[shadowman99]

"At least 30 times a year, asteroids smash into the Earth's atmosphere and explode with the force of a nuclear bomb."

Are there any astronomers in our ranks? This stat seems very high.

I would think that if 30 astronds hit with this sort of impact each year that a city would have disappeared by now.

[shadowman99]

astroids!!! Not Astronds!!! Or Osmonds or anything else....

FR needs a spell checker...

[andy_card]

Are there any astronomers in our ranks? This stat seems very high. I would think that if 30 astronds hit with this sort of impact each year that a city would have disappeared by now.

Because cities are somewhat rare in the upper atmosphere, where most of these blasts occur. And even if 30 atomic blast-sized asteroid explosions occured randomly each year on the Earth's surface, which isn't the case, the odds of them blowing up in a densely populated area are extraordinarily remote.

[Young Werther]

Here is a link I found regarding "snowball" comets and the theory that our oceans are the result of a continuous cometary bombardment.

Sone Cones at the State Fair?

[templar]

I would think that if 30 astronds hit with this sort of impact each year that a city would have disappeared by now.

I would think that the equivalent of 30 nukes a year going off in the atmosphere would be rather more noticeable than it is, wouldn't it?

[fire and forget]

Most of the impacts are absorbed in the atmosphere.

[BulletBrasDotNet]

It said "atmosphere" not the ground. These things usually burn up.

[Joe Hadenuf]

I think they mean the asteroids explode within the atmosphere due to heat, friction and pressure on the objects and many never make it to the surface.....However, larger objects can and do make it to the surface....Sometimes with cataclysmic effects...

[Axenolith]

Are there any astronomers in our ranks? This stat seems very high. I would think that if 30 astronds hit with this sort of impact each year that a city would have disappeared by now.

Most of them apparently detonate high in the atmosphere which would also indicate that they're either high in water content (relatively speaking) or are rocky ice masses.

The math for the numbers is pretty odd too. If they estimate a total of 50,000 with 30 a year hitting then they'd be exhausted in 1666 years unless they're replenished by something perturbing them out of the Oort cloud or there's a hell of a lot more of them in the inner solar system...

[ALS]

That article says in the atmosphere, not on land.

[hoosierskypilot]

I don't think the earth's atmosphere is necessarily the same as the earth.

Probably when such things hit the atmosphere, unless they're huge, they'll burn up before actually hitting the earth.

[DB]

Key word "atmosphere".

[GOPJ]

Like soon there won't be any blondes? Then again, there is a lot of water...

"I would think that if 30 astronds hit with this sort of impact each year that a city would have disappeared by now."