Asteroid impact simulator

Evil_Onyx

Well-known member
Joined
Jun 27, 2008
Messages
1,045
Reaction score
60
Points
63
Of the three simulations I've done, one resulted in the meteorite landing hole at 200m/s leaving little damage, one short term effects with 100m crater and the last melted the whole planet.
 

Scav

Mostly Harmless
Joined
May 8, 2010
Messages
996
Reaction score
18
Points
18
Impact Simulator said:
"Humpback Whale - 13.7 m"

Douglas Adams, much?

I, naturally, being a man's man put a moon-sized object with an iron core striking the Earth at a 90 degree angle at 72 km/sec. The distance from impact was 6,000 km away, but the report of the explosion was still 'dangerously loud' at 192 dB, with an overpressure wave of 56,000 PSI (moving air at 192,000 miles per hour). Not a good day for the dinosaurs.
 

MattBaker

New member
Joined
Jul 9, 2011
Messages
2,750
Reaction score
0
Points
0
I, naturally, being a man's man put a moon-sized object with an iron core striking the Earth at a 90 degree angle at 72 km/sec. The distance from impact was 6,000 km away, but the report of the explosion was still 'dangerously loud' at 192 dB, with an overpressure wave of 56,000 PSI (moving air at 192,000 miles per hour). Not a good day for the dinosaurs.

So you basically created a new asteroid belt?

I tried to simulate Apophis with its diameter of 270 meter, density of 3200 kg/m³, the angle is of course unsure, so I made it 60° (the 2029 kinda looks like that in the charts, dunno about 2036), velocity of 12 km/s and then the guessing started, there's a possible impact map on wikipedia, so I nailed Apophis into the North Pacific's 5400 meter deep water, 1800 kilometers away from Anchorage, my observing point.

I end up with 528 megatons :blink:, but due to its hit in the water there's basically no crater, no ejecta, an 0.9 earthquake (happens everyday in California), 48 dB of sound (conversation-like) and basically no tsunami at all (less than 1.22 meters).

So as long as it doesn't impact on land Apophis is really boring...
 

Izack

Non sequitur
Addon Developer
Joined
Feb 4, 2010
Messages
6,665
Reaction score
13
Points
113
Location
The Wilderness, N.B.
So as long as it doesn't impact on land Apophis is really boring...

Well, it would hardly be boring to watch the enormous plasma trail and plume of vaporising water sailing away from the impact site. But yes, that sounds happily harmless, although a 1.22m tsunami doesn't sound trivial (unless you compare it to Scav's disaster. :p)
 

Urwumpe

Not funny anymore
Addon Developer
Donator
Joined
Feb 6, 2008
Messages
37,588
Reaction score
2,312
Points
203
Location
Wolfsburg
Preferred Pronouns
Sire
A 1.22 meter tsunami is pretty huge... the christmas tsunami of 2004 had been smaller only 60 cm high in deeper waters. A 1.22 meter tsunami could easily be 40 meters high when it hits the coast.
 

Scav

Mostly Harmless
Joined
May 8, 2010
Messages
996
Reaction score
18
Points
18
(unless you compare it to Scav's disaster. :p)

:lol: Story of my friggin' life . . .

And yes: it did specifically say I created a new asteroid belt.
 
Last edited:

RisingFury

OBSP developer
Addon Developer
Joined
Aug 15, 2008
Messages
6,427
Reaction score
491
Points
173
Location
Among bits and Bytes...
So you basically created a new asteroid belt?

I tried to simulate Apophis with its diameter of 270 meter, density of 3200 kg/m³, the angle is of course unsure, so I made it 60° (the 2029 kinda looks like that in the charts, dunno about 2036), velocity of 12 km/s and then the guessing started, there's a possible impact map on wikipedia, so I nailed Apophis into the North Pacific's 5400 meter deep water, 1800 kilometers away from Anchorage, my observing point.

I end up with 528 megatons :blink:, but due to its hit in the water there's basically no crater, no ejecta, an 0.9 earthquake (happens everyday in California), 48 dB of sound (conversation-like) and basically no tsunami at all (less than 1.22 meters).

So as long as it doesn't impact on land Apophis is really boring...


10 times the energy of the most powerful nuclear weapon ever set off on the face of the Earth is boring to you? As Urwumpe already stated, 1.22 m wave in deep water is a lot as when it gets into shallow water, it slows down and lifts up. There's more than that... the splash the impact causes would throw water tens of kilometers in the air and as they fall back down, they'd cause another wave and that would continue for several cycles.
 

Cairan

Donator
Donator
Joined
Apr 11, 2008
Messages
601
Reaction score
1
Points
18
Location
Amqui, QC
Tried out Apophis with a glancing blow (20 degrees) vs more steep entry (80 degrees) over sedimentary rocks... The difference is quite huge, in one case at a distance of 15 km you'd hardly notice it besides cratering of 600 meters wide, but at a very low velocity (2 km/s) due to atmospheric breakup, whereas the direct blow results in assured death at the same distance with a rain of 10 m large ejecta accompanied by a huge shock wave, not that you'd worried of either effect because at a few milliseconds after impact you'd get torched by the fireball thermal irradiation...
 

T.Neo

SA 2010 Soccermaniac
Addon Developer
Joined
Jun 22, 2008
Messages
6,368
Reaction score
0
Points
0
10 times the energy of the most powerful nuclear weapon ever set off on the face of the Earth is boring to you?

Far more boring than two million times the energy of the most powerful nuclear weapon ever set off on Earth. Boring is probably not the best word to use here; it would likely be better to use something synonymous with 'less terrifying'.

There's more than that... the splash the impact causes would throw water tens of kilometers in the air and as they fall back down, they'd cause another wave and that would continue for several cycles.

That's a very intriguing possibility; do you have more information on it? It would be interesting to see what sort of volume of water would be liberated by an Apophis-scale event, and how the dynamics of its re-contact with the ocean surface would produce a tsunami.
 

OrbitalConfusion

New member
Joined
May 23, 2013
Messages
95
Reaction score
0
Points
0
Impact Earth! Cool program/game

Straight from Purdue university! Basically, you create an asteroid, launch it at earth and see the level of damage it would cause. This web app is Kinda fun and a useful teaching tool to those interested. :) All the thanks goes to Bill Nye for pointing it out lol! Its also 100% free and no downloads.. Anyways, I thought you guys might find a little value in me posting this.

http://www.purdue.edu/impactearth/
 
Last edited:

OrbitalConfusion

New member
Joined
May 23, 2013
Messages
95
Reaction score
0
Points
0
hahaha! I knew it! I did actually search too! :) I missed it because I must have not used the correct search terms. Then again, it was like 4 in the morning, Bill Nye talks about it in a vid and im like a kid on Xmas morning.
 
Top