Earth Punctured by Tiny Cosmic Missiles

Telegraph | News ^ | 12/05/2002 | robert matthews

[drlevy88]

FORGET dangers from giant meteors: Earth is facing another threat from outer space. Scientists have come to the conclusion that two mysterious explosions in the 1990s were caused by bizarre cosmic missiles.

The two objects were picked up by earthquake detectors as they tore through Earth at up to 900,000 mph. According to scientists, the most plausible explanation is that they were "strangelets", clumps of matter that have so far defied detection but whose existence was posited 20 years ago.

[technomage]

the most plausible explanation is that they were "strangelets",

That's what I said after the last DNC meeting where Dean, Kennedy, Pelosi, Reid, Schumer, Clinton, Waxman, were speaking!

[TexasTransplant]

>>>"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"<<<

Passing through your body at that speed would generate heat, enough heat = "Spontaneous Human Combustion" another mystery is solved!

TT

[Riley]

I had the same thought. You beat me to the punch. :-)

[longtermmemmory]

its dihydrogen monoxide all over again!!

[ItsForTheChildren]

?900,000 mph???? That's even faster than light.

You've been watching too much CNN.

[spinestein]

[...is it the mass or weight of an object that causes damage?]



The damage is a function of kinetic energy which is equal to the mass times the velocity squared (Ek = m x V squared)

That means that if you double the velocity of the object then you quadruple the damage.

[mikrofon]

You know, a strangelet somewhere has traversed 20,000 mi. in the duration between our posts? ;)

[spinestein]

[Dr. Strangelets or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Boson]


HA HA HA HA HA!

GOOD ONE!

[SkyDancer]

According to Einstein - Blooie ....

[Mr_Moonlight]

Passing through your body at that speed would generate heat, enough heat = "Spontaneous Human Combustion" another mystery is solved!

Don't try this at home, kids ...........

[spinestein]

With respect to the formula in #46 it's more accurately the CHANGE in velocity that does the damage, so in the case of a "strangelet" passing through your body, if it doesn't significantly slow down (because it's cross section is so small) then it will do no significant damage as Ichneumon and MindBender26 have already pointed out.

[spinestein]

That's gotta be PS'd. Even CNN couldn't be THAT stupid.

Could they?

[Arkie2]

LOL! Someone with a strangelet sense of humor here I see!

[Arkie2]

Not even close. Back to physics 101 for you.

[FrogMom]

So does Greg Bear.

[Political Junkie Too]

It gets strangeleter and strangeleter...

-PJ

[laishly]

"900,000 mph???? That's even faster than light."

No. Light travels at 186,000 miles per SECOND.

[IonImplantGuru]

fyi

[HitmanLV]

Every fan of Silver Age Marvel comics is well aware of this, and has been for over 40 years!

[tanknetter]

In such a scenario, the strangelet would burrow into the center of the earth and proceed, more or less speedily, to consume the earth's matter from inside out while producing enormous heat. Ultimate the whole earth would melt down.

And here we are, without Enrico Fermi to take odds on that happening ...