1 On Oct 31 2015massive asteroid TB145 nicknamed \"Spooky\" passed near the Eart

Question

1 On Oct 31 2015massive asteroid TB145 nicknamed "Spooky" passed near the Earth vicinity. Given the measured diameter of the asteroid (500meters) and its speed relative to the Sun:125000km/h, find the total maximum and minimum energy released in the completely inelastic collision of this object with Earth.. Treat the asteroid as spherical object with the density of between 2g/ cm3 to 5g/cm3. Earth orbit around the sun/ has radius =150x106 km. State your answers in Jules and in megatonnes of TNT .

Explanation / Answer

Minimum Energy released is 0.5 m*v^2, m= 2gm/cm3* 4/3*pi*r^3

r = 250 m

Minimum Energy, Emin = 0.5*2*10^-3*10^6*4/3*pi*(250)^3*10^-6 =65416.6 J = 1.5634 E-11 Mt

(1 Mt = 4184000000000000 J)

Maximum Energy released is 0.5 m*v^2, m= 5gm/cm3

Maximum Energy released is 0.5 m*v^2, m= 5gm/cm3*4/3*pi*r^3 = 163541.5 J = 3.9073 E-11 Mt

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