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: 5000.00 km ( = 3110.00 miles )
- Projectile diameter: 400.00 km ( = 248.00 miles )
- Projectile Density: 3200000000 kg/m3
- Impact Velocity: 10.00 meters per second ( = 32.80 feet per second )
- Impact Angle: 1 degrees
- Target Density: 2500 kg/m3
- Target Type: Sedimentary Rock
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Energy:
- Energy before atmospheric entry: 5.36 x 1027 Joules = 1.28 x 1012 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.
- Depending on the direction and location the collision, the impact may make a very small change in the tilt of Earth's axis (< half 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 23.3 hours.
- The impact does not shift the Earth's orbit noticeably.
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Crater Dimensions:
- What does this mean?
- Transient Crater Diameter:
1280 km ( = 793 miles )
- Transient Crater Depth: 452 km ( = 280 miles )
- Final Crater Diameter:
3250 km ( = 2020 miles )
- Final Crater Depth: 3.38 km ( = 2.1 miles )
- The crater formed is a complex crater.
- At this impact velocity ( < 12 km/s), little shock melting of the target occurs.
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Thermal Radiation:
- What does this mean?
- At this impact velocity ( < 15 km/s), little vaporization occurs; no fireball is created, therefore, there is no thermal radiation damage.
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Seismic Effects:
- What does this mean?
The major seismic shaking will arrive approximately 16.7 minutes after impact.- Richter Scale Magnitude: 12.7 (This is greater than any earthquake in recorded history)
- Mercalli Scale Intensity at a distance of 5000 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?
The ejecta will arrive approximately 26.2 minutes after the impact.- At your position there is a fine dusting of ejecta with occasional larger fragments
- Average Ejecta Thickness: 190 meters ( = 623 feet )
- Mean Fragment Diameter: 769 microns ( = 30.3 thousandths of an inch )
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Air Blast:
- What does this mean?
The air blast will arrive approximately 4.21 hours after impact.- Peak Overpressure: 3.99e+06 Pa = 39.9 bars = 567 psi
- Max wind velocity: 1590 m/s = 3550 mph
- Sound Intensity: 132 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.
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