Comet and Asteroid Impact Hazards on a Populated Earth: Computer ModelingComet and Asteroid Impact Hazards explores the anticipated consequences of comet and asteroid impact. It presents the first computer simulations of the hazards of comet and asteroid bombardment of a populated Earth. Previous estimates of fatality and damage rates on the 100 to 10,000 year time scale are shown to be too low because they neglect rare, highly lethal outriders of the populations of bombarding objects, those with exceptional strength, unusually low entry velocity, and near-horizontal entry angles. This is the first realistic assessment of both the mean casualty rate and the expected statistical fluctuations in that rate. A breakdown of fatality and damage rates by impactor energy and compositional class suggests lessons for both asteroid search strategies and interdiction techniques. This book is written so that anyone with college level experience in the physical sciences can understand it. It includes a disk that allows the reader to simulate impact catastrophes. It serves as a useful resource in various physical sciences courses such as astronomy, planetary science, and environmental science.
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Comet and Asteroid Impact Hazards on a Populated Earth: Computer Modeling John S. Lewis Limited preview - 2000 |
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1-Year Runs ablation airbursts altitude atmosphere average blast Blowoff Crater r(4psi Building hit Building struck calculations carbonaceous chondrite classes cometary crushing strength death deceleration diameter dist(km distribution Earth earthquake effects Elfinal mass entering body entry angles entry velocity erg/cm2 explosive yield fatal events Fatalities for model fatality rate fireball fldPen R(1psi FluExpl bFatal fFatal fragments gigaton GOSUB GOTO impact events impact flux impact hazard impact km/s Impact Process impactor Iridium irons killed km s¹ largest lethal events long-period comets luminous efficiencies M-type M/A B megatons mesosiderite meteor meteorite fall moment magnitude near-Earth asteroid nuclear number of fatalities orbit ordinary chondrite ordinary H pallasite planet population density PRINT PRINT#2 r(km Raff FluExpl bFatal range reported Runs with Population short-period comet simulation skipout Spacewatch statistics stony-irons subroutine sulfur surface impacts t(burn TABLE target tion tsunami Tunguska Velocity Energy Zmin Vfinal L(burn