T

he British hymn “Rock of ages, cleft for me, Let me hide myself in Thee”, may not be the answer if an enormous meteor was to hit planet Earth. Imagine waking up in the morning and enjoying your bowl of cornflakes when all of a sudden, without warning, a massive meteor crashed into your front garden.

For sure, it would make a mess of the roses, but this could happen and here is a rather dramatic account, which was partly taken from a science book.

Travelling at cosmos velocity, the asteroid would enter the Earth’s atmosphere at such speed that the air beneath, which would not be able to escape, would become compressed and very hot indeed — like 60,000 Kelvin, or 10 times the surface temperature of the sun.

In an instant, everything in the meteor’s path — including people, houses, factories, cars, etc — would crinkle and be burned up like cellophane in a flame. In other words, there would be no time for a second cup of coffee, while your insurance policy would be an utter waste of money.

One second later, the meteorite would vaporize, but the blast would blow out about 1,000 cubic kilometers of rock, earth and some rather nasty superheated gases.

Every living thing within 250 kilometers that hadn’t been killed by the heat on entry would now be killed by the blast. Radiating outward at almost the speed of light would be the initial shock wave, sweeping everything before it. I know what you’re thinking — this is going to be a bad day.

All this death and destruction has taken just a few minutes, so breathe easy, as what appears to be the worst is over. But hang on; we had better consider what else will happen.

For sure, it would set off a chain of devastating earthquakes, and those could cause tsunamis, which we know can be devastating.

Within an hour (enough time for three beers), a black cloud would cover the Earth, and burning rock and other debris would be pelted down everywhere, setting much of the planet ablaze. It is estimated that at least one-and-a-half billion people would be dead by the end of the first day.

This event would certainly affect the weather for perhaps thousands of years. So, what can we do to protect ourselves from such a disaster? Nothing. So, have a nice day and whatever you do, don’t forget to duck.

David Wallis
Medan