An asteroid closely passes the Earth at a range of 17200 mi and relative speed of 7.8 km/s. The diameter is estimated at 30 m with a specific gravity of 3. If this asteroid had impacted Earth, how much energy would have been released? Express this quantity in units of mega- tons (Mton) where a megaton is the energy released by one million metric tons of TNT explosive. A metric ton is 1000 kg and the explosive energy density of TNT is 4184 J/g. Hint: If the asteroid hits the Earth, its relative velocity becomes zero. Ignore any change in asteroid velocity due to gravitational acceleration or air resistance.

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Chapter13: Gravitation
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An asteroid closely passes the Earth at a range of 17200 mi and relative speed of 7.8 km/s. The diameter is estimated at 30 m with a specific gravity of 3. If this asteroid had impacted Earth, how much energy would have been released? Express this quantity in units of mega- tons (Mton) where a megaton is the energy released by one million metric tons of TNT explosive. A metric ton is 1000 kg and the explosive energy density of TNT is 4184 J/g. Hint: If the asteroid hits the Earth, its relative velocity becomes zero. Ignore any change in asteroid velocity due to gravitational acceleration or air resistance.

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