We discover a meteorite that caught our radar at the last minute. It is coming towards us rapidly. According to our scenario, it will fall in the middle of the Pacific Ocean in about a few hours. So what would be the possible results of this hypothetical collision? We asked the artificial intelligence…
What would happen if the meteorite was the size of a duplex house?
A meteoroid the size of a duplex house, about 10 meters in diameter, would burn up rapidly after entering our atmosphere. Like most small meteoroids, it would break up extensively in the atmosphere. However, any fragments that do make it to the ground could still have a significant local impact.
The energy released during the fragmentation in the atmosphere causes a temporary increase in air pressure and a powerful sonic boom. When the meteorite hits the Pacific Ocean at the moment of impact, a shock wave and local tsunami can be triggered in an area of several kilometers. However, this tsunami quickly loses energy over the vast surface of the ocean and does not cause serious damage to coastal areas.
The environmental effects of a meteorite of this size are limited. The materials vaporized during the impact may remain suspended in the atmosphere for a while and cause a small climate effect. However, this effect is limited to only a few days.
From a cultural perspective, this event will receive more media coverage and increase people’s curiosity about space. The scientific community questions whether such collisions are a sign of larger-scale threats. Some societies may interpret this event as a supernatural sign.
The number of people dying will be very small, probably limited to a few people. These people may be from ships sailing close to the point where the meteorite hit.
What would happen if the meteorite was about the size of a 10-story apartment building?
A meteorite with a diameter of about 50 meters tries to break up in the atmosphere before the collision, but most of it reaches the Earth. A meteorite of this size can have as much energy as the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima or more when it hits the Earth.
If it falls into the Pacific Ocean, it causes a large mass of water to be thrown up and create a tsunami 10-20 meters high. The tsunami can cause serious damage to coastal areas, especially the coasts of Hawaii, Japan and South America. These waves lose energy before reaching the shore, but they become dangerous enough to require evacuation of coastal settlements.
Atmospheric effects are more obvious. During the collision, large amounts of vaporized water and mineral particles are released into the atmosphere. This causes short-term regional temperature drops and acid rain. However, these effects do not reach catastrophic dimensions for the entire planet.
From a cultural perspective, the impact on humanity is more dramatic. Fears of space threats increase among the public. In addition, scientific institutions invest more in meteor-monitoring programs. Some communities may interpret this event as divine or cosmic punishment.
As a result of a collision of this magnitude, the deaths due to tsunamis can be expressed in the hundreds or even thousands.
What would happen if the meteorite were the size of a football field?
When a meteorite the size of a football field (100 meters in diameter) falls into the Pacific Ocean, the discussion is no longer about regional but about global effects. The energy of the impact could be equivalent to 10 megatons of TNT. This is 500 times that of the Hiroshima bomb.
The impact in the Pacific creates a huge tsunami several hundred meters high. This tsunami affects all countries on the Pacific coast and forces the evacuation of millions of people. The west coast of the USA, Hawaii, Indonesia and Japan are the worst hit.
The huge amount of water vapor and mineral dust released from the impact could spread into the atmosphere, creating a temporary “nuclear winter” effect on the global climate. This would cause a drop in temperature worldwide for several years and damage agricultural crops.
The effects on the ecosystem include a major disruption to ocean life. Many marine species in the region would disappear due to the evaporation of water in the impact zone. This would create a chain reaction in the marine ecosystem.
Culturally, this collision causes humanity to take the asteroid threat much more seriously. Global investment is made in space defense programs, and the public becomes more interested in space exploration.
Estimated deaths from indirect effects could be in the hundreds of thousands.
What would happen if the meteorite were the size of Florida?
When a meteorite the size of a state and approximately 500 kilometers in diameter hits, this is now a mass extinction scenario. A collision of this magnitude is comparable to the Chicxulub meteorite that wiped out the dinosaurs.
The tsunami created by the impact in the Pacific Ocean hits all the continents on the coast of the ocean in a few hours. Tsunami waves can exceed 1000 meters and advance into the interior of the continents. This threatens the lives of billions of people living in coastal areas.
The dust and gases dispersed into the atmosphere block sunlight and initiate a period of global darkness. This “nuclear winter” lasts for years and brings the photosynthesis cycle on the planet to a halt. This leads to the complete destruction of agricultural products and a great wave of hunger.
The ecological effects result in the massive collapse of land and sea ecosystems. Marine life suffers great losses due to the evaporation of a large part of the ocean and the disruption of its chemical balance.
Culturally, a large portion of humanity may not survive this event. The few survivors turn the asteroid impact into a mythological narrative. The failure to prevent this disaster despite humanity’s advanced technology could also shake societies’ trust in scientific authority.
The estimated deaths from a collision of this magnitude are in the hundreds of millions, or even billions if we include the indirect effects.
What would happen if a meteor the size of Greenland hit?
This scenario would mean a disaster on a planetary scale. When a meteorite measuring approximately 1.7 million square kilometers hit the Earth, it would completely change the geological structure of the planet. When it hit the Pacific Ocean, it would cause the ocean to evaporate and create a huge crater. This impact would create a crater that goes kilometers deep and release a huge amount of energy. This energy could crack the Earth’s crust and cause a large volcanic eruption.
The atmosphere would be completely covered in dust and gases. Sunlight would not reach the planet’s surface for years. This would cause a long winter. Carbon dioxide levels would rise and acid rain would disrupt the chemical balance of the atmosphere.
The evaporation of the ocean would cause a major change in the water cycle in the atmosphere. This would completely disrupt the climate systems. It would become almost impossible for life to continue on Earth.
The few people who survive would try to live in underground shelters. However, this does not offer a long-term solution. The extinction of humanity is highly probable.