Slashdot Mirror
Asteroid Impact Simulator Available
crem_d_genes writes "Scientists at the University of Arizona's Lunar and Planetary Laboratory have developed an online program that calculates the effects of an asteroid impact that can be customized for several parameters. Results and the frequency of the type of event you have selected are displayed with an explanation of what they mean. A news briefing of the full story is available."
Then I can see at which point Bruce Willis and his crew will have to detonate the nuke warhead to save us all. Hollywood here I come!
Oh wait... f1r5t p05t
"Do you suppose that's why God lives in the Heavens? Because he lives in fear of His creations?" - Steve Buscemi
What would happen if a neutron star the size of the moon smacked into the earth at the speed of light?
Inputs:
Projectile Diameter: 10000000.00 m = 32800000.00 ft = 6210.00 miles
Projectile Density: 80000 kg/m3 (ironx10, probably an underestimate)
Impact Velocity: 300000.00 km/s = 186300.00 miles/s (speed of light)
Impact Angle: 45 degrees
Output:
Energy: 1.88 x 1042 Joules = 4.50 x 1026 MegaTons TNT
Transient Crater Diameter: 2897115.48 km = 1799108.71 miles
Final Crater Diameter: 20162191.03 km = 12520720.63 miles
We might not make it.
when big slow rocks get hit, they can break up into little fast rocks that might impact your ship
The fastest way to a high score is to treat the rocks as obstacles, and concentrate on shooting the little fast ship.
Don't blame Durga. I voted for Centauri.
Really big honkin' rocks hit the earth every X million years, so it seems like they would hit the moon every (X*6) million years or so - why is the moon still there?
...used by architects commissioned to build a house for Anna Nicole Smith. After her shocking transformation, they felt repurposing the simulator would be quite easy for cosmic body impact.
I die. This isn't very fun. How do you win?
Doeas this mean the effects of an impact on... the planet? A human? A dead badger?
Good simulation, but I think the impact would depend upon which part of the planet the meteor/asteroid strikes as the geographic composition would affect that.
When I saw program... I was thinking along the lines of the Truck dismount..
Not really that funny until you start thinking of the little mans position riding the meteor...
Fire in the hands of the village idiot is no tool, but a weapon of mass destruction
If you notice an asteroid with a swarthy complexion, a headscarf and a Koran using this simulation against sensitive targets on Earth, please notify the Dept of Homeland Security - immediately.
I went to the Meteor Crater in Northern Arizona and at the visitor center they had something very similar, with graphics and everything. You put in the speed, angle, size and density of the asteroid, and they had a graphical display of the damage.
Not to take anything away from the UofA. I live in Tucson, and know some of the planetary scientists.
Why not start researching realistic methods of destroying/deflecting these menaces before they get the chance to do their damage on us? If we change our mindset from one of reacting to one of being proactive towards the elimination of these threats, we will not only improve our chances of surviving an asteroid attack, we will also be able to reap the scientific technology breakthroughs that came along with such research.
I'm just a lowly slashbot and don't have much say in how things are run at the upper echelons of government, but I think that it goes without saying that anyone who is serious about eliminating these threats needs to focus energies on 1) identifying suspicious threats, and 2) developing and using technologies that will neutralize those threats.
I have been pwned because my
Your Inputs:
Distance from Impact: 1.00 km = 0.62 miles
Projectile Diameter: 3218.68 m = 10557.27 ft = 2.00 miles
Projectile Density: 8000 kg/m3
Impact Velocity: 80500.00 km/s = 49990.50 miles/s
Impact Angle: 45 degrees
Target Density: 3000 kg/m3
Target Type: Competent Rock or saturated soil
Energy:
4.53 x 1029 Joules = 1.08 x 1014 MegaTons TNT
The average interval between impacts of this size somewhere on Earth is 7.0 x 1012years
Crater Size:
What does this mean?
Transient Crater Diameter: 1423.11 km = 883.75 miles
Final Crater Diameter: 3678.54 km = 2284.37 miles
The crater formed is a complex crater.
Ejecta:
What does this mean?
