Questions tagged [asteroids]
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5
questions
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2answers
218 views
Would a gold-containing meteor cause it to "rain" gold?
Not sure if here or physics is the best place for this question, but if there was a meteor that had gold in it, what happens to that metal during entry of the Earth's atmosphere? Since gold melts at ...
10
votes
8answers
3k views
Could an icy/extremely-cold asteroid/comet ever strike and cool the Earth?
This is obviously an imaginary question, but it seems like something computable (which I don't have the mathematical ability to do so unfortunately). P.S. I do not have in-depth knowledge about comet/...
4
votes
1answer
116 views
Luis Alvarez's K-T Impactor Calculation
I am trying to perform the calculation that Luis Alvarez used to establish the size of the K-T impactor. I used the following information:
Assume that the clay layer with iridium was uniformly ...
1
vote
1answer
233 views
How deep could the Vredefort asteroid have penetrated? [duplicate]
The asteroid which created the Vredefort impact crater in South Africa is estimated to have been between 10 and 16 km in diameter (the uncertainty is due to the age of the crater, which is more than 2 ...
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votes
2answers
221 views
Original Diameter of Ancient Impact Craters [closed]
The 2.25 billion-year-old Yarrabubba crater in Western Australia has recently been identified as the world's oldest impact crater. It is said to be 43 miles (69 km) in diameter, yet the photo which ...