Asteroid Launcher allows you to simulate catastrophic collisions on a global scale

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Briefly: “Planet killer” asteroids are an overused sci-fi trope that inspires movies, books, and other entertainment products. Asteroid Launcher is a new web tool that can give you a rough idea of ​​the level of destruction giant space rocks can wreak on our fragile blue marble of a planet.

Thanks to movies like Deep effectNot funny do not search and many other entertaining experiences, modern audiences are all too aware of the (theoretical) threat an asteroid impact could pose to Earth. with Asteroid launcherthe theory can be made a little more practical by giving interesting tidbits of data about the extent of such an effect.

Programmed by Neal Agarwal, Asteroid Launcher does what it says. The website allows you to simulate an asteroid impact everywhere on Earth and provides information about the resulting crater, the energy level released in the “Gigatons of TNT”, the dimension of the fireball, and more.

Perhaps the most interesting (and horrifying) data provided by Asteroid Launcher is that of the actual effects of the impact on populations and vegetation, with estimates of fatalities by evaporation (during the horrific initial fireball unleashed in the first seconds), victims suffering brutally painful burns. , flaming clothes and trees, ear-tearing shock wave, gusts of wind, devastating earthquakes and much more.

The level of disaster depends on the asteroid’s composition, diameter, speed and impact angle, and here Asteroid Launcher seems to lack the wisest feature. The wannabe Gods of Destruction can choose between comets, gold, iron, stone and carbon, with a speed of 1-100km/s, and a diameter of up to 1.5km.

For example, dropping a comet 1.5 kilometers wide into the central United States would create a crater 31 kilometers wide and an estimated 327 people would instantly vaporize.

The energy released would be equivalent to 1,228 gigatonnes of TNT, more energy than the recent eruption of the Yellowstone supervolcano. The fireball alone would kill 1.3 million people in a few moments, while millions more would suffer horrific burns. A shock wave of 249 decibels will damage lungs and rupture eardrums for hundreds of kilometers, buildings will collapse, and an 8.5-magnitude earthquake will kill more than 2,500 more people.

In short: Nebraska and part of the Midwest will become a wasteland, but the country as a whole will survive to see another dawn. At the moment, Asteroid Launcher is actually unable to simulate a real “planet killer” asteroid like the one Hollywood loves so much, or even a more “modest” impact like Chicxulub – the 11-12 kilometer wide asteroid that killed the dinosaurs 65 million years ago. .

To completely eradicate life on Earth, scientists estimate that an asteroid (or a comet, or even a planet) would have to be about 96 km. An unimaginable perspective beyond the scope of Asteroid Launcher’s simulation – and perhaps it’s for the best.

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