[BobL]

“I don’t understand how something not that big causes so much damage.”

The speed is simply UNIMAGINABLE. Tornadoes drive straw into trees, and their top speed is 300 MPH. This rock is coming in at 25,000 MPH.

And 40 meters may not sound big, but try lifting a rock that is just 1 meter - it’s something like 5,000 lbs. This rock is more like 160,000 tons...it’s pretty damn massive and will make one HUGE splash if it hits in the ocean.

[dp0622]

oh boy.

[Smokin' Joe]

Kinetic energy=1/2 (mv^2) At 160,000 tons (145,454,545 kg) and 25,000 MPH (144,840,959,780 meters/second), the kinetic energy of the projectile would be 164,229,119,486,784,000,000,000,000,000,000 joules of energy.

Just how much of that would be transferred to other objects (ejecta, fracturing and or plate movement), or converted to heat (melting, evaporation) would depend on the impact site and angle.