Id say the possabilities of getting hit by a meteorite are astronomical

haha puns, they never get old!

Oh I know that.

 

What I was getting at was the ridiculous notion that someone got hit by a 30,000mph object and didn't explode into a shower of gore.

Trans, you'd really just be left with a nice neat conical hole in you, a little tiny hole for the entry would and a gaping chasm as an exit wound.

Oh I know that.

 

What I was getting at was the ridiculous notion that someone got hit by a 30,000mph object and didn't explode into a shower of gore.

 

Is it really really dark where you are?

If not then I thionk yopu may be under conmstant bombardment by photons traveiling rather faster than that. Not to mention cosmic rays etc.

 

What I don't understand is why everyone seems to think that, just because it's moving really fast, an object can't strike a glancing blow and do relatively little damage.

Well, given the fact that the object in question is of a rather macroscopic size and mass...

I would expect anybody being hit by a supersonic bullet to suffer critical existence failure.

I would expect anybody being hit by a supersonic bullet to suffer critical existence failure.

 

That's odd because people often survive being hit by bullets.

If the path of the rock only intercepts the outermost thousandth of an inch of my hand, how much damage will it do?

Depends on where your hand is in relation to the rest of your body at the time it's struck.

What I don't understand is why everyone seems to think that, just because it's moving really fast, an object can't strike a glancing blow and do relatively little damage.

 

The story in the Telegraph says he was "knocked flying" by the impact. It's harder to reconcile that being caused by the meteorite impact, concentrated to a few square cm on the hand, than the blast from the crater creation.

I think we can generally agree that the stuff journalists write is often tripe.

 

What I was talking about was the posts that say things like

"you'd really just be left with a nice neat conical hole in you, a little tiny hole for the entry would and a gaping chasm as an exit wound"

or

"What I was getting at was the ridiculous notion that someone got hit by a 30,000mph object and didn't explode into a shower of gore."

yes, well i was talking more of a direct hit. but it is possible for it just to graze but that is less likely than a more direct hit.

Even with a direct hit, how likely is it to do anything more than punch a meteorite-diameter hole all the way through, unless it hits bone?

very, hypervelocity impacts on flesh leave a conical shaped hole due to shockwave formation within your flesh.

 

typically occurs from 600m/s and up.

From what I've read of that article, basically what is reported to happen is impossible.

 

IF the kid was sent flying from the hit, he would have suffered a direct impact by an object larger than a small stone. Whatever hit him would need enough energy in it and large enough to transfer that energy to the kid. A small one would be more likely to pierce the body or bounce off. A larger one would throw the person, but it would also crush ribs and cause severe internal injuries. So we know the kid didn't get sent flying by the strike.

 

As stated by many people here, a glancing blow is the most likely. Since people can be grazed by all sorts of small, fast moving objects, that could kill a person with a direct hit, but a glance just leaves a cut. This though would NEVER send a person flying. Maybe if you saw the object coming at you, you would fall to the ground as you tried to avoid it, but if you didn't see it, you would never react. Not seeing the object coming and getting hit, you would also probably fall to the ground from a mix of pain and surprise and then maybe jump around cursing.

 

I still don't believe it left a crater either. A small stone dropped from high enough to achieve terminal velocity won't leave a crater in the ground. A crater, by definition, is larger than the object that made it since the energy from impact is spread into the surrounding area and throws the ground out and away from the center. Small objects that hit the ground and terminal velocity might, and I stress MIGHT, leave a small dent in the ground. A penny dropped from the empire state building doesnt even break bone, its supposed to leave a crater?

 

Its extremely poor reporting and far from accurate. Though I'm sure the kid elaborated as well so the source of the information is questionable to begin with.

that's interesting that meteorite must have been pretty big to have survived the atmosphere obviously larger then the average one.

 

but how does he know that's the one that hit him and not just some random rock? i guess if he got testing done on it he could find out but its hardly seems worth it