• yesman@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    “somebody is fucking with me”

    The Earth is way too close, and I don’t think a meteor strike on the earth, no matter how energetic, would look like a bullet going through an apple.

    • Maalus@lemmy.world
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      2 months ago

      You assume this is a meteor strike and not some type of planet killing weapon

      • datelmd5sum@lemmy.world
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        2 months ago

        I think any matter going fast enough would do that. In the fast going thing’s perspective the earth would basically be just a thin membrane.

          • datelmd5sum@lemmy.world
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            2 months ago

            that’s basically chemistry. At relativistic speeds the electrons of the projectile don’t have play a significant role. It’s going to be atomic nuclei hitting atomic nuclei and the time it takes to go through the earth is like two microseconds for the projectile going at ( 1 - 10^-9 ) c. Even that, I suppose, is too long for the particle beam to scatter momentum from fusing with other particles, creating gamma rays, creating exotic particles etc. But we could just always go even closer to c? (on paper)