> Being liberal, considering it to be a 1-meter in diameter solid > _spherical_ capsule, it would have a volume of 4/3*pi*1^3 = 4.19 m^3. > Knowing that the density of (normal, terrestrial) nickel is 8908 > kg/m^3, the mass of this sphere would be 8908*4.19 = 37,300 kg =~ > 75,000 lbs. And nickel isn't the most dense metal (think depleted > Uranium bullets)...
I pretty much told this guy that friction and inertia was his problem for that very reason. We have 5000lb bombs designed to penetrate 20 feet below the surface when dropped, yet this guy's capsule only went in 6 feet and wieghed 10,000? I wonder how far it would have gone if it weighed 75,000. The impact history doesn't match the mass he guestimated or the one you computed. I asked him if he cosidered the thing having roots (if it truly was alien) or otherwise being affixed in the dirt in a way he hadn't considered. I also suggested timing the duration it takes for ultrasound to get through it to get density (since he can't weigh it where it is). Given his claim of so much mass for such a little space, I also reccomended he check it out with a giegercounter, as stuff that dense could be radioactive (off the top of my head, don't know how much a chunk that size of uranium would weigh). tack
