German lad hit by 30,000 mph meteorite

edesignuk

edesignuk

Moderator emeritus
A 14-year-old German lad survived a close encounter with a meteorite when a pea-sized piece of rock which had entered Earth's atmosphere at 30,000 mph left him with nothing more than a "nasty" three-inch gash on his hand.

According to the Telegraph, Gerrit Blank was on his way to school in Essen when a bright light in the sky heralded the arrival of the red-hot space rock. It bounced off his hand before embedding itself in a foot-wide crater in the ground.

Blank recounted: "At first I just saw a large ball of light, and then I suddenly felt a pain in my hand. Then a split second after that there was an enormous bang like a crash of thunder."

"The noise that came after the flash of light was so loud that my ears were ringing for hours afterwards. When it hit me it knocked me flying and then was still going fast enough to bury itself into the road."
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The Register.

:eek:
 
Kids these days just don't seem to have the intelligence to come up with believable stories to get out of school.
 
themoonisdown09 said:
I want to know who was holding the radar detector to see how fast it was going.
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It's not that hard for a scientist to figure out, with knowing how far above Earth the atmosphere "starts", combined with the fact that, following entering the atmosphere, the velocity of an object increases at the same rate each second until another force interrupts it (ie: impact with the ground). Air resistance can play a part, but on an object that passes through the entire atmosphere it's final velocity will be that dramatic that said resistance will have basically nil effect on the object.

At least that's my understanding from two years of studying physics :p
 
yellow said:
The other being...... ???
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Blank joins an exclusive club of meteorite-strike survivors, with a total membership of two. In 1954, Ann Elizabeth Hodges was having a kip on her sofa in Sylacauga, Alabama when a 3.86 kg meteorite came through the roof, bounced off a radio and caused her some serious bruising on one side of her body.
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Source: ;)
 
sushi said:
Hey, hey, hey! I thought we weren't supposed it insult each other. ;)
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00009501-496422.jpg
 
"It bounced off his hand before embedding itself in a foot-wide crater in the ground."

If it was carrying enough energy to create a foot wide crater in concrete, then it was carrying MORE than enough energy to create a foot wide crater in his hand.

Sorry - I call bull****.
 
Jelite said:
So it bounced off his hand but embedded itself in the road? hmmm

ironman.jpg
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Hmmm, my 1st though, too.

Years ago, I read an article in Life Magazine, a huge deal in those days, about a women who was hit my a meteorite. It came down through the windshield of her car and hit her in the thigh. High in the thigh. There was a photo of a huge bruise on her very fat leg with her dress pulled up. Not an attractive sight.

Later, I went off to college and found that this woman was the mother of one of my room mates!

Windshields are very strong, so it would have been a serious matter if it had just come down unblocked. The German kid would have a hole in his hand and all sorts of bone and ligament damage, like being shot.
 
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