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It is believed that an asteroid has wiped out the dinosaurs – but another attack from a gigantic space rock could trigger the end of humanity.
Now, scientists have explained exactly how an asteroid could kill people who are unlucky enough to be caught under one if – or when – it crashes on the Earth.
What are the seven ways that asteroids could kill us?
Researchers at the University of Southampton exposed seven different risks. a collision of asteroids.
They published an article discussing "Asteroid Impact Effects and Their Immediate Hazards for Human Populations" on the same day an asteroid the size of the Rock of Gibraltar zoomed uncomfortably near the Earth.
simulations to assess the risk posed by 50,000 different sizes of the asteroid.
Their study revealed that asteroids cause far more deaths and destruction if they crashed into the ground or exploded into the sky ab "The analysis of the average number of casualties per impactor [asteroid] shows that there is a significant difference in the expected loss for the explosion of air and surface. The team wrote:
As one could s & # 39; expect, the researchers also discovered that larger asteroids pose more risk than smaller ones.) 19659006] However, space rocks less than 40 meters in diameter were more likely to explode in an air explosion, which which presents a different risk for people from below.
The asteroid 4 Vesta is so big that it can be currently seen as it moves through the constellation Sagittarius .
With a diameter of 326 miles, it is 50 times wider than the metro who destroyed the dinosaurs.
The largest crater is 285 miles in diameter.
do not worry that we do not expect an asteroid to reach Earth.
They defined seven different ways in which space rocks could cause the "loss of life", which we listed below
an asteroid crashes into the Earth or explodes into an aerial explosion. "The most critical impact effect".
Bursts caused by an asteroid impact are likely to be so severe that they "dislocate bodies and objects to cause damage". The wind caused by a large space rock would pull the limbs of the man and destroy them.
An asteroid must be only 18 meters wide to cause losses in this way, according to the researchers.
Overpressure
This is the scientific term of the shock wave produced when an asteroid explodes in the air or crushes it into the ground or sea.
This effect caused injuries when a meteor exploded in the skies of the Russian city. Cheliabinsk
The researchers wrote: "Most injuries The injuries sustained during this event were caused by aerodynamic shock that caused people to fall and damaged structures and windows, causing indirect injuries by splinters. of glass. "
Overpressure can also" break internal organs ". the asteroid is large enough, the overpressure effectively pulps the entrails of the victims.
Thermal Radiation
If an asteroid strikes our planet, it will cause a massive fireball.
The effects of this are likely to be devastating to anyone
If asteroids hit a city or explode over it, buildings may be burned – with larger asteroids causing fireballs that are miles wide.
To shelter fireballs caused by smaller space rocks by sheltering them in basements, the risks posed by a larger object are so great that cities should be evacuated. There was a risk of asteroid impact [196]. 59018] When an object hits a planet, it usually causes a massive crater
Sometimes the force is so great that the asteroid instantly melts.
However, the risk is likely to be quite low unless you are unlucky. enough to be in the exact area where the crater is formed.
But by the time the crater was produced, you would probably have been swept away by the overpressure or cremated in a fireball
Ejecta
of craters is likely to throw a huge amount of rocks and debris in the air.
Some of these fragments are likely to be hot, which means that they could trigger other fires even after the death of a fireball.
However, both ejectas and craters are considered low risk because humans would have already been killed by the other effects of an asteroidal impact
. object is big enough, however, it would be d Airborne material in the air that could block the sun.
If this material persisted in the atmosphere for quite a long time, the plants would die and slowly die from all that was on Earth
Tsunami
If an asteroid plunged into the ocean, it would trigger inevitably a massive wave.
This has the potential to kill people who are far enough from the asteroid to be safe from the fireball and overpressure
"Tsunamis Can not Reach Coastal Populations only because their reach to the interior of the land is limited to a few kilometers, "the researchers added.
They found that tsunamis are less dangerous than previously thought
Seismic shocks
An asteroid impact would likely cause an earthquake.
But earthquakes are only considered to have a "minor effect" the number o
It is unlikely that the asteroid causes the same kind of devastation caused by the kind of natural disasters that humans know.
If you are far enough from the asteroid, you do not have to worry. About being burned alive or blown away, you probably do not have to worry about earthquakes shaking your house above you.
This story was originally published in The Sun.
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