Asteroid Impact Preparedness

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I had that exactly that image when Oscar joked about the trees and lamps...

 

[yevaud]

There is a joke (but a real event nonetheless) from the Civil War battle of Fredricksburg, in which the Confederates were bombarding the Union troops arrayed on the plains below with artillery from up on Marye's Heights. A Captain comes upon a soldier (a member of a Regimental band) hiding behind his drum.<br /><br />"You durn fool," the Captain says, "don't you know that won't protect you?"<br /><br />"Yessir," replies the soldier, "but somehow It feels safer..." <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><em>Differential Diagnosis:  </em>"<strong><em>I am both amused and annoyed that you think I should be less stubborn than you are</em></strong>."<br /> </p> </div>

 

[qso1]

green_meklar:<br />Actually, there's something called dyno-gel which they say can deal with hurricanes. It soaks up water very well, so it would get rid of lots of the clouds in hurricanes and disrupt the hot air they require to keep going.<br /><br />Me:<br />They say can deal...they say being the key words which you accurately used. But it sounds like the kind of claim by whoever makes Dynogel, like the commercial that asks, when is a diet pill worth $153 dollars a bottle. A dubious claim to say the least IMO. I'm highly skeptical of any claims to be able to deal with hurricanes. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><strong>My borrowed quote for the time being:</strong></p><p><em>There are three kinds of people in life. Those who make it happen, those who watch it happen...and those who do not know what happened.</em></p> </div>

 

[qso1]

I thought I should mention that its probably actually easier to deflect an asteroid than stop a hurricane. The nature of the two ideas favors being able to deflect an asteroid IMO. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><strong>My borrowed quote for the time being:</strong></p><p><em>There are three kinds of people in life. Those who make it happen, those who watch it happen...and those who do not know what happened.</em></p> </div>

 

[witgenestone]

I agree with SEARCH. In the meantime we can send asteroids against the earth and other planets here: http://janus.astro.umd.edu/astro/impact/ - and even have an alien commenting on it.

 

[green_meklar]

<blockquote><font class="small">In reply to:</font><hr /><p>I thought I should mention that its probably actually easier to deflect an asteroid than stop a hurricane.<p><hr /></p></p></blockquote><br />It's quite possible. Although it probably depends what timeframe you're looking at...not to mention what size of asteroid.<br /><blockquote><font class="small">In reply to:</font><hr /><p>In the meantime we can send asteroids against the earth and other planets here: http://janus.astro.umd.edu/astro/impact/ - and even have an alien commenting on it.<p><hr /></p></p></blockquote><br />Here's another one. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p>________________</p><p>Repent! Repent! The technological singularity is coming!</p> </div>

 

[willpittenger]

Do what? <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <hr style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em" />Will Pittenger<hr style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em" />Add this user box to your Wikipedia User Page to show your support for the SDC forums: <div style="margin-left:1em">{{User:Will Pittenger/User Boxes/Space.com Account}}</div> </div>

 

[search]

Just about Dynogel and not related with the subject<br />http://www.dynomat.com/

 

[witgenestone]

That link was much more sweeter. It even got projectile angle and impact water depth. Thanks you very much..

 

[witgenestone]

Do we have any estimation on how many parts of the NEO's that are "ironclads"? <br /><br />BTW the idea of hiding behind an a tiny object is maybe not so dumb. It is said, at least according to my high school physics book, that a famous austrian philosopher unfolded his umbrella EVERY night when he walked home from the university.

 

[pioneer0333]

There is no IF we will get hit by an asteroid. There is only WHEN an asteroid will hit! <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[green_meklar]

<blockquote><font class="small">In reply to:</font><hr /><p>Do we have any estimation on how many parts of the NEO's that are "ironclads"?<p><hr /></p></p></blockquote><br />It depends how big they have to be before you count them in the statistics at all. According to NASA, we know of a few thousand NEOs with a diameter of at least one kilometer.<br /><blockquote><font class="small">In reply to:</font><hr /><p>problem with dyno gel is that it will not deal with the major heat engine driving a hurricane. nor could anyone afford enough of it to stop the thing.<p><hr /></p></p></blockquote><br />It's not quite as hard as you think. The stuff can soak up something like 100 times its own mass in water, so it doesn't take all that much. Also, the water droplets it forms would be cold, and as they fell down to the ocean beneath the hurricane, they would cool down the surface of the water and disrupt the warm air currents that keep the hurricane going. The upshot of it all is that a few planes full of dyno-gel could indeed at least do some damage to a hurricane, possibly dropping it to tropical storm status depending on the hurricane and the size of the planes. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p>________________</p><p>Repent! Repent! The technological singularity is coming!</p> </div>

 

[qso1]

Thanks for the link. The other Dynogel products I can see that they would work. Against hurricanes, the sheer size of a hurricane is the main problem IMO. This is one reason cloud seeding didn't work in the past. You just can't get enough of the stuff into the storm. There are probably not enough aircraft in the world to dispense enough of this stuff in quantity continuously to dissipate a hurricane. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><strong>My borrowed quote for the time being:</strong></p><p><em>There are three kinds of people in life. Those who make it happen, those who watch it happen...and those who do not know what happened.</em></p> </div>

 

[qso1]

stevehw33:<br />Once wrote a short essay about this, directing a very large force field over 20 kims. wide at a hurricane and then busting up the eyewall with it. Then pouring some very cold higher altitude air into it which did disrupt the hurricane's heat engine. <br /><br />Me:<br />Any particular kind of force field?<br /><br />stevehw33:<br />But a bit of dyno gel is not going to affect the huge inertial of mass of circulating air, nor the heat engine which drives it. Only the disruption of the two by massive forces can do that.<br /><br />Me:<br />I agree, hurricanes are simply too massive for our technology to deal with and probably will be for the foreseeable future. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><strong>My borrowed quote for the time being:</strong></p><p><em>There are three kinds of people in life. Those who make it happen, those who watch it happen...and those who do not know what happened.</em></p> </div>

