Ah those Whacky Astronomers....

[nachtjaeger]

Nothing like taking a super depressing video, and setting it to the music of Pink Floyd.

I'd prefer a water impact. Less shit gets blown into the air (unless it's huge and then we're all screwed anyway) and I live on top of a mountain so surfs up.

Here is a simulation of a huge asteroid hitting earth:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bU1QPtOZQZU

[Boggy Man]

Nothing like taking a super depressing video, and setting it to the music of Pink Floyd.

I'm sorry. When I posted the link, I didn't mean to depress anyone.

[PM2K]

I found it cool, not depressing. But then again, I owe a lot of folks money....

[tanya_wam]

I remember seeing a documentary like that which explained the impact of the asteroid which they say wiped out the dinosaurs. It would only have been a fraction of that size (100 metres or so?) in that video posted but the impact speed would be enough to cause the entire Earth's surface of rock to ripple like a tidal wave in every direction. Before I had no idea but this seemed to imply nothing would survive. Obviously life did, but it was bloody scary to consider...

[Duncan Edwards]

I remember seeing a documentary like that which explained the impact of the asteroid which they say wiped out the dinosaurs. It would only have been a fraction of that size (100 metres or so?) in that video posted but the impact speed would be enough to cause the entire Earth's surface of rock to ripple like a tidal wave in every direction. Before I had no idea but this seemed to imply nothing would survive. Obviously life did, but it was bloody scary to consider...

Yeah, it's thought to have been about a kilometer in diameter. About like comparing the size of a bullet to a big guy but the ballistics are what really screw that up. Knocking off the dinosaurs is probably what made mammals possible because they were more adaptable. If you ever see the Disney movie The Good Dinosaur it takes an interesting look at what might have happened if that asteroid had never struck. The reality is that it's not a question of "if" but "when" it happens again. Probably gonna be a bad day then.

[Mynock]

Really depends on how big it is and where you are in relation to where it hits. If it's a chunk of Nickel-Iron the size of a Death Star we're fucked. If it's a dino killer I'd be willing to put a bet on humanity as a whole surviving. We're nothing if not adaptable.

[PM2K]

If it's a chunk of Nickel-Iron the size of a Death Star we're fucked.

Give my eyeteeth to hear a NASA official say that at a news conference.

[tanya_wam]

Really depends on how big it is and where you are in relation to where it hits. If it's a chunk of Nickel-Iron the size of a Death Star we're fucked. If it's a dino killer I'd be willing to put a bet on humanity as a whole surviving. We're nothing if not adaptable.

What got me about the documentary I saw, and I wish I could remember more but it was some years ago and terrified me as a teen was that the tidal wave effect would pulverise anything. It would be like an earthquake of almost triple figure Richter Scale! Everywhere! The dinoaurs didn't have anything like we've got but every city would be reduced not just to ruins but pebbles or dust, so you can imagine what anyone in them would be reduced to. And that's besides the atmosphere burning, the poles melting (and whatever effect all the heat would have on the oceans, which must surely turn to steam?) and all the rock showering down around the impact, as in the original link. Hell would seem like a holiday compared.