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Topic: Goodbye World.
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Stereo
Solid Nitrozanium SuperFan!
Member # 748
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posted September 18, 2007 10:28
Yeah, I've read about that. Any chances that the meteorite impact just caused the evaporation of years of pesticides accumulated in the soil? Or, Peru being a volcanic area, maybe it's sulfur - or other volcanic gazes that had accumulated in the area - being released from the crater. Or something like that.
Anyway, just send properly equipped scientists rather than policemen who can't say more than "yeah, there's a meteorite there," and we'll know what causes the sickness. Until then, you won't hear doomsday predictions from me, I'm sure it's going to be pretty mundane in the end.
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Eppur, si muove!
Galileo Galilei
Posts: 2286 | From: Gatineau, Quebec, Canada | Registered: Apr 2001
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GrumpySteen
Solid Nitrozanium SuperFan
Member # 170
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posted September 18, 2007 11:04
same story, but with picture:
http://news.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=296907
One thing that seems odd, though... an impact crater is formed due to lots of dirt being thrown up into the air. To my eyes, it doesn't look like there's enough dirt around the hole to account for the size of the hole.
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Worst. Celibate. Ever.
Posts: 6291 | From: Tennessee | Registered: Jan 2000
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Stereo
Solid Nitrozanium SuperFan!
Member # 748
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posted September 18, 2007 12:23
quote:
Originally posted by Steen:
One thing that seems odd, though... an impact crater is formed due to lots of dirt being thrown up into the air. To my eyes, it doesn't look like there's enough dirt around the hole to account for the size of the hole.
Depends, it look to me that the photo looks toward where the meteorite came from, so most of the dirt ejected from the crater would be behind the photographer, and thus, unseen to us.
And looking at the amount and color of the water, my theory stands stronger. (Super heated mass of metal hits the ground at high speed, with a lot of water close to the surface... Not only there are dirt and gaz ejected, but the potentially contaminated boiling water releases even more toxic gazes.) Seems we'll just learn of another heavily contaminated area of the world. (China, India, and some French West Indies islands have all been in the news recently for contaminant-related stories.)
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Eppur, si muove!
Galileo Galilei
Posts: 2286 | From: Gatineau, Quebec, Canada | Registered: Apr 2001
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The Famous Druid
Gold Hearted SuperFan!
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posted September 18, 2007 13:39
Meteorites are actually very cold, so the 'boiling water' story doesn't sound right to me.
Alternative theory: The crater was formed by a huge bubble of gas pushing its way up from below. The gas ignited, causing the fireball villagers saw. The bubbling water wasn't boiling, it was just the last remnants of the gas escaping.
Mind you, if villagers start disappearing, and a strange black BLOB is seen in the area, we're fscked.
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If you watch 'The History Of NASA' backwards, it's about a space agency that has no manned spaceflight capability, then does low-orbit flights, then lands on the Moon.
Posts: 10313 | From: Melbourne, Australia | Registered: Oct 2002
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macmcseboy
Solid Nitrozanium SuperFan!
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posted September 18, 2007 14:07
Cold MY ARSE!... Re-entry into the atmosphere at those speeds cause it heat up. and The kinetic energy at impact also creates heat...
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Live long and prosper.
Posts: 1108 | From: Victoria BC... | Registered: Mar 2002
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Wingless
Mini Geek
Member # 10751
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posted September 18, 2007 14:40
I'm thinking no one had been outside in such a long time that the fresh air was making everyone dizzy.
Posts: 94 | Registered: Aug 2007
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GrumpySteen
Solid Nitrozanium SuperFan
Member # 170
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posted September 18, 2007 14:51
Stereo wrote:
Depends, it look to me that the photo looks toward where the meteorite came from, so most of the dirt ejected from the crater would be behind the photographer, and thus, unseen to us.
But why would the photographer leave out some of the interesting parts of the photo by standing on them when the photograph could be taken from the opposite side of the hole just as easily, if not more so?
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Worst. Celibate. Ever.
Posts: 6291 | From: Tennessee | Registered: Jan 2000
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ewomack
Highlie
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posted September 18, 2007 15:38
Probably not the end of the world, but incredibly creepy nonetheless.
