FlyingCircus of Physics On August 10, 1972, a large meteorite skipped across the

Question

FlyingCircus of Physics

On August 10, 1972, a large meteorite skipped across theatmosphere above the western United States and western Canada, muchlike a stone skipped across water. The accompanying fireball was sobright that it could be seen in the daytime sky and was brighterthan the usual meteorite trail. The meteorite's mass was about 4.6x 106 kg; it's speed was about 13 km/s. Had it enteredthe atmosphere vertically, it would have hit Earth's surface withabout the same speed. (a) Calculate themeteorite's loss of energy (as a positive number, in joules) thatwould have been associated with the vertical impact.(b) Express the energy as a multiple of theexplosive energy of 1 megaton of TNT, which is 4.2 x1015 J. (c) The energy associated withthe atomic bomb explosion over Hiroshima was equivalent to 13kilotons of TNT. To how many Hiroshima bombs would the meteoriteimpact have been equivalent?

Chapter 7, Problem 1

Explanation / Answer

Use the kinetic energy equation to find out the kinetic energyof the meterorite based on the information given. We'll call the energy Em We must first, however, convert km/s into m/s by multiplyingthe km/s value by 1000. Mass is fine in kg. Em=(1/2)mv^2 Plug your values into this equation and get the energy andthis will be your answer for A. For B, take your value in A and divide it by 4.2x10^15 J tofind out the multiple magnitude. For C, we must recognize that a kiloton is only 1/1000 of amegaton, so we must divide the megaton value by 1000 to get thevalue for kilotons, then multiply this value by 13 to get the powerof a hiroshima bomb. We then do te same thing we did in partB, by taking the value in A and dividing by the obtained value herein C. This will be your answer (rounded up no matter whatyour decimal digits are) Please rate

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