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To meter a meteor?

This article says:

Cooke was able to estimate the energy of impact, the dimensions of the crater, and the size and speed of the meteoroid. "It was a space rock about 10 inches (25 cm) wide traveling 85,000 mph (38 km/s)," he says.
If a rock like that hit Earth, it would never reach the ground. "Earth's atmosphere protects us," Cooke explains. "A 10-inch meteoroid would disintegrate in mid-air, making a spectacular fireball in the sky but no crater."

However, this article says:

[The] meteorite, found in the Morokweng crater [...]
[...]
The specific concentrations of platinum group elements in the newfound 10-inch (25 centimeter) meteorite place it in the "LL-ordinary chondrite" group of meteorites.
[...]
the Morokweng crater is a whopping 43 miles across (70 kilometers)

OK... so it appears that the choice is randomly selected from "nothing happens" to "a hole the size of Perth appears".

Which would you bet on?

Comments

Anonymous said…
I am not sure I would want to find out.
15 June, 2006 05:50
Leon RJ Brooks said…
If it was going to be the second option, I would like to know early enough to be elsewhere when it happened.
15 June, 2006 09:39
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