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Meteorite Bowling

Posted by timothy on from the uh-yeah-this-is-uh-research dept.

La Camiseta writes "According to this article from the Guardian Unlimited Observer, some members of the Salt Lake Astronomical Society want to drop bowling balls from airplanes onto the Utah salt flats to simulate meteorites falling. Unfortunately, it's hit a few snags."

3 of 51 comments (clear)

  1. Simulations Gone Awry by Jamuraa · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I would think that these smart people would realize that simulating a meteorite impact would need something other than bowling balls. Doesn't the composition of such fast-moving objects make some difference in how they bounce? Last time I checked, meteors aren't made of bowling balls. Plus I can imagine why everyone in utah would want to be on the government's side on this. Sure, dropping things from planes is cool, but what if it lands on your wife. (Mabye that's why they have spares in utah)

    Sounds like a group of crackpots to me - not that there's anything wrong with crackpots mind you. There has to be someone around to go wild about free energy theories and such. Just wait until one of them is right. (Little do we know, many have already been right, but they've been carted off to the island)

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  2. Why the hell not? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Interesting

    This is practical science and they'll get a real understanding of some physics out of it. As the article says, they're planning on dropping several objects, maybe even a real meteorite.

    It's a chance to for the practical study of impact physics and craters. Actually, the scientist in me wants to know what happens if they dropped a much larger rock or boulder (several tons) from a high-altitude plane. The energies involved would be much more interesting than the 20-lb objects they've been talking about.

    Of course they're going to take precautions and make sure that nobody gets killed by falling rocks - but the public gut reaction is often to treat such quirky experiments as acts of insanity or vandalism.

    On a lighter note, I'm actually suprised the military has never (to my knowledge?) investigated the "dropping rocks out of airplanes" destructive technology. :)

  3. Re:When I was young... by ObviousGuy · · Score: 2, Interesting

    It's happened.

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