Peruvian car crossed the earth's atmosphere safe and sound
A rocky meteorite that fell in Peru last year did not behave as expected for ordinary fireballs colliding with our planet. Geology professor Peter Schultz from Brown University (Rhode Island, USA) is sure of this. The expedition, which went to the place of the meteorite fall, found that this heavenly stone resisted the earth's atmosphere to the last and, unlike ordinary fireballs, did not disintegrate into separate pieces.
The incident happened on September 15, 2007, when a mysterious object crashed to the ground with a crash near the village of Carancas near the Peruvian-Bolivian border in a desert area. A crater about 15 meters in diameter and several meters deep remained at the site of the fall. The first studies showed that a small stone meteorite collided with the Earth near Carancas. There is no particular sensation in this, since fireballs of this size pass through the atmosphere of our planet quite regularly. Most often, meteorites do no harm: the likelihood that they fall in a densely populated area and harm people is extremely small. However, after Schultz's expedition, it turned out that the Karanasky stone was an exception to the general rules for falling fireballs.
It is believed that a meteorite of this type, entering the Earth's atmosphere, quickly begins to heat up due to air resistance and split into many small pieces. Most of these debris simply burn up in the atmosphere, before reaching the Earth's surface, and what gets there leaves not a large crater, but a relatively small dent. However, the crater at Carancas was surprisingly large. In addition, the study of the sand and dust thrown out by the impact of the meteorite on the surface revealed traces of a specific and very strong deformation. According to Peter Schultz, the car flew 40-50 times faster than usual - its speed at the Earth's surface reached 15 thousand miles per hour (over 24 thousand km / h). In addition, the meteorite fell not in the form of a stone rain from debris, but in a single piece: contrary to all theoretical expectations, the atmosphere could not destroy the cosmic cobblestone.
According to Schultz, it's all about the unusually high speed of the Peruvian car. He was rushing through the atmosphere so quickly that the splintering debris could not overcome the "shock front" and instead of drifting away from the original trajectory, they were again soldered together. In this case, the meteorite acquired a more aerodynamic shape, which, apparently, reduced friction. In the end, the car crashed at Carancas, scattering tons of soil around the crater.
If the American geologist is right, this does not bode well for us. Now the dominant theory sounds very reassuring to the average person: they say, if a small meteorite enters the atmosphere, then an observer at sea level can even stand right in his path. This, of course, is some coarsening, but small space stones successfully burn up in the air. But since there are fireballs (moreover, the fastest ones) that can change shape, it means that even small meteorites are capable of reaching the Earth and potentially leading to serious destruction.
Schultz himself says the following about this: “You will be surprised when you find out how many lakes and ponds are formed by stone meteorites. We just don't know about it, because when they collide, they turn into dust. On the other hand, even if precedents like Peruvian do occur from time to time, they are still clearly listed as exceptions to the general rule. So it is hardly worth exaggerating the microscopic risk of a meteorite falling on your head.