In reply to David Roberson's message of Sun, 10 Feb 2013 22:10:12 -0500 (EST): Hi, [snip] >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 wonder if anyone has modeled the difference between the two scenarios? > > >Dave ..as I hinted at in my previous post, an explosion in space would not only result in a spatial spread of the debris, but also a temporal spread.
By way of a weak analogy consider the difference between a single kilo of high explosive detonated in a crowded place and a hurricane. The high explosive may well kill more people than the hurricane, yet the hurricane has vastly more energy. Of course, the degree of spread obtained would increase the longer the time of the explosion in space was before the time of impact. (gives the pieces more time to spread out). Regards, Robin van Spaandonk http://rvanspaa.freehostia.com/project.html
