If a Texas-sized asteroid hit Earth?

[ambam]

Would that be the end of life on Earth right down to the bacterial/microbial level? How big was the meteor/asteroid which wiped out the dinosaurs? What would happen if a Texas-sized asteroid hit Earth tomorrow?

I remember a few years back reading about how an object around that size passed between the Earth and the moon. Earth WILL be hit by an extinction-sized meteor/asteroid/comet someday. It has happened several times before, and there is a 100% chance that it's going to happen again.

Probably not within any of our lifetimes, but it will eventually. Personally, I say the world will end far before anything like that can happen. Probably through all-out nuclear war or through some apocalypse disease pandemic.

Does the government or NASA have any secret contingency plan to stop an asteroid from utterly obliterating Earth?

Do you think that life on Earth would sprout back into existence millions of years after that fateful impact?

 

[fazers_on_stun]

The one that took out the dinosaurs was only a few kilometers in diameter IIRC. So, if a Texas sized asteroid hit it would probably split the earth in two. Which, some theorize, has happened before and is why we have a moon.

IIRC the theory is that it was a Mars-sized planet that hit ancient Earth, at a grazing angle apparently, and complete with an iron core (which mostly remained with Earth's to form the new Earth). A significant portion of the overlying mantle of both the impacter and Earth was ejected into space however, with a lot of it being captured by the Earth's gravity to form a ring around the Earth. Eventually the ring coalesced into the Moon, which probably was quite a spectacular object, glowing a ruddy red from the heat and appearing something like 20x its current angular size (10 degrees vs. 0.5 degrees). Also IIRC the new Earth's day was something like 5 hours long, having been sped up considerably by the grazing impact.

Being so close to the new Earth, the Moon must have raised large tides once the Earth's oceans formed, slowing down Earth's rotation (which angular energy was transferred to the Moon, causing it to move out to its current orbit). The Moon's orbit continues to move further out by about 4 centimeters per year IIRC, but the rate is slowing down as the transfer of angular momentum also slows down. Eventually the Moon will take something like 2 months to circle the Earth, but that's a billion years or so into the future.

Some theories hold that life originated in the tidal pools once oceans formed, so we can thank the Moon for our existence if true.

 

[ambam]

The planetoid was called Tiamat.

There are some that believe it is returning in 2012.

Get ready for a surprise!

 

[Reynod]

short answer to the OP ... the planet would be cactus.

 

[dogman_1234]

Shorter answer...won't happen soon.

I swear, this whole...'Earth is ending soon' shyte needs to go away. Can't we focus on technology, our faith and our trust in each other to make it through life?

Go join the freak-show with the tin-foil hat people.

 

[wanamingo]

Shorter answer...won't happen soon.

I swear, this whole...'Earth is ending soon' shyte needs to go away. Can't we focus on technology, our faith and our trust in each other to make it through life?

Go join the freak-show with the tin-foil hat people.

Yeah its hard enough to deal with normal life then you have the Rabble Rousers shoving conspiracy theories down your throat.

 

[Reynod]

Shorter answer...won't happen soon.

I swear, this whole...'Earth is ending soon' shyte needs to go away. Can't we focus on technology, our faith and our trust in each other to make it through life?

Go join the freak-show with the tin-foil hat people.

Listen farmboy ...

This is the freak show ... and most of us have tinfoil hats ... though some of us have luxury items in this regard.

there is to be no technology discussions in this area unless the device produces stimulation of a different kind ... or is able to be used to replace my current money tree ...

Please read the Terms of Use backwards to uderstand this forum area properly.

A much more appropriate discussion at this point would be to consider this:

That is an Earth sized asteroid hit Texas?

I think the answer would be very different ...

they might get a bit upset for a start ...

 

[Reynod]

This topic has been closed by Reynod