 

[qso1]

green_meklar:<br />It's quite possible. Although it probably depends what timeframe you're looking at...not to mention what size of asteroid.<br /><br />Me:<br />Thats true. Larger asteroids would be increasingly difficult to the point that after a certain size range, it becomes impossible to deflect one. Time frame applies as well. If we discover a NEO a mile wide and ten times the distance of the moon on a collision course with us, were essentially done. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><strong>My borrowed quote for the time being:</strong></p><p><em>There are three kinds of people in life. Those who make it happen, those who watch it happen...and those who do not know what happened.</em></p> </div>

 

[willpittenger]

<blockquote><font class="small">In reply to:</font><hr /><p><blockquote><font class="small">In reply to:</font><hr /><p>problem with dyno gel is that it will not deal with the major heat engine driving a hurricane. nor could anyone afford enough of it to stop the thing.<p><hr /></p></p></blockquote><br />It's not quite as hard as you think. The stuff can soak up something like 100 times its own mass in water, so it doesn't take all that much. Also, the water droplets it forms would be cold, and as they fell down to the ocean beneath the hurricane, they would cool down the surface of the water and disrupt the warm air currents that keep the hurricane going. The upshot of it all is that a few planes full of dyno-gel could indeed at least do some damage to a hurricane, possibly dropping it to tropical storm status depending on the hurricane and the size of the planes<p><hr /></p></p></blockquote><br />Actually, this "dyno gel" stuff sounds scary. In addition to my previous objections regarding the most efficient way to move heat from the Tropics to the Arctic, I have to ask what happens to the dyno gel after it has done its job? <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <hr style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em" />Will Pittenger<hr style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em" />Add this user box to your Wikipedia User Page to show your support for the SDC forums: <div style="margin-left:1em">{{User:Will Pittenger/User Boxes/Space.com Account}}</div> </div>

 

[qso1]

The stuff can soak up something like 100 times its own mass in water, so it doesn't take all that much.<br /><br />Me addressing this comment to green_meklar:<br />In the above statement, the power and duration of hurricanes are severely underestimated as has happened in the past. Only 100 times its own mass in water? Think about going out in planes to dump this stuff as a hurricane approaches. Hour after hour, plane after plane constantly bombarding a hurricane with this gel which will get blown and scattered into oblivion IMO.<br /><br />But then, a 145 mph hurricane might be reduced to a 144 mph hurricane.<br /><br />willpittenger:<br />Actually, this "dyno gel" stuff sounds scary.<br /><br />Me:<br />Sounds scammy to me, at least where canes are concerned. Building or forest fires it probably would work fine. Hurricanes can be as much as 500 miles across with hurricane force winds extending as much as 100 miles from the center or eye in the case of cat 3 or above.<br /><br />IMO, we are a long way from technology that can deal with hurricanes. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><strong>My borrowed quote for the time being:</strong></p><p><em>There are three kinds of people in life. Those who make it happen, those who watch it happen...and those who do not know what happened.</em></p> </div>

 

[witgenestone]

We're not essentially DONE if a mile wide asteroid hits us. According to JPL it is believed that it has to be around the 10 km range to kill us completely of. We do not know of any earth-orbit crossing NEO's in that size range. <br /><br />But of course it wouldn't be pleasant. At least not if it hits in the wrong place. And it is of course a lot more probable that a small one is headed in our direction at this moment. <br /><br />An asteroid above 1 km diameter would have global CONSEQUENCES (also jpl).

 

[witgenestone]

This is a generalization. So don't count on it <img src="/images/icons/smile.gif" />.

 

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Near Earth Object Fact Sheet <br /><br />Information on Selected Near Earth Objects <br /><br />This list shows selected near Earth objects (NEO's) with close approaches to Earth in the past and predicted to the year 2100, as well as other NEO's of interest. The probability of any of these objects hitting the Earth on these approaches is essentially zero. There are no known NEO's on a collision course with the Earth. There is a possibility that an as yet undiscovered large NEO may hit the Earth, but the probability of this happening over the next 100 years is extremely small. For comparison with the closest approach data, the distance from the Earth to the Moon is about 0.0026 AU (1 AU = 149.6 million km). <br />

 

[witgenestone]

What if we detect an asteroid on collision course with earth. We have sufficient time to do something about it. Nasa- on earths behalf- sends out a device to deflect it, but something goes wrong. They are unable to deflect it. Now however, we do not have sufficient time to send out a new one. Will you be angry at nasa or just start moving up in the mountains?

 

[search]

I guess I will complain to NASA...there are no mountains here.

 

[bdewoody]

My preparation. Put my head between my knees and kiss my posterior goodbye. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <em><font size="2">Bob DeWoody</font></em> </div>

 

[yevaud]

When a mountain is about to fall on you at 7 KPS, there isn't much else to do, true. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><em>Differential Diagnosis:  </em>"<strong><em>I am both amused and annoyed that you think I should be less stubborn than you are</em></strong>."<br /> </p> </div>

 

[witgenestone]

Well in this scenario we know its coming at a specific time. We also probably know were it is landing. I would evacuate. But if you're close enough (and mayve unlucky enough) to a large unexpected one coming at us you're dead. In that case I would prefer running around naked for a couple of seconds.