I’ve always liked the way it’s put in Robinson’s Law;

An object impacting at 3 kilometers per second delivers kinetic energy equal to its mass in TNT.

This has also been rendered more casually, but equally accurately, as

Anything moving at two miles per second packs its own weight in blam.

As for the “airburst”, it was most likely caused by a combination of structural stress and/or internal pressure buildup. If the Tunguska “object” was a stony meteor (as opposed to a nickel-iron one) the aerodynamic pressure at the altitude it blew at was probably just enough (due to a combination of velocity, compression effects, internal and surface heating, and shock effects) to cause it to undergo what the Royal Air Force used to call, with precision, “catastrophic self-disassembly”. If it was a comet core, by comparison (since comets are basically very large balls of ice, dust, etc.), the aerodynamic heating and compression might have heated the ice/gaseous elements enough to cause either (a) a massive steam explosion or (b) even “further out”, if hydrogen was present (and it probably was), an actual compression-induced H2 to He fusion reaction. The latter would handily explain most of the ground effects, as well as the now-confirmed lack of residual radiation. Remember, the radiation left after an H-bomb blast is caused by the (multistage fission-fusion) bomb’s fission trigger. In this case, there may have been an H-bomb type reaction without a fission initiation stage.

In case you haven’t guessed by now, I’m an amateur science geek. And I have nothing but admiration for people like Bryan, who have the brains and skills to do it on a professional basis.

BTW, if you’re a space-science fan, or an SF fan, or both, you might like this site;

Atomic Rockets

It’s where I found both versions of Robinson’s Law.

Warning; If you are a fan of Golden Age SF space ships, or are just fascinated by rocketry in general, be prepared to spend a lot of time reading this site. And yes, it is updated regularly.

cheers

eon

We all know he Tunguska event was a UFO crash, and they now walk among us. (Exhibit A: Allahpundit)

I didn’t know Allahpundit was an extraterrestrial :)

However, this could explain the existence of Dennis Rodman. He’s the proof of extra-terrestrial life that scientists have been overlooking for decades.

upiter is a big planet too. In fact, Jupiter’s job in the solar system is basically to gravitationally Hoover up all the debris, comets and asteroids, and keep it all from hitting us.

That’s it!

Bryan, you’ve finally explained the Big Red Spot. It’s the Hoover logo!

:)

I’ve been intrigued by Tunguska since I got into meteorites about 20 years ago.

Glad they are making progress; I’d like to see that enigma solved.

F15Mech on June 27, 2007 at 2:33 AM

OK so maybe you are not new…

The same rules still apply

Sorry to be a pain, but if spelling lessons are fair game now…

(not to mention the grammar and punctuation–sorry again; feel free to flame if I missed anything)

urbancenturion on June 27, 2007 at 1:26 AM

First of all welcome to HA.

The only flame I will shoot out is that spelling/grammar corrections are generally not done on this site. (In fact it is looked down upon).

Since you understood the comment well enough to make corrections. You certainly understood the meaning.

What point does pointing out corrections serve?

I will be the first to admit that my spelling/grammar is not the best; I do not need you to point it out to me.

Since I do not speak for this site the mods are free to correct me, delete my post etc.

amerpundit on June 26, 2007 at 7:08 PM
for the fun of it

So why haven’t any of you proposed marriage?
‘couse I don’t know her cell #

He’ll fit right in under the new caliphate.
no, he’d be the first victim of a rape-room

urbancenturion on June 27, 2007 at 12:24 AM
What is ‘couse? Ha Do you have any original thoughts? When do you intend to impress the HA site with your intellectual prowess, or are you strictly a critic/english teacher?

Where I come from we have a saying and it goes. When I ask for toilet paper you roll in.

I visited Fels Planatarium at the Benjamin Franklin Isstitute in Philadelphia many times in my youth. 1963-1966) The presentation was always outstanding. I used to try to figure out the projection equiptment which was shaped like a huge dumb bell. I received a little Gilbert telescope for Christmas one year. Finally in the eigth grade I entered into a school with individual classes and which peaked my interest on into highschool. This was in the mid to late sixties and as I got older my Fels Planatarium visits turned into Edmund scientific visits. Edmund was a pioneer in laser light shows and coupled with the music of the day and some good weed or mescaline it was a strong distraction from my interest in astronomy. So instead of authoring a post on Hot Air like Bryan I am just posting this bit of hippie trivia. lol Besides the geology I studied later on is more related to my construction background .(feild engineer)

Sorry to be a pain, but if spelling lessons are fair game now…

Isstitute Institute
equiptment equipment
dumb bell dumbbell
eigth eighth
peaked PIQUED (sorry, a peeve)
feild field
(not to mention the grammar and punctuation–sorry again; feel free to flame if I missed anything)

Word of advice: if you see Tim Robbins waving you into a basement for safety, keep running.

Doctor Zero on June 26, 2007 at 9:59 PM
Sorry, just had to fix that.

db on June 26, 2007 at 10:23 PM

THE WINNER!!!!

Wasn’t the area flattened about 830 square miles instead of 800 acres of woods?

Also, can you let us know on this blog when the next one is going to hit, so I can crawl under my bed? – I’m allergic to asteroid impacts.

jihadwatcher on June 27, 2007 at 12:29 AM

The staggering velocity is what does it. Boom!

When global warming craps out the Dhemocrats can use asteroid impact as the next big WE HAVE TO DO SOMETHING political event.

pc on June 27, 2007 at 12:15 AM

When the “screen of life” goes black…would I still hear the Journey music?

Nice post, thanks!

CrimsonFisted on June 26, 2007 at 10:15 PM”

It’d be like the last second of the last episode of the Sopranos. Apparently the made for popular Hollywood rendering of a cosmic event doesn’t track with reality. You wouldn’t see a large fiery object coming at you. Nope, no sir. It would be here on second, gone the next. These things are moving um fast.