Space rock 'on collision course' with Earth!!!

[Az]

damn, I can't wish it to be neither Europe or the ME.

[chequita guevara]

A 1km asteroid killed off the dinosaurs. A 2km asteroid would wipe out 99%+ of all life on Earth.

Here's the fun stuff that would happen with such a major impact. First, you'd get a crater about the size of Texas. Next, you'd have ejecta raining down all across the globe. Shockwaves from the impact would cause earthquakes everywhere, not merely at faults.

Assuming you somehow survived that, here comes the fun part. Anything which can burn, will burn, because of all of the secondary impacts. Ever seen an entire planet on fire? The dust put up by the impacts, in addition to all of the smoke from all of the plants burning would block out most sunlight, causing a global ice age. The increased albedio from an ice covered world would significantly delay any global warming.

Any humans that somehow survived would likely starve to death. If they were luky, they might find stores of food that survived crushing and burning. Agricutlure and hunting would be off the agenda.

Needless to say, this isn't something we want to have happen.

[Az]

Yes. but what if it hits the Pacific ocean? ( most chances that if it will hit earth , it will hit an ocean, right? )

we can expect a huge tsunami, I mean HUGE. but no fire etc.

right?

[chequita guevara]

You'd still get the ejecta, which is what starts the fires. The dinosaur killer didn't hit dry land. It hit off the coast of the Yucatan penninsula. (It is speculated that the dino-killer actually split on it's way into Earth. There's a smaller secondary impact near New Zealand that is believe to be about the same age.)

[Dan Severn]

Entire Planet on fire?

No che, I haven't seen that in a LONG time.

[chequita guevara]

You do realize that was a rhetorical question.

[Dan Severn]

I'm not an evil space alein.

I swear.

[Starchild]

Ohhhhh! I've seen an entire planet on fire!

[Gatekeeper]

Chegitz:

The asteroid which wiped out the dinosaurs was a lot bigger than 1 kilometer. The last I heard, scientists were thinking between 4 and 6 miles wide. Not sure if they know what it was composed of, though, which would affect how much damage it did to Earth. Furthermore, there's also some evidence emerging now that the planet's biosphere recovered much more quickly from the devastation than previously thought.

Gatekeeper

[Sandman]

Mounting some sort of booster on the asteroids surface (maybe even fueled with chemicals from the asteroids surface) and nudging it into the sun or into a safe orbit would be more efficient solution than blowng it up.

Or what about some sort of solar sail? Can a physicist tell me what size of sail would be needed to get a decent amount of course change?

[MarBaS]

many underground shelters will be made. luckly we have time to prepare. and also luckly im a rich american that can afford such things

[Az]

Mounting some sort of booster on the asteroids surface (maybe even fueled with chemicals from the asteroids surface) and nudging it into the sun or into a safe orbit would be more efficient solution than blowng it up.

sorry in advance if I hurt your feeling , but that's ... *cough*.

[The Mad Monk]

It would have to be a pusher plate type thruster, if anything.

[chequita guevara]

Gatekeeper, I can't argue too strenuously, since I'm basing my argument on what I've seen on the Discovery and Science Channels. According to them It would only take a kilometer sized asteroid to do all the damage I described above. An asteroid the twice the size of a football field (approximately 200 meters) would probably render an entire continent uninhabitable.

[chequita guevara]

Originally posted by MarBaS
many underground shelters will be made. luckly we have time to prepare. and also luckly im a rich american that can afford such things

You missed the part about the earthquakes and secondary impacts from ejecta. No place on or in Earth is safe. Not even Near Earth orbit.