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Ed Womack
Get Milked
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The Famous Druid
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posted September 18, 2007 16:47
quote:
Originally posted by macmcseboy:
Cold MY ARSE!... Re-entry into the atmosphere at those speeds cause it heat up. and The kinetic energy at impact also creates heat...
Only a very thin outer layer heats up, there just isn't time for the heat to penetrate far through the rock. Most recently fallen meteorites are found covered in frost.
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If you watch 'The History Of NASA' backwards, it's about a space agency that has no manned spaceflight capability, then does low-orbit flights, then lands on the Moon.
Posts: 10313 | From: Melbourne, Australia | Registered: Oct 2002
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RScottV
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posted September 19, 2007 03:54
Be sure to let us know when the aliens crawl out of that hole.
Posts: 211 | From: Saint Paul, MN | Registered: Feb 2005
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The Famous Druid
Gold Hearted SuperFan!
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posted September 19, 2007 05:57
/me checks the photo Steen linked to above...
Is that Red Weed growing in the foreground?
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If you watch 'The History Of NASA' backwards, it's about a space agency that has no manned spaceflight capability, then does low-orbit flights, then lands on the Moon.
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Mr. Dave
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Member # 1977
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posted September 19, 2007 21:21
quote:
Steen wrote:
One thing that seems odd, though... an impact crater is formed due to lots of dirt being thrown up into the air. To my eyes, it doesn't look like there's enough dirt around the hole to account for the size of the hole.
Forming a meteor crater isn't like chucking a rock into a sand dune. A typical meteoroid (I just checked my Astro 232 text from last year) hits the top of the atmosphere at around 17 km/s. (Yes, that's kilometres per second - compare a rifle bullet at around 1 km/s. And if the meteoroid is in a retrograde orbit, the closing speed can be up to 72 km/s!) A small meteoroid, that is, less than 20m diameter, can lose enough velocity to survive impact; it will also ablate ("burn away") most of its mass, and will rarely leave a crater more than 10 m across. A larger meteor (In orbit, it's a meteoroid; falling, it's a meteor; on the ground it's a meteorite) has enough kinetic energy that it will be completely vaporized on impact. In fact, a meteor can come in as low as 10 degrees above the horizontal, and still form a circular, not oblong, crater - the debris is not "kicked up" by the meteor's motion but rather "blown away" by an explosion caused by the sudden conversion of motion into heat, and is spread over an area many times the diameter of the crater. No little pile of dirt; rather a thin layer spread far and wide.
quote:
The Famous Druid wrote:
Only a very thin outer layer heats up, there just isn't time for the heat to penetrate far through the rock. Most recently fallen meteorites are found covered in frost.
This is true of small meteorites - see my comment re: ablation. If this crater is 30 m across, then the meteor was probably big enough to be completely vaporized.
As for the health effects, they could be from gases released when the surface rock was shattered, or from gases liberated or formed when the meteor and surface rock were vaporized. Chondritic meteors contain all kinds of funky organic compounds.
Whew - that was long-winded of me. Maybe I should shut up now. ![[Geek]](graemlins/geek.gif)
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I'm not normally like this, but then I'm not normally normal.
Posts: 193 | From: Leverkusen Institute of Paleocybernetics | Registered: Jan 2003
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GrumpySteen
Solid Nitrozanium SuperFan
Member # 170
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posted September 19, 2007 23:38
Mr. Dave:
the debris is not "kicked up" by the meteor's motion but rather "blown away" by an explosion caused by the sudden conversion of motion into heat, and is spread over an area many times the diameter of the crater. No little pile of dirt; rather a thin layer spread far and wide.
Look at the picture... there's clearly no thin layer of reddish dirt/clay spread around anywhere except in the immediate area around the hole. It looks like somebody dug a hole and carted the contents away.
*grumbles about people who don't know him making the assumption that he needs a kindergarten level explanation for things*
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Worst. Celibate. Ever.
Posts: 6291 | From: Tennessee | Registered: Jan 2000
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hal9000
Geek
Member # 9896
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posted September 20, 2007 07:45
I have formed a company called TFMAARPHG, it stands for Tin Foil Meteor And Anomalous Radiation Protection Head Gear.
