Asteroid Impact
Scientific Lunacy or
(Page 3)
Bible Prophecy?
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Impact ForcesHere is a simple law of physics: When one object collides with another
object, energy is released. The amount of energy released in a collision is
directly related to the size, speed, density and direction of the objects. In
the case of cosmic collisions (such as an asteroid impacting Earth), an
additional factor is added to the equation because of the atmosphere. When an
asteroid plunges toward Earth at speeds of 30,000 to 75,000 miles-per-hour, the
front of the asteroid experiences a dramatically increasing level of atmospheric
pressure – much like the pressure a person would feel holding an arm out of a
car window while accelerating from 30 to 100 miles-per-hour. 
As
the asteroid comes closer to Earth, the atmosphere becomes more dense and the
pressure against the asteroid increases significantly. When the asteroid hurls
through Earth’s atmosphere at high speed, it produces friction which
superheats the molecules in the asteroid. The heat causes the electrical forces
bonding the molecules together to sheer. As a result, the asteroid explodes with
a force that is a million-fold greater than that of man-made atomic bombs. If
the composition of the asteroid is not very dense, the asteroid can explode in
mid-air. In fact, this is apparently what happened on June 30, 1908 in Siberia.
An asteroid having an estimated diameter of 200 feet exploded above the tundra
and leveled every tree in a 50 mile radius! The destruction radiated out from
the mid-air explosion like bicycle spokes for more than 800 square miles. Since
this happened before the age of telecommunication in a remote part of the world,
very few people were aware of the impact for several years. However, one
survivor told how he was instantly transported about a mile from where he
was standing one morning by the wind of a great boom! He claimed the wind blew
his clothes off, destroyed his house and blew his family and all his goats away.
About 20 years after the explosion, Russian researchers finally went to Tunguska
to examine the evidence. Yes, a very large area of trees were lying on the
ground in a radial fashion (trees pointing away from the explosion), but there
was no impact crater and the matter was dismissed as a mysterious explosion of
"swamp gas" – until the 1980’s.
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Oceanic ImpactAs the awareness of an asteroid threat grows, scientists have dedicated more time to this area of study. In April 1997, at Sandia National Laboratories in Albuquerque, New Mexico, scientists created a 3-D computer model of a comet impacting the Atlantic ocean. For this computer simulation, they chose a ½ mile-wide comet that would impact the Atlantic ocean at a 45 degree angle. (In cosmic terms, a ½ mile-wide comet is very small.) Using reference data tables and a new supercomputer from Intel, they calculated the impact would release the energy of 15 million Hiroshima-strength bombs. The study revealed very startling information. For instance, the blast could vaporize up to 1 trillion tons of water, which would form ice-crystals that would seriously damage the ozone layer and affect weather patterns for many months to come. Computer data also suggests that the resulting tidal wave would be about 300 feet high – in which case, Florida and much of the East coast of the United States, along with the coastal regions of Europe would be washed away.
© Wake Up America Seminars, Inc., 1999
