I don't know what would happen if it hit. I DO know what IS going to happen and I can't friggin wait.

We should put meteor free zone signs all over the places we don't want a meteor to fall on, then hastily push a meteor ban through congress.  Lets strike while the emotions are still raw!

SpectroBoy: Incontinent_dog_and_monkey_rodeo: It's only 150 feet across.  Yes, it's moving very fast, but unless it was a direct hit on a major city, the deaths probably wouldn't reach 100.

Then again, the actual scientists (fta) said this:

This means that an asteroid like this would likely explode in the air, releasing the energy equivalent of about138 atomic bombs like the one that the Boeing B-29 SuperfortressEnola Gay dropped over Hiroshima on August 9, 1945

My guess is that if you explode the equivalent of 138 atomic bombs in ANY populated area, even a small town, deaths would be numerous.

Well...no, the scientists didn't say that. They said they estimated it would have an explosive power of 2.9 (airburst) to 3.3 megatons (groundburst), which is approximately 138 times the power of the Hiroshima bomb. I get that TFA's author was just trying to make a comparison that more people could get, but I daresay the effects of exploding 138 Little Boys simultaneously would be a bit different from detonating one 3.3 megaton device.

If they wanted to be more accurate, it would be more like Teak shot of Operation Hardtack, detonated at a much lower altitude, likely minus the magnetic effects. Or, to put it another way, it's be along the lines of getting hit by 7-10 of the US's current nuclear ICBMs over the same area, in the same spot.

Would you like to know more? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HARDTACK_Teak

Wanna see what it'd do to your hometown?
http://www.carloslabs.com/projects/200712B/GroundZero.html
Unfortunately, the closest weapon listed on their site in terms of possible energy level is a Mk28(1.4mt), which is about half the power they say the asteroid could be; if you'd like to "real world" this, imagine all the circles are about 50% larger.

/has a nuke fetish

If it landed in in Best Korea, they would go ape shiat and blame us.

Media Boner.

I'd run away.

grinding_journalist: Well...no, the scientists didn't say that. They said they estimated it would have an explosive power of 2.9 (airburst) to 3.3 megatons (groundburst), which is approximately 138 times the power of the Hiroshima bomb. I get that TFA's author was just trying to make a comparison that more people could get, but I daresay the effects of exploding 138 Little Boys simultaneously would be a bit different from detonating one 3.3 megaton device.

If they wanted to be more accurate, it would be more like Teak shot of Operation Hardtack, detonated at a much lower altitude, likely minus the magnetic effects. Or, to put it another way, it's be along the lines of getting hit by 7-10 of the US's current nuclear ICBMs over the same area, in the same spot.

Would you like to know more? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HARDTACK_Teak

Wanna see what it'd do to your hometown?
http://www.carloslabs.com/projects/200712B/GroundZero.html
Unfortunately, the closest weapon listed on their site in terms of possible energy level is a Mk28(1.4mt), which is about half the power they say the asteroid could be; if you'd like to "real world" this, imagine all the circles are about 50% larger.

/has a nuke fetish

Wow, cool info.

Meh, wake me when its made of solid diamond and traveling >0.1c

UberDave: Most people would disappear.  Those that were left would be normal humans and psychopathic, murderous, nutcases with a short life span.  The nutcases would soon die off and the normal humans would survive but have a strange affinity for vector-graphics video games like Tempest.

Not quite yet. It's a city killer, not a planet killer. It is estimated that, if it were to impact Earth, it would enter the atmosphere at a speed of 12.7 km/s, would have a kinetic energy equivalent to 3.5 megatons of TNT, and would produce an air burst with the equivalent of 2.9 megatons of TNT at an altitude of roughly 8.5 kilometers (28,000 ft). The Tunguska event has been estimated at 3-20 megatons. The Tunguska explosion knocked an estimated 80 million trees down over an area covering 2,150 square kilometres (830 sq mi) It is the largest impact event on or near Earth in recorded history - and probably still would be.

RoxtarRyan: DysphoricMania: That is a weak way for people that have no understanding of physics to try and give information they don't themselves understand. Why not just do the math, and give us the megaton number? "138 atomic bombs"...? are we talking fat man, little boy, or Czar bomba? Do some damned fact checking...

Not only that, but it makes people think "the fireball will be 138 times as big and the blast radius will cover the continent!!!!" when that is far from the truth.

Well if my math is correct there's a 1000 kilotons in one megaton. Little boy was around 16 kilotons (and the amount of fissile material was about the size of a grapefruit. Just think about that.) so 16x138 is 2208. So a little over 2 megaton blast.

And hey kids... wanna blow up your own hometown? Here's a simulator for you!!!

SpectroBoy: Incontinent_dog_and_monkey_rodeo: It's only 150 feet across.  Yes, it's moving very fast, but unless it was a direct hit on a major city, the deaths probably wouldn't reach 100.

Then again, the actual scientists (fta) said this:

This means that an asteroid like this would likely explode in the air, releasing the energy equivalent of about138 atomic bombs like the one that the Boeing B-29 SuperfortressEnola Gay dropped over Hiroshima on August 9, 1945

My guess is that if you explode the equivalent of 138 atomic bombs in ANY populated area, even a small town, deaths would be numerous.

About 70% of the Earth's surface is ocean, so any meteor that hits us is likely to hit water. If the meteor actually strikes the ocean surface, it would likely trigger a tsunami, but an airburst 8-10 KM over the ocean probably wouldn't do that. We tested nukes of similar power over the Pacific, with no ill-effects except irradiated islanders and fishermen.

Major cities really are very small targets.

They say that a catastophic asteroid made the dinosaurs extinct.
They say it can happen again.

This, of course, is bullshiat.

There aren't any dinosaurs left. They are extinct.


/my logic saves the day

FTFA: "releasing the energy equivalent of about 138 atomic bombs "...  It really gets on my tits when they say something like this.  No frame of reference, it's like saying "2,000 henweighs"....

About 4 lbs, in case you were asking....

X number of Hiroshima... hate that too. That is a weak way for people that have no understanding of physics to try and give information they don't themselves understand. Why not just do the math, and give us the megaton number? "138 atomic bombs"...? are we talking fat man, little boy, or Czar bomba? Do some damned fact checking...

Crap journalism. It must stop.

I'd look up all of those girls who promised me a chance if I were the last man on earth.

UberDave: Most people would disappear.  Those that were left would be normal humans and psychopathic, murderous, nutcases with a short life span.  The nutcases would soon die off and the normal humans would survive but have a strange affinity for vector-graphics video games like Tempest.



Wants your newsletter...

Incontinent_dog_and_monkey_rodeo: It's only 150 feet across.  Yes, it's moving very fast, but unless it was a direct hit on a major city, the deaths probably wouldn't reach 100.

Then again, the actual scientists (fta) said this:

This means that an asteroid like this would likely explode in the air, releasing the energy equivalent of about138 atomic bombs like the one that the Boeing B-29 SuperfortressEnola Gay dropped over Hiroshima on August 9, 1945

My guess is that if you explode the equivalent of 138 atomic bombs in ANY populated area, even a small town, deaths would be numerous.

jehovahs witness protection: Hopefully it would hit some terrible place like the Mideast, North Africa or Detroit.

If a meteor hit and devastated Detroit, how would any observe notice?

/I am, of course, not serious.
//The resulting improvement to the city would be immediately noticeable.

I'm certain that the cockroaches would survive. And my first wife.

devilEther: they're downplaying this, if it hit it would split earth in two

How long have you had your GED in astrophysics?

they're downplaying this, if it hit it would split earth in two