I have blown up stuff and made craters, I have had the fun of using lots and lots of different kinds. Everything from big holes to shallow craters and cutting holes in armor with shape charges.
So some information that we need to help theorize on this.
Elements contained in the object, mass, angle of attack and speed... ![[Big Grin]](biggrin.gif) all of which the government knows and isn’t telling us
Composition of the ground at each level to the base of the explosion... ![[Eek!]](eek.gif) Major league baseball has this and is using it to force old ladies to watch MLB
Lastly the mystery illness is it viral or bacterial or physcosomatic. ![[evil]](graemlins/evil.gif) this all actually a conspiracy to cover the truth that the govt is performing secret tests on a new weapon
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P.E.B.K.A.C. if you can fix this, you can fix anything.
Posts: 183 | From: VA under a bridge living in a van. | Registered: Jul 2007
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Maggs
Geek
Member # 4682
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posted September 20, 2007 18:05
Makes for a really bad grade on a Programming project in class ![[Wink]](wink.gif)
Posts: 193 | From: NYC | Registered: Nov 2005
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quantumfluff
BlabberMouth, a Blabber Odyssey
Member # 450
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posted September 20, 2007 23:13
Makes for a really bad grade on a Programming project in class
Not really. "Goodbye world" is the cannonical first program when using a GUI toolkit. You put up a button that says "Goodbye World", and when you click it, the program exits.
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Mr. Dave
Geek
Member # 1977
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posted September 21, 2007 16:29
quote:
Steen wrote:
Look at the picture... there's clearly no thin layer of reddish dirt/clay spread around anywhere except in the immediate area around the hole.
Actually, it's kinda hard to tell if the lumpy reddish terrain is covered by lumpy reddish debris or not.
quote:
It looks like somebody dug a hole and carted the contents away.
Which is what I'd expect, based on my understanding of the energies involved.
quote:
*grumbles about people who don't know him making the assumption that he needs a kindergarten level explanation for things*
Er, yeah, sorry. If I knew you better, I probably would have phrased it... Well, I probably would have phrased it exactly the same. In any case, I'm sure somebody got something from it, even if you didn't. (Dear God, I hope somebody got something out of it... ![[blush]](graemlins/blush.gif) )
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I'm not normally like this, but then I'm not normally normal.
Posts: 193 | From: Leverkusen Institute of Paleocybernetics | Registered: Jan 2003
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pixel_pusher01
Member # 11735
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posted October 18, 2007 14:59
Meanwhile, some goofy farmer touched it and is now growing prolific green moss on his hand...
I'm not gonna worry about it too much until the dead awaken and start feeding on the living...
Hmmm... sorry, that was tasteless... ![[shake head]](graemlins/shakehead.gif)
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Mike: "You know, a lot of people have compared this scene to the climactic chariot scene in "Ben Hur."
Tom Servo: "Uh-huh?"
Mike: "Yeah, you know, they usually say, "Ben Hur was really good. This movie totally sucks."
—Mystery Science Theater 3000, episode #820- Space Mutiny
Posts: 32 | From: San Antonio, TX | Registered: Oct 2007
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GrumpySteen
Solid Nitrozanium SuperFan
Member # 170
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posted October 18, 2007 16:39
Have you ever chewed on a living person? They're pretty tasty...
Now, if the dead awaken and start eating tofu... then you've got tasteless.
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Worst. Celibate. Ever.
Posts: 6291 | From: Tennessee | Registered: Jan 2000
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pixel_pusher01
Member # 11735
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posted October 18, 2007 21:13
Don't make me break out that "Indian Thriller" video on YouTube...
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Mike: "You know, a lot of people have compared this scene to the climactic chariot scene in "Ben Hur."
Tom Servo: "Uh-huh?"
Mike: "Yeah, you know, they usually say, "Ben Hur was really good. This movie totally sucks."
—Mystery Science Theater 3000, episode #820- Space Mutiny
Posts: 32 | From: San Antonio, TX | Registered: Oct 2007
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