroid in theory, but sod it, the odds against that are high and a bigger asteroid probably wont hit for a few more million years, i'd say we are safe for a while.

 

Some people think a 1-mile to 1-kilometer wide asteroid hits us every 100,000 years on average; it would probably precipitate an ice age, and could kill up to a billion people in one go if it happened today. There have been some relatively near misses in the last century alone, so I can well believe this.

Remember asteroid 1997 XF11, which reportedly had a small chance of colliding with Earth in 2028? I read somewhere that the actual odds of an impact were the same as the odds of all five Spice Girls marrying footballers in the same year...

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well theres only 4 spice girls now, so does that mean the odds are better ?