Quote:
Originally posted by Sigmar:
The planet hasn't been hit by a "large" asteroid for 2000 years+, the way I figure it the chance of one hitting us in our lifetime is extremely low...Enjoy life, don't tune in to scare mongering news like that, what will be will be. Not much the human race can do about asteroids anyway is there?
|
Actually there are things we can do if it is spotted early enough. The closer the object is the harder it is move off course to miss the planet. Think about it this way. Shoot at a target with a gun from 100 meters. Now move the barrel an inch to the right. Repeat this from 1 meter. You will notice a pretty big difference in where the bullet hits. Same with an astroid. If we know for sure that one is going to hit and it is still months/years away a small 'nudge' with a few hundred megaton of nuc's fill cause it to miss the planet.
The last large impact was in Russia (Tunguska) less then a hundred years ago. The concussion from the blast, estimated at 20 megatons of TNT, leveled trees in an area nearly 40 miles in diameter. This from a rock merely 100 feet in diameter. Just think of the fun that would cause today if one hit a major city.