HW_Impact Simulator
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EES 0836
Impact Simulator
Disasters: Geology vs. Hollywood
Introduction
As we have discussed in class, the Earth has been hit by objects from space in the past, and it will be hit again in the future. Now, we don’t know what this would look like, but we make some predictions on the effects of the impact through modeling. In this activity, you will be using an impact simulator to see what would happen if/when the Earth is hit by another object from space.
Learning Objectives
●
Visualize how different size objects can impact the Earth. (1, a)
●
Apply students’ understanding of recurrence interval and probability. (1, 2, 5, a)
●
Critically analyze governments’ role in preventing hazards. (2, 5, a, b)
Part 1
: The simulator
This activity uses the website simulator Down2Earth
. You can vary any facet of an asteroid impact and see the damage that results. Before we begin, I encourage you to play around with the website. Change the parameters (distance from the impact site, etc.), look at the data view, etc., just to get acquainted with the details of the simulator. For this activity, we are standardizing certain details. A couple things before you get started: pay attention
to units (i.e. km, mi, in, ft, etc.) and click on the “data view” for impact details. Parameters: ●
Select “Earth” and click “Start”
●
Trajectory angle: 45°
●
Projectile velocity: 25 km/s
●
Projectile density: dense rock
●
Target density: sedimentary
Meteorite 1
Set Projectile diameter to: 100 m
1.
How big is the crater? Depth:__190 m, Width:__893___ m
Depth: _0.12__ mile(s), Width: _0.55_____ mile(s)
Click on “Data View”
2.
What happens to the impactor? The website says that “the projectile reaches the ground in a broken condition. The mass of the projectile strikes the surface at a velocity of 9.54 km/s.”
3.
What type of damage would you expect to see at a distance of 5 km?
From a distance of 5 km, multistory buildings and small bridges would collapse, glass windows would shatter, and up to 90% of trees would be blown down.
EES 0836
4.
What type of damage would you expect to see at a distance of 25 km?
From a distance of 25 km, glass windows would shatter 5.
How frequent does this type of impact occur? __4,312_ yrs
Meteorite 2
Set Projectile diameter to: 1,000 m
1.
How big is the crater? Depth:__566____ m, Width:___8,602___ m
Depth: __0.35__ mile(s), Width: __5.35____ mile(s)
Click on “Data View”
2.
What happens to the impactor? “The projectile reaches the ground in a broken condition. The mass of the projectile strikes the surface at a velocity of 24.84 km/s.”
3.
What type of damage would you expect to see at a distance of 25 km?
From 25 km, the damage would be clothing, newspapers, trees, and grass catching on fire, bodies would suffer third degree burns, many types of buildings and bridges will collapse, cars and trucks will be distorted, and up to 90% of trees would be blown down.
4.
What type of damage would you expect to see at a distance of 250 km?
From 250 km, bodies will suffer third degree burns, trees will catch on fire, wood frame buildings
would be blown down, glass windows would shatter, and 30% of trees would be blown down,
5.
How frequent does this type of impact occur? __880,347___ yrs
Meteorite 3
Set Projectile diameter to: 10,000 m
1.
How big is the crater? Depth:__1,088___ m, Width:_75,506__ m
Depth: _0.68____ mile(s), Width: __46.92___ mile(s)
Click on “Data View”
2.
What happens to the impactor? “The projectile reaches the ground in a broken condition. The mass of the projectile strikes the surface at a velocity of 24.99 km/s.”
3.
What type of damage would you expect to see at a distance of 25 km?
25 km from the crash site I would still be standing inside the crater.
4.
What type of damage would you expect to see at a distance of 250 km?
From 250 km away, clothing, newspaper, grass, and trees catch on fire, bodies suffer third degree burns, almost all buildings and bridges will collapse, cars and trucks will be distorted, and up to 90% of trees will be blown down.
EES 0836
5.
How far away do you think you would need to be to not
feel an impact? Explain your answer. I think I would have to be over 2,000 km away, but even then, I still don’t know if there would be
absolutely no impact felt. I think over 2,000 km away from the crash site because at 500 km from the crash site, you would still feel all the effects of being 250 km away.
6.
How frequent does this type of impact occur? __179,743,877__ yrs
Questions
1.
In all three simulations, the impactor “reaches ground in broken condition,” yet they all made a crater. Why do you think “broken condition” means? I think “broken conditions could mean two things, either parts of it broke off before it hit earth but there was still one big piece that made the crater, or when it hit the earth, it broke apart.
2.
Of these three simulations, which one(s) would you expect to see more long term/global consequences? Explain your answer.
I would expect to see more long term/global consequences from meteorite 3. It had the most impact farthest from the crash site, and the damage was pretty serious. 3.
Looking at the frequency of the third simulation, would you expect an object like this to impact the Earth within the next 10,000 years? Explain your answer.
I don’t expect an object from the third simulation to impact the earth within the next 10,000 years. That projectile is seen to happen almost 179, 743,877 years apart from each other. I think this projectile could be similar to the one that killed all the dinosaurs and that was only 65 million
years ago, so in the next 10,000 years these projectiles might be a worry, but not a big one like that. 4.
As we discussed in class, the Earth will be hit by an object from space at some point in the future.
Do you think the U.S. government should allocate more money to programs that search for objects in space? (1 paragraph)
I am a little torn if the government should spend more money for programs that search for objects
in space or not. On one hand I think it would be a good idea to spend more money to have more of a preventative action. We could figure out ways to deter and get rid of the projectiles that are coming towards earth. However, I feel like there is only so much planning and technology to find these projectiles in space. At a certain point in time the projectile is going to be too big to deter or
destroy before it hits earth.
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EES 0836
Part 2
: Now back to the reaction video
In this week’s reaction video, Alix Davatzes, PhD, watched the clip from Creepshow (1982), where a man (Stephen King) witnesses an impact event in his backyard. While they addressed several things wrong with the clip, they didn’t address what would have happened to the man standing that close to the impact.
1.
Even though Alix said that the object probably would have burned up in the atmosphere (meteor) and would not have had any noticeable effect on him, in the scene, it does make contact. Based on your findings from the simulator, what do you think would have happened to the man if this was real life? Explain your reasoning. If this scene happened in real life, I think that this man would definitely have been more effected. The meteor flew so close to him that he would have either caught on fire or been severely hurt. I also think that parts of the meteor would have been flying off of it when it came into the earth’s atmosphere, and he would have been hit by one of those.
2.
While no one has died from an impact, there are a few cases in which people have been hit by falling objects from space. How does the story of Ann Hodges
compare/contrast with the scene from Creepshow?
Ann Hodges was actually hit by a meteorite unlike the man from Creepshow. Both Ann and the man from
Creepshow did not know what was flying through the sky. The man from Creepshow dreamed about selling the piece of rock for money, but in Ann Hodges’ story, a farmer sold a piece of the rock and was able to buy a house and a car. Another difference between the two stories, is that the falling object went through Ann’s roof, but in the scene from Creepshow it hit the ground.