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: 20000.00 km ( = 12400.00 miles )
- Projectile diameter: 2.80 meters ( = 9.18 feet )
- Projectile Density: 8000 kg/m3
- Impact Velocity: 9.00 km per second ( = 5.59 miles per second )
- Impact Angle: 90 degrees
- Target Density: 2500 kg/m3
- Target Type: Sedimentary Rock
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Energy:
- Energy before atmospheric entry: 3.72 x 1012 Joules = 0.89 x 10-3 MegaTons TNT
- The average interval between impacts of this size somewhere on Earth is 0.7 years
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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).
- The impact does not shift the Earth's orbit noticeably.
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Atmospheric Entry:
- The projectile begins to breakup at an altitude of -548 meters = -1800 ft
- The projectile reaches the ground in a broken condition. The mass of projectile strikes the surface at velocity 5.96 km/s = 3.7 miles/s
- The energy lost in the atmosphere is 2.09 x 1012 Joules = 0.50 x 10-3 MegaTons.
- The impact energy is 1.64 x 1012 Joules = 0.39 x 10-3MegaTons.
- The larger of these two energies is used to estimate the airblast damage.
- The broken projectile fragments strike the ground in an ellipse of dimension 0.00925 km by 0.00925 km
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Crater Dimensions:
- What does this mean?
- Crater shape is normal in spite of atmospheric crushing; fragments are not significantly dispersed.
- Transient Crater Diameter:
106 meters ( = 348 feet )
- Transient Crater Depth: 37.5 meters ( = 123 feet )
- Final Crater Diameter:
132 meters ( = 435 feet )
- Final Crater Depth: 28.2 meters ( = 92.5 feet )
- The crater formed is a simple crater
- The floor of the crater is underlain by a lens of broken rock debris (breccia) with a maximum thickness of 13.1 meters ( = 42.9 feet ).
- 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 1.11 hours after impact.- Richter Scale Magnitude: 2.3
- Mercalli Scale Intensity at a distance of 20000 km:
Nothing would be felt. However, seismic equipment may still detect the shaking.
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Ejecta:
- What does this mean?
- Most ejecta is blocked by Earth's atmosphere
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Air Blast:
- What does this mean?
- The air blast at this location would not be noticed. (The overpressure is less than 1 Pa)
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