Patrick It would be interesting to see what the bowling ball would do to an object on the ground but it would be tough to hit anything on purpose. Clear Skies Don -----Original Message----- From: utah-astronomy-bounces+djcolton=piol.com@mailman.xmission.com [mailto:utah-astronomy-bounces+djcolton=piol.com@mailman.xmission.com]On Behalf Of Patrick Wiggins Sent: Wednesday, February 18, 2004 4:19 PM To: Utah Astronomy Subject: [Utah-astronomy] Re: BB Drop I exchanged emails with a guy at JPL and my understanding now is that only large meteors will retain some of their cosmic energy all the way to the ground. The smallish ones, like we might expect to find, loose their cosmic energy and by the time they reach the ground they are falling at terminal velocity and pretty much vertical. Regarding the 1993 Peekskill fall, the reports I've read say the 12 kg meteor didn't go very far into the ground. It was said to have been found in a "shallow depression" under the car. "Don J. Colton" wrote:
Not to put a damper on the bowling ball drop, but I am not sure that the bowling ball going at terminal velocity actually simulates the speed of a meteorite. A large meteorite that hits the atmosphere at 60,000 miles per hour would probably ionize all the gases in front of it reducing the air resistance and depending on the size of the object and its ability to transfer momentum to the atmosphere could still hit the earth at a speed
in
excess of several thousand miles per hour causing the equivalent of a small nuclear explosion. In New York a small meteorite hit the back of a car and drilled a hole right through the car and several feet into the ground. I expect it was traveling faster than the terminal velocity that would result from dropping it out of an airplane.i
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