Your position was inside the transient crater and ejected upon impact
-------------
Hope this doesn't hit me...
"All it takes to fly is to hurl yourself at the ground... and miss." -D. Adams
Is this simulator a sequal of this simulator?
That way, we can watch "Armageddon" from the comfort of our research lab plasma screens.
Seems they've also designed an IP Packet Impact Simulator
Beauty is in the eye of the beerholder.
But could this simulation be used to calculate the airspeed velocity of a laden swallow?
Scientists at the University of Arizona's Lunar and Planetary Laboratory have performed the experiment that measures the effect of slashdotting on their server.
On another note, University Researchers underestimaged the impact of slashdotting the page.
Now we know that striking a webserver with millions of weightless packets, some traveling at the speed of light, will... um, kill it.
"Where's a giant flaming meteor when you need one?"
"Prepare for the worst - hope for the best."
Why not put the grad students to work on identification and tracking solutions rather than the assessment of the impact.
Let's see, any asteroid, of say the size of the HST falling to earth will cause damage. This is not spongeworthy!
Now scientists and FUD dwellers have a rapid tool to ascertain everyone's doom. What we need now is a wireless version, running on a PDA so we can calculate at any whim a what if scenario because the big rock will fall on us and we didn't see it coming!
1) First Identify and Track
2) ???
3) Profit!
Harrison's Postulate - "For every action there is an equal and opposite criticism"
I can't find the field to enter in my ex-girlfriends coordinates in.
Actually, it's the FLUSH that disperses the fine mist of coliform bacteria...
"Who are in control, they are not in control of anything - they don't even control themselves!" - Glen Beck
where their server used to be?
Now they have a /. effected simulator.. Kinda cool. It would be interesting to measure exactly what it takes to /. a server, a simulator to do that would be fun, we could see just how many /.ers we'd need to /. microsoft.com
Mod +5 Drunk
To me, at least, that simulator wouldn't matter. You're discussing the expelling of toliet water. You can either consider it relatively clean or not. If you consider it not, you have to account for the very fine mist that probably covers most of your bathroom whenever you flush that toliet - you need a cabinet to keep your toothbrush in if that freaks you out.
It gets worse, though - the most germy place in your house isn't your toliet seat, bathroom floor or toliet water (which is clorinated anyway) - it's generally your refrigerator door handle, followed by other door handles. Which you probably touch before you eat.
Looking for freelance Actionscript (Flash/Flex) or ColdFusion work and/or freelance developers. Email me, put Slashdot
That crater over there was their server having just been hit by the Slashdot asteriod.
But could this simulation be used to calculate the airspeed velocity of a laden swallow?
African or European?
"Some fight for law. Some fight for justice. What will you fight for? One day, you will see."
So all I need now is an asteroid!
According to me, at 2600kg/m^3 (a number I based off very sketchy research, but now seems a lot more reasonable), 600m in diameter, with an impact velocity of 2.7E4m/s (which is ~1.0E4m/s higher than the average "small rock" terminal velocity when it burns up), the impact would release as much energy as the entire nuclear arsenal of the world twice over (disregarding ablation during reentry, which I'm guessing would be nominal).
And that's hardly a huge rock, either.
Reality has a conservative bias: it conserves mass, energy, momentum...
Do they have the impact calculated when that little spaceship comes out and starts shooting at you? I hate that thing.
bum bum bum bum bumbumbumbumbbububbububuubm
the major advances in civilization are processes which all but wreck the societies in which they occur - A.N. White
Here's a screen shot of the simulator.
Life is the leading cause of death in America.
Seems to be down. Maybe it was hit by an asteroid?
The ironing is delicious.
Anyway, it's not of much use to slashdotters I mean, how do you express asteroid impacts in Libraries of Congress?
But what is the SIGnificance?
what the hell is the u of a doing with the donations i give them every year! obviouisly not not /. proofing their servers! :)
Load average on the server is currently 98. We are trying to move it to a more powerful, less utilized server. Oh and it's actually hosted at the Electrical and Computer Engineering department.
