What if Kerbin hit the Earth?

[Sun]

I made a YouTube video on the effects of Kerbin hitting Earth.
Sorry, Impact:Earth doesn't show the impact.

I looked at the effects of a Kerbin-Earth impact by putting 600km into the object radius, then put the other info in, and clicked calculate.
You can also do this at http://www.purdue.edu/impactearth/.




EDIT: Oh, silly me. I put 600km as the object's DIAMETER, not radius. So the object was half Kerbin's size. Still, it would be a devastating impact!

[R0cketC0der]

You also forgot to put in kerbins density. Kerbins density is 58 484.791kg/m³. With the correct data, this calculator says that earth gets completely destroyed.

[CG_Kerbin]

That looks awesome so let's just hope no kerbin sized objects hit earth any time soon

[Endersmens]

Or better yet, hope that kerbin passes by close enough for us to land on it.

[CG_Kerbin]

Or better yet, hope that kerbin passes by close enough for us to land on it.

yeah. sure love to hang out with some kerbal's

[Megalodon 720]

The crater was still much larger than the Chicxulub crater.

[Mazon Del]

I think the thing to be worried about is not Kerbin hitting Earth as it approaches, but of the sudden spamming of really crappy but somehow working rockets flying over to us spreading parts all over the place.

[NovaSilisko]

Hmm... my turn! Using the original Earth Impact Effects Program (which spits out much more information than the graphical one), I've calculated what would happen if a body with the same size and density as Kerbin were to hit the Earth at the average velocity for an asteroid...

Parameters:

- Distance from Impact: 2500.00 km

- Projectile diameter: 1200.00 km

- Projectile Density: 58484 kg/m3

- Impact Velocity: 18.00 km per second

- Impact Angle: 45 degrees

- Target Density: 2500 kg/m3

- Target Type: Sedimentary Rock

I suspect the ridiculous numbers here might be screwing up the parameters a little, but either way, it's going to be quite Fun. The results here tell us a few things:

- Earth's rotation period could change as much as 14 hours either way

- The entire crust of the earth is completely destroyed and melted and a good amount of it is blasted into space.

- The blast energy is approximately 2050000000000000 megatons

- The amount of rock melted or vaporised is approximately 2.5x the volume of the moon

- "Your position was inside the transient crater and ejected upon impact"

- "The Earth is not strongly disturbed by the impact"

However, given the estimated potential energy of this impact is approximately 2.05 zettatons of TNT... the handy Atomic Rockets Boom Table tells us that this is a bit over one quarter the energy needed to completely obliterate earth. This is of course assuming ALL the energy of the impact can be transferred perfectly to the earth, which is unlikely.

Still, the end result is something akin to shooting a watermelon point blank with a shotgun slug.

Edited August 20, 2014 by NovaSilisko
removed imperial values from copypasted stuff because yuck

[WestAir]

Is it possible for Kerbin to pass by close enough that the atmospheres momentarily merge at the point of closest distance? Close enough that a vehicle like the SR-71 could fly from one planet to the other? [ignoring the fact that the fly by might occur in under 10 minutes]

[R0cketC0der]

Is it possible for Kerbin to pass by close enough that the atmospheres momentarily merge at the point of closest distance? Close enough that a vehicle like the SR-71 could fly from one planet to the other? [ignoring the fact that the fly by might occur in under 10 minutes]

The relative velocity of kerbin would need to be at least 11km/s. At airspeeds that high, the SR-71 would be a bunch of small pieces after a few seconds.

[Armchair Rocket Scientist]

The relative velocity of kerbin would need to be at least 11km/s. At airspeeds that high, the SR-71 would be a bunch of small pieces after a few seconds.

That, and the tidal forces would rip apart the crusts of both planets.

[WestAir]

21,000 knot windspeeds might ruin the SR-71, yeah.

[Megalodon 720]

Earth's a lot tougher than most people think. If you want proof then look at the moon.

[N_las]

Earth's a lot tougher than most people think. If you want proof then look at the moon.

"Pizza is a lot richer than most people think. If you want proof then look at the great wall of china."

What do you mean with your statement?

[Megalodon 720]

The moon was formed by a collision between earth and a mars sized planet called theia, earth barely survived and could have been destroyed completely if the planet hit at a shallower angle.

[N_las]

The moon was formed by a collision between earth and a mars sized planet called theia, earth barely survived and could have been destroyed completely if the planet hit at a shallower angle.

I don't really see why that justifies calling the earth "tougher than most people think". It WAS completely destroyed by most people's standards.

Edited August 20, 2014 by N_las

[Megalodon 720]

By completely destroyed I mean turned into another asteroid belt, earth was left with a gaping hole in it with massive amounts of debris being flung into orbit.

I've met people who think earth barely survived the KT extinction event, hence my statement.

[NFUN]

The Earth is pretty tough (It is a 4,550,000,000-year-old, 5,973,600,000,000,000,000,000-ton ball of iron after all). There aren't many feasible ways to demolish the Earth, although currently it has been destroyed.

[jwenting]

I don't really see why that justifies calling the earth "tougher than most people think". It WAS completely destroyed by most people's standards.

That's because most people don't know what "completely destroyed" means... It means the earth no longer exists, is gone, blown to kingdom come, not there any more, went kaplooy...

Merely causing a mass extinction event doesn't even come close to that, nor does knocking it out of its orbit, or melting its crust.

[RockoDyne]

I think we can all agree that it would be a bit of a bummer day regardless of which planet you lived on... assuming kraken physics doesn't keep kerbin from deforming.

[NFUN]

I think we can all agree that it would be a bit of a bummer day regardless of which planet you lived on... assuming kraken physics doesn't keep kerbin from deforming.

The Kraken is a being for destruction, not of healing. The only good that comes from the unholy beast, K-Drives, are powered by the unravelling of space-time itself.

I hope I am interpreting your comment correctly, I am quite tired and had to deconstruct all of the negatives slowly and logically.

[KerbMav]

The Kraken is a being for destruction, not of healing. The only good that comes from the unholy beast, K-Drives, are powered by the unravelling of space-time itself.

Anyone else being reminded of Event Horizon?

[CG_Kerbin]

Anyone else being reminded of Event Horizon?

yes and and I hope we never get past that point