Curious layman Posted January 4, 2021 Share Posted January 4, 2021 Been reading about kinetic energy weapons, and it got me thinking, say a 200 tonne passenger jet crashed into London at Mach 8, what would the resulting explosion/shock wave be like. Would it have the potential to flatten London, or would it be just a big ball of flames? Also, during the planes descent, would it speed up due to gravity or slow down due to a loss of thrust and friction? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J.C.MacSwell Posted January 4, 2021 Share Posted January 4, 2021 11 hours ago, Curious layman said: Also, during the planes descent, would it speed up due to gravity or slow down due to a loss of thrust and friction? Mach 8 is going to be above the terminal velocity, so assuming it's no longer is powered, it will be slowing down regardless of angle of descent. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swansont Posted January 4, 2021 Share Posted January 4, 2021 10 hours ago, Curious layman said: Been reading about kinetic energy weapons, and it got me thinking, say a 200 tonne passenger jet crashed into London at Mach 8, what would the resulting explosion/shock wave be like. Would it have the potential to flatten London, or would it be just a big ball of flames? Also, during the planes descent, would it speed up due to gravity or slow down due to a loss of thrust and friction? The kinetic energy would be 1/2 mv^2 Mach 8 is 2744 m/s If that's at elevation, yes there will be more energy owing to the potential energy, but it's 2 x 10^6 joules/meter, which is small compared to the KE and, as you say, some will be lost to air resistance 7.5 x 10^11 Joules, or 0.18 kilotons of TNT equivalent, or ~1/83 of the Hiroshima bomb yield 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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