My Notes Ask Your Teacher 2. ·-3 points HRW67P.002. On August 10, 1972, a large

Question

My Notes Ask Your Teacher 2. ·-3 points HRW67P.002. On August 10, 1972, a large meteorite skipped across the atmosphere above western United States and Canada, much like a stone skipped across water. The accompanying fireball was so bright that t could be seen in the daytime sky (Fig. 7-24). The meteorite's mass was about 4 x 106 kg. Its speed was about 15 km/s. Had it entered the atmosphere vertically, it would have hit the Earth's surface with about the same speed (a) Calculate the meteorite's loss of kinetic energy in joules) that would have been associated with the vertical impact. (b) Express the energy as a multiple of the explosive energy of 1 megaton of TNT, which is 4.2 × 1015 . (c) The energy associated with the atomic bomb explosion over Hiroshima was equivalent to 13 kilotons or TNT. To how many "Hiroshima bombs" would the meteorite impact have been megaton TNT equivalent?

Explanation / Answer

(a)

the energy loss is

KE = 1/2 mv^2

= 1/2 * ( 4 * 10^6) ( 15000)^2

=4.5 * 10^14 J

(b)

The equivalent loss in megatons oF TNT

MT = 4.5 * 10^14/4.2 * 10^15 = 0.107=0.1 megatonTNT

(c)

number of bombs

n = 107 kT/13 k T = 8.23

rounding to one significant figure n = 8

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