Posted on 08/03/2018 8:33:40 AM PDT by MtnClimber
Fiery chunks of rock are constantly bombarding the planetary bodies of our solar system, leaving behind long-lasting scars. These gouges, in the form of craters, can be used to learn about the history of our little nook in the vast universe, prompting scientists to study their features feverishly. Yet one pattern commonly found around craters has remained a puzzle. Sometimes, these craters contain radial rays of debris fanned out around the impact zone. In the lab, scientists have tried to reproduce these patterns by dropping balls into containers of sand or beads, yet have found little success.
But in a recent study published June 27 in the journal Physical Review Letters, a team of scientists has finally made some progress in understanding how crater rays form, and their inspiration comes from an unexpected source: high school students.
Tapan Sabuwala of the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University was scouring the internet for videos by other researchers, hoping to find someone who was producing crater rays in sandbox experiments. Although none of the experts were achieving such a pattern, Sabuwala chanced across a video where high school students were producing the elegant rays.
I was very excited to see evidence that ray-like patterns are actually produced in experiments that, at least at first sight, look very similar to the ones that we had been conducting, says Sabuwala. And, of course, this fact made it equally confusing as to why the rays are produced in the students experiments but not in our experiments.
(Excerpt) Read more at astronomy.com ...
Stupid geeks with their marbles into sand.
dropping balls into containers of sand or beads...
They would have better success firing various projectiles like rock, marbles, uneven rocks, steel nuts, etc from a slingshot into sand. Just dropping them is too slow.
Asteroids: Deadly Impact (1997)
(this looks like a clean copy, no stupid duplicate footage, no goofy offset screen in the corner)
The vignette with the rifle starts about 16:34 of the vid.
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