What would happen if a comit hit earth?

Answer 1

A comet entering the Earth's atmosphere would be a devastating event, what has become known as an ELE, Extinction Level Event. Basically, the atmosphere that came into immediate contact with the object would heat to the point that it actually burst into flames. The object would continue to heat its surroundings as it continued to fall. Different effects would result in a land fall event and a sea fall event.

The crater formed in a land fall event would be vastly larger than the object itself. Keep in mind that Meteor Crater in Arizona is about a mile in diameter and half a mile deep. The object that dug that big a hole was about the size of a refrigerator. Comets are much, much larger, say the size of Rhode Island. Trillions of tons of soil and rock would be thrown into the upper atmosphere, blocking the sun and causing world wide winter for decades to centuries. Life on Earth would essentially end. The lucky ones would be vaporized in the initial blast. Any on the opposite side of the globe who survived would not last long afterward.

There are several theories of what would result from a sea fall, from the planet cracking like an egg, to 1,000 foot tsunamis raking the globe. In addition to the mud and sea bottom that was thrown into the atmosphere, hundreds of trillions of gallons of sea water would be vaporized as well. The result would resemble the nuclear winter threatened by full release scenarios of the Cold War.

Regardless, either way, the days of Man would end. As would the time of most other life we know.

Answer 2

If a comet were to hit Earth, it could cause widespread destruction depending on its size and impact velocity. The force of the impact could trigger earthquakes, tsunamis, and wildfires, leading to significant loss of life and damage to infrastructure. It could also potentially result in a long-lasting environmental impact, such as dust clouds blocking sunlight and affecting global climate.

Answer 3

It can, but it is not very likely. A comet heading for earth is a frequent plot in Science Fiction movies, but the chances of such a thing actually happening at any time in the near future are very very small.

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However, in the 4 BILLION year history of the Earth, it has likely been hit by comets hundreds, perhaps millions of times. Some scientists even believe that some substantial fraction of the liquid water now on Earth was delivered by cometary impacts.

And the Earth will most certainly be struck by comets in the 4.5 billion years of the future. There's nothing that we know of, but many new comets are discovered every year.

Here in the year 2013, there's not much we could do about a comet on a collision course with the Earth. But 50 or 100 years from now is an entirely different matter! It's likely that by the time the next "dinosaur killer" comet or asteroid is discovered, we'll be able to steer it into orbit, and mine it to make our next generations of spaceships!

Answer 4

Well it depend what size the asteroid or meteor is. If it is over 6 km long it could wipe out all life on earth. What happens is when the asteroid hits over 6 km long it explodes raining down boulders about the size of houses.

After that the wind cloud comes. This cloud has wind pressures in it so high it can tear the skin off your body and launch buildings the size of the Empire State Building into the air. Then the wall of fire comes in and wipes over the earth covering the earth in fire. After the fire wall clears about1 hour later the ejecta cloud rolls in. The cloud is about 100 degrees Celsius. And in its path is a destiny of destruction. Everything behind it catches on fire. The fire is so intense that it creates its own winds.

When the ejecta cloud clears Tsunamis roll in. Not just any Tsunamis the worst nature could ever throw a MEGA Tsunami. Over 500 feet high covering parts of countries overpowering everything in its path.

And That is what happened to the dinosaurs and what would happen if an Asteroid Or meteor Over 6 miles or km hit the earth. Because the dinosaurs died humans may live.

When a meteor enters the earth's atmosphere, it is known as a "meteorite". Meteorites can explode on impact of just before hitting the earth's surface, resulting in in a "crater". The size of the crater will vary based upon the size of the meteorite and it's velocity.

Meteors strike the Earth quite a lot. Most go unnoticed. Some are seen and even found. If a very large on hits you will not have much to worry about. It could cause big problems to all life.

Answer 5

If Halley's Comet were to crash into the Earth (and it cannot) it would exterminate 95% of all life on Earth. Very much like the impact that killed off all the dinosaurs and 85% of all life 65 million years ago, or the "Great Dying" at the end of the Permian era 252 million years ago.

Answer 6

Nothing. It's actually happened before. The comparison generally given goes something like "The entire tail of a typical comet, at Earthly pressures and temperatures, would fit into a good-sized briefcase." That may not be strictly true, but it gives you the idea: a comet's tail doesn't contain enough material to have any noticeable effect on the Earth or its inhabitants.

Answer 7

In most cases, nothing. Astronomers estimate between 36 and 166 meteorites larger than 10grams fall to Earth per million square kilometres each year. Over the whole surface area of Earth, that translates to 18,000to 84,000meteorites bigger than 10grams per year.

Answer 8

Meteor showers usually occur. Comets are big chunks of dust and ice loosely held together by gravity. Their orbits are very long, if indeed they remain in solar orbit at all. When they come close enough to the sun, solar radiation causes frozen water and other gases to vaporize and form an atmosphere around the comet called a 'coma'.

Radiation pressure and the solar wind are powerful enough to push this coma away from the comet, ejecting it along with small particles of dust to form the distinctive tail of a comet, which points away from the sun.

If the earth happens to pass across a comet's orbit shortly after the comet, it passes directly through the gas and dust left behind from when the comet passed. This barrage of foreign particles enters our atmosphere, where it disintegrates or vaporizes quickly from pressure or friction exerted by the atmosphere. This can result in a meteor shower. Sometimes, when we pass very close to a comet or a comet happens to leave a particularly dense trail, these meteor showers can become particularly exciting from the sheer number of meteors visible in a short period of time. (Meteors are often referred to as 'falling stars', when in fact they are mostly this kind of space debris.)

Answer 9

The answer depends on the size of the comet and the location of the impact. A very small comet may simply burn up in the atmosphere with no adverse effects on the Earth's surface. A larger comet may explode over the surface of the Earth causing localized destruction, but not effecting the entire planet (research the Tunguska Event for a similar event). However, a large enough comet could cause widespread destruction, throwing dust and ash into the atmosphere and blocking out the sun for many years, causing nearly all life on Earth to die out.

Answer 10

Depending on the mass of the comet, it will be somewhere between "bad!" and "REALLY BAD!!!".

Comets travel in extended orbits with remarkable speeds. A comet falling in from the Kuiper Belt may be traveling at 130,000 miles per hour, and anything hitting at that speed is likely to create quite an explosion. If the comet's nucleus has a substantial mass, it might "only" devastate a continent and create an extended ice age, or it could exterminate almost all life on the Earth.

This has happened before, we believe; twice for certain and perhaps more, large masses striking the Earth have caused major extinctions. The "Permian Extinction" about 232 million years ago, and the "K-T event" that killed off the dinosaurs 65 million years ago are both, we believe, related to impact events.

If we're lucky, it would "only" kill off all large life forms on the continent, as the "Younger Dryas" event did about 13,000 years ago, when it wiped out everything in North America, and caused an ice age that nearly killed off all humans.