One of the greatest mass extinctions occurred about 65 million years ago, when,

Question

One of the greatest mass extinctions occurred about 65 million years ago, when, along with many other life-forms, the dinosaurs went extinct. Most geologists and paleontologists agree that this event was caused when a large asteroid hit the earth. Scientists estimate that this asteroid was about 10 km in diameter and that it would have been traveling at least as fast as 11 km/s . The density of asteroid material is about 3.5 g/cm^3, on the average.
How much kinetic energy would the asteroid have delivered to the earth?

Explanation / Answer

Volume = (4/3)r^3 = 523.6 * 10^9 m^3

density = 3.5 g/cm^3 = 3500 kg/m^3

mass = volume * density = 1832.6 * 10^12 kg

velocity = 11*10^3 m/s

K.E = (1/2)mv^2 = 110.872 * 10^21 J

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