Most of us have heard the tale of a giant asteroid being responsible for the demise of the dinosaurs about 65 million years ago. The incident happened in Yucatan peninsula and the crater is more than 110 mi in diameter, 12 mi in depth and is considered to be its landing spot – the bolide (a meteor that explodes) is believed to be about 6 miles in diameter.
Believe it or not, thousands of asteroids have managed to come to earth since then. In fact, the reason Earth exists the way it does is credited to consistent asteroid collisions. While, the smaller sized ones disintegrate before they reach land, the bigger ones can cause mass devastation like the Chelyabinsk meteorite that landed in Russia in 2013, with the largest recovered fragment around 1,442 lb. This (estimated) 18 meter round asteroid – weighing about 9100 tons – was enough to destroy 7,200 buildings, so can you imagine earth coming into contact with an asteroid sizing up in miles?
Discovery Channel has released a simulation to help you get an idea of exactly how devastating an impact a large scale asteroid can cause. Here is the scenario: “An asteroid with a diameter of 500 km. Destination: The Pacific Ocean. The impact peels the 10 km crust off the surface. The shockwave travels at hypersonic speeds. Debris is blasted across into low Earth orbit, and returns to destroy the surface of the Earth. The firestorm encircles the Earth, vaporizing all life in its way. Within one day, the surface of the Earth is uninhabitable. The evidence shows that this has happened at least six times in Earth’s history.”
Check out the amazing clip and let us know your thoughts on it!
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