On Sun, Feb 10, 2013 at 7:10 PM, David Roberson <[email protected]> wrote:
I realized I was preaching to the choir a bit with my broken up asteroid > versus one big bad one. But, I actually do think that the total amount of > energy deposited into the atmosphere and ground would be the same in either > case. If it would destroy all the life on earth as a single hit, I would > think it would do the same even if distributed over a large area. The > energy is what does the damage. The light show would be most beautiful > until the shock wave tore you into pieces. That would be a great way to > leave the world! I suspect this is mistaken. Think of the difference between the momentum in a regular bullet, and the same momentum in the same amount of metal, pressed into a very thin foil with a large area. In the limiting case, I think the foil would be mostly harmless. In the example of the meteor versus the dust of the meteor once it has been blown to smithereens, it is the concentration of the momentum that seems most important. Eric
