Question

Astronomers estimate that a 2.0 km diameter asteroid collides with the Earth once every million years. The collision could pose a threat to life on Earth. Assume a spherical asteroid has a mass of 3020 kg for each cubic meter of volume and moves toward the Earth at 13.3 km/s. How much destructive energy could be released when it embeds itself in the earth?

Answer 1

the energy that will be released will be 8.95×10^(21) Joules
for comparison, the Nagasaki atom bomb released 8.8*10^(13) Joules
so this meteorite is (8.95×10^(21))/(8.8*10^(13))=100×10^6 (100 million) times more destructive