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Meteorite Bowling
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."
They could be dropping Ipod's and other mp3 players instead. I guess that would recieve some attention... "First mp3 player in space bombs".
Of course, it wouldn't really be in space. But who trusts newspaper headlines anyway?
On the other hand, I suppose if they get a little bit of english on the ball....
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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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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
Well, that shouldn't be a problem... a 4,000 mile-per-hour bowling ball probably wouldn't have any problem plowing straight through any snags that got in the way.
"Your superior intellect is no match for our puny weapons!"
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.
Snags??? I suppose you mean the TOWN under the area they wanted to drop the balls on. Doh!
Well, that shouldn't be a problem... a 4,000 mile-per-hour bowling ball probably wouldn't have any problem plowing straight through any snags that got in the way.
I guess dropping bowling balls from planes is right up the insane person's alley. Sometimes one just needs an open frame of mind to understand things of this magnitude. I don't see the problem here; I think these people would spare no expense to ensure these bowling balls wouldn't strike anyone.
I'll bet the council that makes the decision will have a 7-10 split as to wether or not this should be allowed to happen. Those turkeys.
Well just mod me -7 pun.
We now have confirmed reports from an informed Orange County minister that Ethel is still an active communist.