Please note: the results below are estimates based on current (limited) understanding of the impact process and come with large uncertainties; they should be used with caution, particularly in the case of peculiar input parameters. All values are given to three significant figures but this does not reflect the precision of the estimate. For more information about the uncertainty associated with our calculations and a full discussion of this program, please refer to this article
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Your Inputs:
- Distance from Impact: 19300.00 km ( = 12000.00 miles )
- Projectile diameter: 2.00 km ( = 1.24 miles )
- Projectile Density: 3000 kg/m3
- Impact Velocity: 298000.00 km per second ( = 185000.00 miles per second )
(Your chosen velocity is higher than the maximum for an object orbiting the sun)
- Impact Angle: 60 degrees
- Target Density: 1000 kg/m3
- Target Type: Liquid water of depth 3.0 km ( = 1.9 miles ), over crystalline rock.
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Energy:
- Energy before atmospheric entry: NaN x 10NaN Joules = 1.33 x 1014 MegaTons TNT
- The average interval between impacts of this size is longer than the Earth's age.
- Such impacts could only occur during the accumulation of the Earth, between 4.5 and 4 billion years ago.
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Major Global Changes:
- The Earth is not strongly disturbed by the impact and loses negligible mass.
- The impact does not make a noticeable change in the tilt of Earth's axis (< 5 hundreths of a degree).
- Depending on the direction and location of impact, the collision may cause a change in the length of the day of up to 146 milliseconds.
- The impact does not shift the Earth's orbit noticeably.
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Crater Dimensions:
- What does this mean?
- The crater opened in the water has a diameter of 2280 km ( = 1420 miles ).
- For the crater formed in the seafloor:
- Transient Crater Diameter:
998 km ( = 620 miles )
- Transient Crater Depth: 353 km ( = 219 miles )
- Final Crater Diameter:
2460 km ( = 1530 miles )
- Final Crater Depth: 3.11 km ( = 1.93 miles )
- The final crater is replaced by a large, circular melt province.
- The volume of the target melted or vaporized is 9.37e+08 km3 = 2.25e+08 miles3
- Melt volume = 7.2 times the crater volume
- At this size, the crater forms in its own melt pool.
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Thermal Radiation:
- What does this mean?
- Time for maximum radiation: 55.3 milliseconds after impact
- Visible fireball radius: 3740 km ( = 2320 miles )
- The fireball appears 44 times larger than the sun
- Thermal Exposure: 8.92 x 1010 Joules/m2
- Duration of Irradiation: 59.3 hours
- Radiant flux (relative to the sun): 418
- Effects of Thermal Radiation:
Clothing ignites
Much of the body suffers third degree burns
Newspaper ignites
Plywood flames
Deciduous trees ignite
Grass ignites
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Seismic Effects:
- What does this mean?
The major seismic shaking will arrive approximately 1.07 hours after impact.- Richter Scale Magnitude: 13.6 (This is greater than any earthquake in recorded history)
- Mercalli Scale Intensity at a distance of 19320 km:
VII. Damage negligible in buildings of good design and construction; slight to moderate in well-built ordinary structures; considerable damage in poorly built or badly designed structures; some chimneys broken.
VIII. Damage slight in specially designed structures; considerable damage in ordinary substantial buildings with partial collapse. Damage great in poorly built structures. Fall of chimneys, factory stacks, columns, monuments, walls. Heavy furniture overturned.
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Ejecta:
- What does this mean?
- Little rocky ejecta reaches this site; fallout is dominated by condensed vapor from the projectile.
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Air Blast:
- What does this mean?
The air blast will arrive approximately 16.3 hours after impact.- Peak Overpressure: 6.21e+06 Pa = 62.1 bars = 882 psi
- Max wind velocity: 1990 m/s = 4450 mph
- Sound Intensity: 136 dB (Dangerously Loud)
- Damage Description:
Multistory wall-bearing buildings will collapse.
Wood frame buildings will almost completely collapse.
Multistory steel-framed office-type buildings will suffer extreme frame distortion, incipient collapse.
Highway truss bridges will collapse.
Highway girder bridges will collapse.
Glass windows will shatter.
Cars and trucks will be largely displaced and grossly distorted and will require rebuilding before use.
Up to 90 percent of trees blown down; remainder stripped of branches and leaves.
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Tsunami Wave:
- What does this mean?
- The impact-generated tsunami wave arrives approximately 31.3 hours after impact.
- Tsunami wave amplitude is between: 177.0 meters ( = 581.0 feet) and 354.0 meters ( = 1160.0 feet).
Tell me more...
Click here for a pdf document that details the observations, assumptions, and equations upon which this program is based. It
describes our approach to quantifying the important impact processes that might affect the people, buildings, and landscape in the
vicinity of an impact event and discusses the uncertainty in our predictions. The processes included are: atmospheric entry, impact
crater formation, fireball expansion and thermal radiation, ejecta deposition, seismic shaking, and the propagation of the atmospheric
blast wave.
Recent improvements in the airblast calculation are described here.
Earth Impact Effects Program Copyright 2004, Robert Marcus, H.J. Melosh, and G.S. Collins
These results come with ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTY