Have you ever taken a closer look at the moon and thought: where did all of those craters come from? Well, those are caused by asteroids striking it creating a large, bowl-shaped cavity on the surface called a crater. However, asteroids do not just strike the moon, they tend to strike the Earth as well. Around 66 million years ago, what is said to be an asteroid thumped the Earth, and the dinosaurs were eliminated from the planet forever. The unpredictability of asteroids, the fact that they are unstoppable, and the menace of only one strike displays how the largest threat to us humans is an asteroid.
Asteroids rarely ever hit, but one strike can obliterate the entire human race. A surplus in geological support points to the fact that a very large asteroid hit the Earth a long time ago. The effect created a massive explosion, as well as a crater about 110 miles wide.
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Seventy-five percent of species on the planet were erased, that includes the dinosaurs (Hartmann 1). This shows that an asteroid can end all of our lives within the blink of an eye, and nobody can do anything about it. It is impossible to imagine an asteroid throwing itself at the planet; the only thing a person can do is just sit down and pray that it can be stopped. They are very dangerous, even though chances of impact are low. In the article, “Today in science: The Tunguska explosions”, it is said: “June 30, 1908 In a remote part of Russia, a fireball was seen streaking across the daytime sky. Within moments, something exploded in the atmosphere above Siberia’s Podkamennaya Tunguska River in what is now Krasnoyarsk Krai, Russia. This event – now widely known as the Tunguska event – is believed to have been caused by an incoming asteroid (or comet), which never actually struck Earth but instead exploded in the atmosphere, causing what is known as an air burst, three to six miles (5–10 kilometers) above Earth’s surface.” The Tunguska event could have annihilated many people, but the area was remote. The capability of asteroids is displayed with this event, and humans should not treat it lightly. To conclude, one asteroid hit can eradicate the Earth and all of its inhabitants within a split second. Asteroids are especially dangerous because one can hit without warning.
Between 1.1 and 1.9 million asteroids greater than 1 kilometer in size reside in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter (“Asteroids: In Depth” 1). Many of those drift into Earth’s orbit, and strike. One in 700,00 are the odds of perishing in an asteroid strike, according to astronomer Phil Plait (1). The odds of being struck and the amount of asteroids there actually are in space combine to create a very unpredictable hit pattern. As commented by news reporter Brooks Hays, “New analysis of Earth’s myriad craters turned up no evidence of an impact pattern. Earth is bombarded at random, the research shows” (1). Because there is no pattern in asteroid strikes, and that Earth is bombarded randomly, asteroids pose a very large threat to the human population’s presence on the planet. Preparation for such an impact should start as soon as possible because extinction of the human race could be right around the corner. In summary, a large asteroid can come along with no recognition, and by that point it is already too
late. Once a very threatening asteroid comes along, all humans can do is desperately hope that it doesn’t completely wipe out their race. Many asteroid-containing tactics, spreading from astoundingly intricate to harshly mild have been put forward by scientists. Every decent technique revolves around deviation, and not demolition. Dispersing of the remains could result from an attack with a nuclear weapon. Newfound research signifies that asteroids may even reform in a short period of time after being supposedly destroyed. (Lamb 1). Asteroids are extremely difficult to deal with, as solutions actually turn into more problems to solve. This creates a threatening pattern, and that is why the space rocks are the world’s biggest danger. In writer Norman Byrd’s words, “Even though Earth has the wherewithal to prevent asteroid strikes that could wipe out cities or perhaps even cause an extinction level event like that which contributed to the death of the dinosaurs, there is currently no defense system in place that could both detect a hazardous asteroid - or comet - headed toward a collision with Earth” (1). A clear flaw in the plan to reduce asteroid impact is that there is no plan. A plan should definitely be in place to try and prevent even human extinction from a threatening asteroid. In the end, asteroids are unstoppable because of the amount of dilemmas invoked by the effort put forward to subtract the impact of them. The biggest grudge that experts and even non-experts have against asteroids is the likelihood of a strike. As mentioned earlier, the probability of an asteroid ending a person’s life is around one in 700,00. The odds of winning a ten thousand dollar (or more) prize from playing the lottery is one in 689,065 (Fontinelle 1). The difference between two is that most people still play the lottery, despite the fact that their chances of a real decent cash prize is very low. If the odds of an asteroid strike are so similar to those of winning the lottery, then why do most people believe that an asteroid would never fatally strike? According to reporter Lindsay Dodgson, “Although rare, Nuth said of dangerous asteroids and other space rocks: ‘They’re 50 to 60 million years apart, essentially. ‘You could say, of course, we’re due’” (1). The impact that terminated the dinosaurs hit around 66 million years ago. That means that Earth is indeed due for a potentially devastating asteroid strike that may spell extinction for humans. In the final analysis, asteroids cannot continue to avoid the Earth, and it is inevitable that a strike is coming. In brief, asteroids are theoretically unstoppable, unpredictable, and only a single hit can spell extinction for the human race. It is just about guaranteed that an asteroid impact is due for humans, as reflected by the impact that destroyed dinosaurs approximately 66 million years ago, which is a very long time. The largest threat to human society is that of an asteroid impact, and it is only true.
about to take place. All a meteor is, is a chunk of rock of that is being
Surrounded in darkness, for half the year would make any country seem like a miserable place to live it. However, “Iceland consistently ranks as one of the happiest countries in the world” (Weiner, 142). What makes Iceland a happy and blissful country to live in is a direct result of its culture. Icelandic culture is multifaceted and two dimensions of its culture that assist in the happiness of all Icelanders are indulgence and individualism. Iceland is an indulgent culture instead of resistant one.