What really pisses me off is when the bristles on the brush melt after the pyroclastic cloud hits :)
I hear about people proposing that we should be prepared to attack or deflect any large asteroid heading towards Earth. Instead of trying to do that, I think we should try to understand why the asteroids are attacking us. We need to examine what we have done to the asteroids to make them hate us so much. Ultimately, that's the only way to stop asteroid attacks.
-bs
That that is is not that that is not. That that is not is not that that is.
What I've determined, is that after a night of vindaloo and lager, the effects asteroid impacts are rather devistating.
I'm disappointed at the lack of standard-texas-units for the meteor diameter.
Or, for that matter, the standard volkswagon-bug unit.
lorem ipsum, dolor sit amet
Looks like slashdot just had an impact on the server. :)
Not only do you get interesting graphics of similar impact craters, but if the impact is big enough you get the Martian from Bugs Bunny making pithy comments while he looks through his telescope at Earth. Cool stuff!
Galileo: "The Earth revolves around the Sun!"
Score: -1 100% Flamebait
What's the big deal? I can recall feeding quarters to a similar machine that did this, like, twenty years ago!
Though it's still kinda loaded. Limited to 100 connections at a time. Still a high load, but should work fine now.
The average interval between impacts of this size somewhere on Earth is 1.4 x 10^20 years.
Granted this is a really really long time, but then again mars is looking awefully close this time of year.
Your Inputs: Distance from Impact: 0.01 km = 0.01 miles Projectile Diameter: 3479000.00 m = 11411120.00 ft = 2160.46 miles Projectile Density: 2400000000000000000 kg/m3 Impact Velocity: 300000.00 km/s = 186300.00 miles/s Impact Angle: 45 degrees Target Density: 1500 kg/m3 Target Type: Competent Rock or saturated soil Energy: 2.38 x 1054 Joules = 5.69 x 1038 MegaTons TNT The average interval between impacts of this size somewhere on Earth is 7.6 x 1031years Crater Size: What does this mean? Transient Crater Diameter: 49775696283.87 km = 30910707392.28 miles Final Crater Diameter: 1230682324371.12 km = 764253723434.47 miles The crater formed is a complex crater. Ejecta: What does this mean? Your position was inside the transient crater and ejected upon impact
Technology, the cause of and solution to all of life's problems.
http://janus.astro.umd.edu/astro/impact.html
did anyone imagine you being behind a giant turret with heavy metal music playing shooting asteroids at planets?
I'd like to map out the effects of a /. impact on a website, with parameters for Hosting capacity; including bandwidth, cpu speed, ram, and cost of monthly bill.
I should have used the preview button =/
Your Inputs:
Distance from Impact: 0.01 km = 0.01 miles
Projectile Diameter: 3479000.00 m = 11411120.00 ft = 2160.46 miles
Projectile Density: 2400000000000000000 kg/m3
Impact Velocity: 300000.00 km/s = 186300.00 miles/s
Impact Angle: 45 degrees
Target Density: 1500 kg/m3
Target Type: Competent Rock or saturated soil
Energy:
2.38 x 1054 Joules = 5.69 x 1038 MegaTons TNT
The average interval between impacts of this size somewhere on Earth is 7.6 x 1031years
Crater Size:
What does this mean?
Transient Crater Diameter: 49775696283.87 km = 30910707392.28 miles
Final Crater Diameter: 1230682324371.12 km = 764253723434.47 miles
The crater formed is a complex crater.
Ejecta:
What does this mean?
Your position was inside the transient crater and ejected upon impact
Technology, the cause of and solution to all of life's problems.
...or, if you're Wile E. Coyote...
.10 km/s (terminal velocity)
Inputs:
Projectile Diameter: 1 m = 3.28 ft
Projectile Density: 8000 kg/m3
Impact Velocity:
Impact Angle: 90 degrees
Output:
Crater depth: 3 ft
Crater shape: coyote
Sign poking out of crater: "Ouch!"
What happens if a big asteroid hits the Earth? Judging from realistic simulations involving a sledge hammer and a common laboratory frog, we can assume it will be pretty bad.
That's how the dinosaurs died ?!?!
- impact in an artic or antartic area where vaporization of large amounts of ice could possibly change global albedo (reflectiveness) as well as add water to oceans;
- if impact is known about in advance, and predicted to occur in a populated area, would we force people to leave at gunpoint or just 'strongly urge' them to leave;
- would an impact collapse popular cave destinations or mineshafts?
- would detonating a large nuke at the point of impact, immediately before the impact, do anything constructive?
just some ideas...Unitarian Church: Freethinkers Congregate!
Yikes! Less than once a month? You need to see a doctor, pronto!
Tuus crepidae innexilis sunt.
Hey!
If you post your code so we can tinker with it and run it on our machines maybe we'll leave your server alone (after we finish downloading it a million times).
wannabe astro-physicist
GW-BASIC... sounds like a foreign policy.
Check it out:
Impact Effects Robert Marcus, H. Jay Melosh, and Gareth Collins Your Inputs: Distance from Impact: 20.00 km = 12.42 miles Projectile Diameter: 100.00 m = 328.00 ft = 0.06 miles Projectile Density: 8000 kg/m3 Impact Velocity: 30.00 km/s = 18.63 miles/s Impact Angle: 90 degrees Target Density: 1500 kg/m3 Target Type: Competent Rock or saturated soil Energy: 1.88 x 1018 Joules = 4.50 x 102 MegaTons TNT The average interval between impacts of this size somewhere on Earth is 1.2 x 104years Crater Size: What does this mean? Transient Crater Diameter: 4.16 km = 2.58 miles Final Crater Diameter: 5.04 km = 3.13 miles The crater formed is a complex crater. Thermal Radiation: What does this mean? Time for maximum radiation: 0.08 seconds after impact Visible fireball radius: 2.4 km = 1.5 miles The fireball appears 27.7 times larger than the sun Thermal Exposure: 2.21 x 105 Joules/m2 Duration of Irradiation: 3 seconds Radiant flux (relative to the sun): 68.9 Seismic Effects: What does this mean? The major seismic shaking will arrive at approximately 4.0 seconds. Richter Scale Magnitude: 6.4 Mercalli Scale Intensity at a distance of 20 km: VII. Difficult to stand. Noticed by drivers of motor cars. Hanging objects quiver. Furniture broken. Damage to masonry D, including cracks. Weak chimneys broken at roof line. Fall of plaster, loose bricks, stones, tiles, cornices (also unbraced parapets and architectural ornaments). Some cracks in masonry C. Waves on ponds; water turbid with mud. Small slides and caving in along sand or gravel banks. Large bells ring. Concrete irrigation ditches damaged. VIII. Steering of motor cars affected. Damage to masonry C; partial collapse. Some damage to masonry B; none to masonry A. Fall of stucco and some masonry walls. Twisting, fall of chimneys, factory stacks, monuments, towers, elevated tanks. Frame houses moved on foundations if not bolted down; loose panel walls thrown out. Decayed piling broken off. Branches broken from trees. Changes in flow or temperature of springs and wells. Cracks in wet ground and on steep slopes. Masonry A. Good workmanship, mortar, and design; reinforced, especially laterally, and bound together using steel, concrete, etc.; designed to resist lateral forces. Masonry B. Good workmanship and mortar; reinforced, but not designed in detail to resist lateral forces. Masonry C. Ordinary workmanship and mortar; no extreme weaknesses like failing to tie in at corners, but neither reinforced nor designed against horizontal forces. Masonry D. Weak materials, such as adobe; poor mortar; low standards of workmanship; weak horizontally. Ejecta: What does this mean? The ejecta will arrive approximately 64.0 seconds after the impact. Average Ejecta Thickness: 39.0 cm = 15.36 inches Mean Fragment Diameter: 2.2 m = 7.27 ft Air Blast: What does this mean? The air blast will arrive at approximately 66.7 seconds. Peak Overpressure: 4422.6 Pa = 0.0442 bars = 0.6280 psi Max wind velocity: 9.3 m/s = 20.8 mph Sound Intensity: 73 dB (Loud as heavy traffic)
Galileo: "The Earth revolves around the Sun!"
Score: -1 100% Flamebait
Text output? TEXT output? What's the fun in that? Let me know when someone creates a movie special-effect output of this.
Just the thing to show up unexpectedly during a face-off such as the Indian/Packistani one a few years back.As it happens, a chunk of something did happen to show up at about the same time except it exploded over the mediterranean instead of the Indian/Pak border.
To me, the immediate value of MIT Linear and JPL's NEAT program isn't in finding the one in 100 million big rocks, it's in spotting these little ones that could be mistaken for a nuke going off at the wrong time.
From the same inputs:
"Your position is in the region which collapses into the final crater.
Your position is beneath the continuous ejecta deposit."
So you're in a big hole, covered by rock. Are you going to care about:
"Sound Intensity: 112 dB (May cause ear pain)"
"IX. General panic."
You believe incorrectly. There have been multiple ice ages in Earth's geologic history. During the Permian and late Proterozoic for instance. Less extensive or more poorly constrained events happened at other times (Carboniferous, Ordivician and Silurian, and earlier in the Proterozoic, etc.)
Who's gonna write the graphical front end?
.. the impact of thousands of Geeks trying to access their website at the same time, can they simulate that? - That's right! I didn't think so.
Of course, with this game: Kids, don't try this at home.
Planning for Impact
This program has apparently some flaws (faster than light asteroids) but the most important thing i noted is the "probabilty of impact".
I thought the probability that an object with the mass of *exactly* an 100m rock would be zero?!
Discl.: This is not a troll, I just think more explanations/bounds checking would be helpful...
Watch the Mythbusters episode (on Discovery Channel) where they test the myth about dropping a penny from the top of a high rise building. They show that at worst, you'd receive a bruise.
It is amazing what a little 1 ft in diameter object traveling at the speed of light can do.
Effects of Thermal Radiation:
- Clothing ignites
- Much of the body suffers third degree burns
- Newspaper ignites
- Plywood flames
- Deciduous trees ignite
- Grass ignites
Seismic effects:- Richter Scale Magnitude: 14.7 (This is greater than any shaking in recorded history)
Ejecta:- Little rocky ejecta reaches this site; fallout is dominated by condensed vapor from the projectile.
Air blast:- The air blast will arrive at approximately 33333.3 seconds.
- Peak Overpressure: 428781.0 Pa = 4.2878 bars = 60.8869 psi
- Max wind velocity: 424.9 m/s = 950.6 mph
- Sound Intensity: 113 dB (May cause ear pain)
So now you know.who are those slashdot people? they swept over like Mongol-Tartars.
Big hunk of metal hitting earth on a non-spongy part, I'm far away...
...for nearly 6 hrs, aaa!!
...9 hours later...
Distance from Impact (in km) : 10,000
Projectile Diameter (in meters) : 100,000
Projectile Density (in kg/m3) : 8,000
Impact Velocity (in km/s) : 500
Impact Angle (in degrees) : 90
Target Density (in kg/m3) : 8,000
Results:
Energy:
5.24 x 1029 Joules = 1.25 x 10^14 MegaTons TNT
The average interval between impacts of this size somewhere on Earth is 7.9 x 10^12years
(whew)
Transient Crater Diameter: 1796.50 km = 1115.63 miles
Final Crater Diameter: 4786.52 km = 2972.43 miles
Time for maximum radiation: 32.24 seconds after impact
Visible fireball radius: 9755.9 km = 6058.4 miles
That's big
The fireball appears 221.7 times larger than the sun
That's really big
Thermal Exposure: 1.28 x 1011 Joules/m2
Aaa it burns...
Duration of Irradiation: 20948 seconds
Radiant flux (relative to the sun): 6095.0
Clothing ignites
Much of the body suffers third degree burns
Gee, do you think? That's putting it mildly
Hey, what's that big irradiating cloud over thar?
The air blast will arrive at approximately 33333.3 seconds.
Peak Overpressure: 129420.9 Pa = 1.2942 bars = 18.3778 psi
Max wind velocity: 191.0 m/s = 427.2 mph
Whoooosh!!
Sound Intensity: 102 dB (May cause ear pain)
Oww, the crispy singed remains of my friggin ears, oww!
I worked up the K-T impact, experienced from a distance of 2km (the K-T object is estimated to have been 10km in diameter) to try to tweak the simulator. The results:
Your position was inside the transient crater and ejected upon impact
haha. All your ejecta are belong to... well, you.
who are those slashdot people? they swept over like Mongol-Tartars.
Asteroid Impact Simulator
Table-ized A.I.
Where did you throw your first asteroid, Redmond or Lindon?
This is not my sandwich.
Apparently an asteroid hit the server that this simulation runs on. I think I am going to name this asteroid 'Slashdot.'
;)
"I'm just here to regulate funkiness."
So, if a ball of solid iron the same size as Earth creeps up to us at 1 cm/sec, the "crater" (indentation?) will only be 45 miles across, and no one much will feel it. Also, we can expect this to happen every 800,000 years.
"A great democracy must be progressive or it will soon cease to be a great democracy." --Theodore Roosevelt
a similar site. For kicks, try sending a 1000 km rock asteroid into Mars at 20 km/sec and see what Marvin thinks of it. Then if you're not intimidated, try again with a 5000 km one.
What did we ever do to the Asteroids for them to attack us?!?!?
Oh yeah, we took a big chunk of their homeland and gave it to the Meteors...
"I'm just here to regulate funkiness."
I entered the following info:
Your Inputs:
Distance from Impact: 10.00 km = 6.21 miles
Projectile Diameter: 1.00 m = 3.28 ft = 0.00 miles
Projectile Density: 1000 kg/m3
Impact Velocity: 400,000.00 km/s = 248400.00 miles/s
Impact Angle: 90 degrees
Target Density: 3000 kg/m3
Target Type: Competent Rock or saturated soil
This projectile is too small to traverse the atmosphere intact; it does not form a crater on the surface.
The energy shown below is deposited in the atmosphere.
Energy:
4.19 x 1019 Joules = 1.00 x 10^4 MegaTons TNT
The average interval between impacts of this size somewhere on Earth is 1.3 x 10^5years
see...we get hit by FTL meteors about once every 13 thousand years!
Assume that the said asteroid is fitted with a Probability Engine that runs on Bad Rumors. This said engine could make the asteroid be in every position in space time at anytime.
What would the calculations be then?
it always lands on Moe's
Sailors. Oh man!
Huh? Richter Scale Magnitude 9.1 and "Not Felt"? Am I missing something?
I followed the link, and just got a lame text page.
There was supposed to be an Earth-shattering kaboom!
Where do I input "France"?
Yeah, this is a nice, really nice start. However, what would you get from an asteroid impact in the Persian Gulf? What I'd really like, would be to put in different parameters, and then see what the radial blast effects would be. And include in that, what you get in terms of thermal warming of the water, and the resulting storm? With the flirst glow of dawn, A black cloud rose up from the horizon. Inside it Adad (god of storm and rain) thunders, While Shallat and Hanish (Heralds of Adad) go in front, Moving as heralds over hill and plain. Erragal (Nergal, the god of the netherworld) tears out the posts (out of the dam); Forth comes Ninurta and causes the dikes to follow. The Anunnaki lift up the torches, Setting the land ablaze with their glare. Consternation over Adad reaches to the heavens, Turning to blackness all that had been light. The wide land was shattered like a pot! For one day the south-storm blew, Gathering speed as it blew, submerging the mountains, Overtaking the people like a battle. No one can see his fellow, Nor can the people be recognized from heaven. The gods were frightened by the deluge, Well, let's just suppose we have a 1.5 km asteroid of ice, impacting at 27 km/s, 60 degrees, into saturated land (that is, Persian gulf). So that yields 6x10^20 Joules. Now, let's guess that half of that energy goes into heating the water, and that the area of heating is over 3 times the initial crater diameter (so a diameter of 50 km, average depth 50 m). So that's 9x10^10 cubic m, or 9x10^19 ml, and the water heats about 3 degrees celsius, average. Of course, in the direct area of the blast, it heats a lot more. Come to think of it, yeah, that probably could create a pretty good sized hurricane.
Correct Horse Battery Staple: 72 bits of entropy. Enter "Correct H" into google. When it generates the phrase, that's
* x VM Beattle
* x Football field(s)
* x Texas
The diameter of the earth is 12,756 Km.
;)
Which means that the transient crater would be slightly more than 227 times the size of the earth.
I think they may want to put in a little error checking into this program, since the final crater diameter would in fact be much larger than the transient.
"No problem. I have the capacity to do infinite work so long as you don't mind that my quality approaches zero."-Dilbert
With the same projectile, but an impact angle of only 1 degree, you get:
Energy: 4.50 x 10^26 Megatons,
Transient crater diameter: a merciful 843508.02 km, or a mere 66 times the diameter of the earth.
The crater formed is a complex crater.
It's also worth noting that at this density, impact angle, and speed, it would take an object only 10 Km in diameter to completely annihilate the earth.
That is, if you don't bother to take into account that the mass of any projectile moving at the speed of light is infinite...
"No problem. I have the capacity to do infinite work so long as you don't mind that my quality approaches zero."-Dilbert
A few years ago research came out that suggested the orbits of planets in our solar system was not precisely predictable in the long term due to non-linear feedbacks that multiply themselves overtime, i.e. chaos. That's not, however, due to impacts.
If you do the math on this, the energy involved in a collision between the Earth and large impactors is not sufficient in any realistic cases (such as any impacts that have ocurred on Earth in the last couple billion years) to even induce volcanism (small scale melting of upper crustal rock caused by the heat of the impact isn't volcanism and is not counted here), let alone disrupt the planet's orbit. In a relative sense it's like tossing a grain of sand at a brick wall: We'd be awfully surprised to see the wall fall over or to have lava boil out. large impacts are also too infrequent to likely have a significant cumulative effect.
The impacts were also much more common early in Earth's history, so we'd expect that, overall, any orbital disruption they might cause would decrease as the Earth aged.
The last really large object that impacted the Earth, a Mars sized planetoid that hit about 4.5 billion years ago, did affect the Earth's orbit, but it also created the moon which now helps stabilize our orbit and partially shield the Earth from other impactors.
Really large objects that could notably affect the Earth's orbit upon collision probably don't trundle through the inner solar system very often; those objects are rare, and their orbits wouldn't have remained stable over billions of years -- one of these objects would have on average hit something or found a better orbits long ago. It's also believed that Jupiter makes a valiant and selfless contribution to the cause of protecting the inner planets by sweeping up much dangerous debris before it gets much opportunity to hit us.
As for ice ages, there is evidence for major ice ages occuring throughout the Earth's history. Some people speculate that the Proterozoic saw vast ice ages (slush ball/snow ball Earth hypothesese), and some other very major ices ages affected the Earth during the Paleozoic. We hear more about the current ice age since it's a whole lot easier to study and more immediately relevant to our daily lives.
NOTE: if you're interested in geology and past climate, it's worth studying the factors involved in the hypothesized "snowball Earth" cold spells and the changes that are believed to have thawed the Earth at the end of those episodes.
Finally, it's worthwhile to remember that "everything is more complicated than most people think."
Now I may just be an impulsively warlike imperialist American pig, but this got me to thinking...
Wouldn't asteroids make great weapons? Let's say we develop the capability to divert asteroids from hitting Earth. Everyone seems to want this nowadays. Proposed schemes, for example, include nudging them with a long-burn rocket while still in orbit.
This same technology could also be used to nudge an asteroid into a collision course with Earth! In particular, your least favorite part of it. Use this program to select the asteroid properties that will cause the desired damage profile, and then use our NEO tracking info to select an appropriate asteroid that is close to a collision course anyway. Strap a rocket onto it and guide it in!
The dead badger doesn't crash... it's running Linux!
Your CPU is not doing anything else, at least do something.
If you think a /.ing is bad, imagine a yahooing
I want to know just how big of a rock can drop on my office overnight without destroying me in my house.
If I could enter two sets of lat/long co-ordinates, select how much damage I'm prepared to take, and get a blast zone overlaid onto a map, that would be cool.