@ Letum
Wow, I had no idea that air resistance had such an effect on objects entering the atmosphere. I knew it was significant, but not to such a degree.
I guess I shouldv'e known, given how quickly small bullets can lose speed, but I never put 2 and 2 together, it seems.
Quote:
|
Originally Posted by Letum
Large rocks will usually burn and break up into small
rocks. they have lots of energy to loose.
|
Well at least I was half-right about this. I didn't elaborate much on the point but I meant that any large rock entering the Earth's atmosphere would likely be very small by the time it hit the ground.
Okay, one more question, if you'll bear with me; The Tunguska blast was supposedly caused by a meteorite. How fast must that rock have been traveling to instantly explosively vaporize its entire mass, assuming it was made of the usual combination of porous but high-density rock and iron?
You don't have to do any calculations or anything, I'm just wondering if you know off the top of your head.