Asteroids are tiny, airless rocky worlds orbiting around the sun and most of them are too small to be called planets, yet, some asteroids are too big too not to be acknowledged and are known as planetoids or minor planets. The mass asteroids are puny but despite their size, asteroids can be deadly. The earth has been hit by many asteroids in the past and can potentially be hit by some again. That's one reason why scientists study asteroids and find ways to avoid them from hitting us or at least predict if they are coming.
The third inaccuracy I’m pointing out is that the big asteroid is preceded by lots of little ones which hit New York City, Paris, Shanghai, etc. It is possible for the Earth to be pelted by precursors of the main asteroid, hypothetically speaking, if the initial impact with the comet sent shrapnel flying. But that shrapnel would disintegrate quickly, and most likely by the time the shrapnel reaches the Earth, very little would be left. And another thing: why do movie asteroids only target big cities? I bet upstate New York got hit
Knowing the impermanence of the Earth, do humans have a moral obligation to find and
A fun fact that came up is that as much a 4 billion meteors fall to the Earth each day. Most of them are not significant enough for anyone to notice. Another one is that the Earth gains about a million kilograms of mass a day from meteors.
Armageddon begins by showing the destruction of the Earth by an asteroid 65 million years ago, when the dinosaurs inhabited the earth. According to the narration, the asteroid is said to have been six miles wide, with the power of 10,000 nuclear weapons. The after effects were trillions of tons of dirt and rock thrown into the atmosphere, creating a blanket of dust that the sun was unable to penetrate for 1,000 years. The narrator explained that it happened once, and that it would happen again, it was only a matter of when.
Lau, Madison 09.10.17 PD : 07 Cockett Science Introduction : The purpose of this lab was to see if a marble dropped from different distances would affect the width of the crater it makes in the sand. This experiment is important to the related science content because it shows how different impacts from an object can affect things when dropped, such as how big or small a crater is. According to the article, “Why do some meteorites create such huge craters?” , Gemma Lavender explained that a meteorite would not have to be large in order to have a big impact on the ground.
The earth is flat. Who, but a government tool, has truly seen the spherical world? The human race should not be content to sit and accept what is broadcasted to the masses. A foul conspiracy to gain power and money keeps us in the dark, and unless the truth is thrust into common knowledge, society will continue to be controlled by scheming New World Leaders. Flat earth is the truth, and lies of science and government perpetuate the myth of a spherical earth.
Colonizing Mars, it seems like a distant achievement. Some say impossible, some say it will happen soon. Since Elon Musk has entered this field of exploration colonization of Mars has seemed even more plausible. Still, problems have surfaced to make this much more difficult than it has to be. This makes some believe this to be impossible or unlikely for the time. Despite what side you are on we can both agree that we want to advance in space exploration.
He figures out which ones are coming our way, and whether or not they are a threat (Kluger 1). Astronomers estimate that one in a thousand asteroids that pass our Earth will hit us (Booth 98). This may not seem like very many, until you consider that we are hit with at least one basketball sized asteroid every day (Kluger 6). So what happens when our one sizeable asteroid a day ends up being the size of a mountain? Well, if it happened today, we would surely be dead.
Asteroids can be found orbiting the Sun in a belt between Mars and Jupiter; this is called the Asteroid belt or Main belt. The asteroid belt has been said to probably contain millions of asteroids that are all different. There are more than 20,000 numbered asteroids. Some times asteroids get knocked off the asteroid belt. As asteroids revolve around the Sun in elliptical orbits, Jupiter’s gravity and getting to close to Mars or another asteroid can change an asteroids path, this could send an asteroid out of the asteroid belt and into space across the orbits of other planets. An example of asteroid orbits changing is Mar’s moons Phobos and Deimos. These were asteroids that went to close to Mars and got caught in its orbit.
First off, even though the moon wasn't necessarily the cause of Theia colliding with Earth, the collision is said to have changed Earth's physical and chemical properties. Most of the major changes fall under one broad, self-explanatory category: land formations. Common land formations include mountains, canyons, hills, land masses, and volcanoes. These land formations, along with many others, are very beneficial for us and the rest of our planet. These things we take for granted. Just think, without mountains, without canyons, without any of these things, what would we have left? Snow would be a very rare thing as it only snows in colder climates. That
When it hit the Earth, the asteroid left an enormous crater that measured 24 miles deep and 125 miles wide (Erdman). Just the impact of the asteroid destroyed the forests and landscape of the majority of North America due to its massive shock wave (Erdman). Many species went extinct when the asteroid hit, these species include dinosaurs, ammonites (certain ocean dwelling creatures), pterosaurs, and some plant groups dinosaurs, ammonites (mollusks related to the octopus and the chambered nautilus), pterosaurs, and certain plant groups. Although devastating, the asteroid did not wipe out all of the animals on Earth, it didn’t exterminate fish, frogs, turtles, birds, mammals and crocodilians (Erdman). These animals survived and evolved into the animals that exist today.... ...
Over the course of this great country’s history there have been grotesque wars, groundbreaking discoveries, and ultimately new standards set. As a nation, the United States was built on the grounds of exploration. Testing the boundaries and reaching new heights is how the U.S. became what it is today, and is what distinguishes the U.S. from other countries. Now, of course, not every person is a scientist, astronaut, or great explorer. This is nearly impossible simply due to the fact that society branches off into countless different people with varying interests, jobs, and focuses. However, this is the time for the United States to provide its space program with the funding it needs to pave the way for a brighter future for all of mankind.