Skip to comments.
Earth Punctured by Tiny Cosmic Missiles
Telegraph | News ^
| 12/05/2002
| robert matthews
Posted on 08/13/2005 10:50:38 AM PDT by drlevy88
click here to read article
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-20, 21-40, 41-60, 61-80, 81-84 next last
To: drlevy88
The U.K. Telegraph is such a credible source on these matters.
21
posted on
08/13/2005 11:15:36 AM PDT
by
Excuse_My_Bellicosity
("A litany of complaints is not a plan." -- G.W. Bush, regarding Sen. Kerry's lack of vision)
To: drlevy88
900,000 mph???? That's even faster than light.
What happens to mass when an object travels at the speed of light?
To: drlevy88
Well Well Well, guess we don't have to worry about global warming after all.
23
posted on
08/13/2005 11:18:24 AM PDT
by
dila813
To: Crazieman
Several tons, yes, but we're talking about stuff that can barely be seen by electron microscopes.
These things would be great for practical jokes! Drop a tiny strangelet in a wallet sitting on the street. Watch the dummies try to pick it up! Or NASCAR! Slip on in your opponent's tire! Watch him try to get over 3 MPH!
24
posted on
08/13/2005 11:21:16 AM PDT
by
gitmo
(Thanks, Mel. I needed that.)
To: Alright_on_the_LeftCoast; CarrotAndStick
I find it difficult to believe that something weighing several tons would not cause significant damage at impact....defies common sense...is it the mass or weight of an object that causes damage? Mass.
A meteor weighing several tons would be a catastrophe...yet this isn't? It seems it would produce the same result as a bullet passing through an object, leaving a MUCH bigger hole where it exits....very strange...
Except that the cross-section is so tiny. In bullets, for example, even for the same mass and velocity, a higher-caliber (i.e. "fatter") bullet will do more damage than a low-caliber ("skinny") bullet. In the extreme case, imagine a "bullet" which has the mass and velocity of a .45 caliber round, but the shape is like a very thin, very long metal rod. It'll pass through you like a fast needle, doing very little damage outside of the small hole it makes, and most of the energy/momentum of the projectile will just "pass through" your body and keep flying out on the other side -- the amount of energy imparted to the body itself will be much smaller, compared to the effect of a bullet which "mushrooms" to a fatter diameter, like a hollowpoint bullet.
These "stranglets", if they exist, have a lot of mass, but are so very tiny in size that they interact with a lot less of the Earth's material on their way through, compared to a "fat" asteroid of the same mass.
To: blueberry12
Light is 186,000 miles/second, or 669,600,000 mph.
26
posted on
08/13/2005 11:21:38 AM PDT
by
mwyounce
To: taxed2death
A trip to White Castle, no doubt, brought that on.
To: drlevy88
WE'RE DOOOOOOOOMED!!!!
To: drlevy88
Are we just gonna sit here yappin' like old ladies, or are we gonna do something about it?
29
posted on
08/13/2005 11:22:19 AM PDT
by
fat city
("The nation that controls magnetism controls the world.")
To: silverleaf
30
posted on
08/13/2005 11:22:55 AM PDT
by
silverleaf
(Fasten your seat belts- it's going to be a BUMPY ride.)
To: blueberry12
No. The speed of light is 186,000 miles per second.
To: blueberry12; drlevy88
900,000 mph???? That's even faster than light. No it isn't. The speed of light in mph is 670,616,629.
900,000 mph is only 0.13% of the speed of light.
To: mwyounce
Oh, yes. miles per second.
Ok. Then we are safe. :-)
To: Brilliant
just ask CNN
34
posted on
08/13/2005 11:27:05 AM PDT
by
RckyRaCoCo
("When you have to shoot, shoot, don't talk!")
To: silverleaf
Good news! Something to kill us fast so we don't have to die a horrible slow death due to global warming.
35
posted on
08/13/2005 11:27:13 AM PDT
by
JCEccles
To: blueberry12
"900,000 mph???? That's even faster than light." Umm, light travels 186,000 miles per second, thats 669,600,000 mph
36
posted on
08/13/2005 11:27:33 AM PDT
by
Abathar
(Proudly catching hell for posting without reading since 2004)
To: drlevy88
Under the heading "Good can be found in everything", this may be a great opportunity for any of you who speculate in the markets to get hold of your broker on Monday and heavily "short" the planet earth.
'course if you win this bet there might be a problem collecting because...because We'll all be DOOOOMED!!
To: Alright_on_the_LeftCoast
Think mass and density.
You are dealing with clumps of sub-atomic particles. Think what atoms would look like with all the space between the nucleus and the orbiting electrons removed. The entire earth could fit into a tablespoon if we removed the inter-atomic space.
These objects weigh several tons but are 1/10 the diameter of a human hair. So with their tremendous weight and speed, they create an observable impact, but since they are so small, little damage.
38
posted on
08/13/2005 11:28:24 AM PDT
by
MindBender26
(Having my own CAR-15 in RVN meant never having to say I was sorry......)
To: blueberry12
900,000 mph???? That's even faster than light.I don't think so; I didn't remember what light speed is but I googled it up and got 186,282 miles per second. Times sixty seconds that's 1,117,692 mile a minute; times sixty more is a number I can't even visualize, 67,061,520 miles per hour.
39
posted on
08/13/2005 11:31:40 AM PDT
by
JimRed
("Hey, hey, Teddy K., how many girls did you drown today?")
To: blueberry12
What happens to mass when an object travels at the speed of light?Lightning.
40
posted on
08/13/2005 11:33:34 AM PDT
by
Cobra64
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-20, 21-40, 41-60, 61-80, 81-84 next last
Disclaimer:
Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual
posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its
management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the
exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson