Julie Peterson

An asteroid would need to have enough mass to survive the friction of entering earths
atmosphere to make impact with the planets surface. If the asteroid has a sufficient mass with
enough momentum, the thermodynamics of the impact from the kinetic energy could annihilate
us. Much like the asteroid that may have ushered in the extinction of the dinosaurs.

"Chicxulub Crater." Atlas Obscura. Ed. Atlas Obscura. 2016 Atlas Obscura, 2016. Web. 05
Sept. 2016.
http://www.atlasobscura.com/places/chicxulub-crater

Chicxulub Crater
Some 65 million years ago, an asteroid or comet the size of a small city came hurdling towards
Earth. With a force of 100 million megatons of TNT (two million times stronger than the most
powerful man-made bomb), it crashed into our planet and created devastating consequences for
both the dinosaurs and all other life.
Shockwaves rippled outwards from the site, triggering earthquakes and volcanic eruptions across
the world. In the oceans, the explosion unleashed mega tsunamis measuring thousands of meters
high. Massive amounts of debris from the impactor and the Earth were kicked up into the
atmosphere and beyond. Some of the larger ejected chunks came speeding back down, igniting in
the atmosphere and setting off global firestorms. Meanwhile, the sky darkened as a cloud of dust
covered the Earth, blocking sunlight and preventing photosynthesis for years.
After millions of years of erosion and sedimentation, however, evidence of the cataclysmic event
is hard to come across today. Even for a spectator standing high above the craters center, the
impacts effects are not apparent. Perhaps the most telling features of the surrounding landscape
are the cenotes. These water-filled sinkholes, once used by the Mayans in sacrificial ceremonies,
dot the craters edge where the rock was weakened.
In fact, it was not until 1978 that the Chicxulub Crater was finally unearthed. The discovery is
generally attributed to Glen Penfield, a geophysicist who noticed the regions unusual features
while working for the Mexican oil company Pemex. While examining a magnetic survey map of
the Gulf of Mexico, Penfield observed a semicircular arc suggesting the presence of an impact
crater. Unbeknownst to him, a former Pemex employee had noted a similar anomaly in a gravity
map of the Yucatn. However, the petroleum company prohibited this worker from publishing his
findings and the maps significance went unrealized for years before Penfield used it to confirm
his suspicions.
Just a few years later, researchers like the father-and-son geology team of Luis and Walter
Alvarez and the graduate student Alan Hildebrand published controversial articles that suggested
a large impact from an asteroid caused the mass extinction at the end of the Cretaceous period.
As evidence, scientists relied on a 65-million year old layer of iridium-enriched clay named the
K-T boundary. They argued that only a collision with a large extraterrestrial body could account
1

for the levels of iridium (a rare element of relative abundance in meteorites) present in the rock,
and the worldwide distribution of the boundary layer.
It was also predicted and later confirmed that the extreme pressures and temperatures associated
with the violent explosion would have ejected and widely distributed shocked quartz (a
deformed type of the familiar crystalline solid) and tektites (spherules of natural glass rock).
While science inched closer to a reasonable explanation for the demise of the dinosaurs, another
decade passed before Chicxulub was realized as the remains of the catastrophic event. This
occurred in 1990, when a newspaper reporter informed Hildebrand of Penfields work and the
two scientists began working together on Pemex drill samples from the site. Soon enough, the
craters age and properties were confirmed to correlate with predictions.
Today, Chicxulub remains a hot topic of study. Some researchers use computer models to
recreate the formation scenario and explain the craters structural changes, while others are
concerned with tracing the impacting body back to its initial home in the main asteroid belt.
Perhaps the most controversial work, though, involves pinpointing the exact events that led to the
dinosaurs extinction. There is considerable disagreement in the scientific community regarding
whether the impact was isolated or part of a relatively short epoch of collisions in which the
proceeding periods of global cooling and warming finally finished off the ill-fated beasts.
Whatever the case may be, impacts the size of Chicxulub occur on Earth about once every 100
million years, making the crater in Mexico a humbling and perhaps unsettling reminder of lifes
fragility.

The asteroid that killed the dinosaurs

Most objects that enter the earths atmosphere burn up before they can hit the ground. Some
experts say it is caused by the friction of the air as it accelerates to the earths floor. Others say it
compresses air in front of it along its path, causing explosions which tear away at the asteroid.
Either way, the asteroid heats up to extreme temperatures, eroding the surface of the asteroid.
The mass of the asteroid will determine if there is enough substance left for impact. The asteroid
that created the eighty-five mile wide Chicxulub Crater was much larger before it impacted the
earths surface.
This crater was discovered in 1978 by a geophysicist named Glen Penfield. Penfield, while
working for the Mexican oil company Pemex, noticed a semicircular arc that was later to be
discovered as the Chicxulub Crater. Scientists relied on a 65-million-year-old layer of iridiumenriched clay to determine that this was the site of an asteroid collision that obliterated life on
earth and most likely led to the extinction of the dinosaurs.
To determine the mass of this asteroid that made the eighty-five mile wide Chicxulub Crater, we
would need to multiply the volume by the density of the asteroid. With only a diameter and a

density of the asteroid given, we would need to be creative and to find the volume first. If we
assume a spherical shape, we can calculate the approximate volume of the asteroid using the
equation for the volume of a sphere and the estimated diameter (12 km). The volume is estimated
as 9.05 x 1011 kg/m3. Plugging the numbers into the formula for mass we get, 9.05 x 1011 kg/m3 x
3000 kg/m3. This calculates to 2.71 x 1015 kg. This seems reasonable in comparison to the mass
of the earth which is 5.972 x 1024 kg.
Scientists are able to calculate the momentum of an asteroid once it enters the earths atmosphere
by determining its mass. An estimated average speed of an asteroid is 17 kilometers per second.
Multiplied by the estimated mass of the Chicxulub asteroid and you have 4.607 x 1018 Kg m/s.
Nothing on this earth would be able to stop that momentum, or reverse the asteroid from impact
once it entered the earths atmosphere. There was not even enough time to react once it was seen
by the naked eye.
The energy required to produce an eighty-five mile wide crater would have to be massive. The
kinetic energy of the Chicxulub asteroid right before it hit the earth could be calculated to be
about 3.92 x 1023 Joules. That kind of energy is hard to imagine along with all the catastrophic
affects it caused after impact. But to get a little idea of that energy, the largest nuclear weapon
ever detonated, the Czar Bomb, was equivalent to 50 million tons of TNT. The Chicxulub
asteroid had 1.9 million times more explosive energy.
This massive impact caused major temperature changes in the earths climate. Sulfate-rich rocks
vaporized by the blast, would have rapidly transformed into sulfuric acid, generating massive
amounts of acid rain. This acid rain killed off surface organisms and foliage. Tons of debris
thrown in the air from the impact blocked the sun that fed plants which killed off most of the life
on Earth. Since the sun was blocked, there was no radiant energy to warm the earth, causing
dramatic short-term global cooling. The blanket of debris and smoke from fires trapped the
naturally generated CO2. When there is no plant life to convert CO2 into H2O, the earth is heated
up to extremely hot conditions for an extended period of time, what we call a greenhouse effect.
Unlike the dinosaurs, we have the means to watch outer space and track any rock that poses a
threat to our planet. NASA is constantly developing new ways and ideas to keep us safe. There
are three methods they believe could divert an asteroid. One method would be to blast the rock;
they would use this as a last resort. Another would be the Kick, using a kinetic impact to knock it
off its path. One last method that is in the works is called the Tug method. An unmanned space
craft would be launched to meet the asteroid, connect to it, and pull it off its earthbound track.
More studies and theories will undoubtedly be under taken in order to detect and prevent a
catastrophic collision event. While even medium collisions are fortunately rare, it would only
take one large one to change, or even end, life as we know it.

Cited Works
Burleigh, Nina. "How to Stop an Asteroid Hitting Earth: Would People Co-operate to Face a
Global Peril?" The Independent. Independent Digital News and Media, 29 June 2015. Web. 14
Nov. 2016.
"Chicxulub Crater." Atlas Obscura. Ed. Atlas Obscura. 2016 Atlas Obscura, 2016. Web. 05
Sept. 2016.
Collins, G. S., Robert Marcus, and H. Melosh J. "Impact Effects: Chicxulub." Chicxulub Impact
Effects. Earth Impact Effects Program, 2010. Web. 11 Sept. 2016.
"Collision Physics." Collision Physics. Mcdougal Littell, n.d. Web. 25 Sept. 2016.
Smith, Chris, Dr. "Why Burn up on Entering Earth's Atmosphere?" Science Questions. The
Naked Scientists 20002015, 10 Apr. 2011. Web. 6 Nov. 2016.
Strobel, Nick. "Solar System Fluff." Solar System Fluff. Astronomy Notes, 25 Apr. 2013. Web.
16 Oct. 2016.