Schoolboy survives direct hit by meteorite

[Paul Haese]

Impact physics says that if that rock left a crater, the size of that rock would have vapourised on impact. This is not to mention that the kids arm would have nearly been ripped off from the inertia. This is a hoax. I would not believe television or radio news programs as they frequently get things wrong. You only have to watch Media Watch to confirm this idea.

Hoax it is in my estimation.

[Gallifreyboy]

It is the first of many tragic consequences to come related to mars becoming as large as the full moon

[mswhin63 (Malcolm)]

The medi have this typical work ethics to sensationalise as much as possible to get a story. The story can't be printed without some truths or unable to be prosecuted.

The speed most probably was when it was in space. The rest can calculate yourselves.

Just sensationalism. Made you all look and question it.

[Ric]

Never let the truth get in the way of a good story.

[Enchilada]

Originally Posted by ngcles

I think truth was the only real casualty here.
Les D

Agreed. Your simple logic here in absolutely impeccable, though 180 km per hour is likely an overestimate!
It would be, I would think, no worst than being hit on the head with a hailstone of similar size or mass. Little ouch, perhaps, but that's about all.
Just really make you wonder though. Was it the media beating up the story or a boy just looking for his fifteen minutes of fame?

[GrahamL]

maybe theres a little truth in this .. In that this likely happened in the blink of an eye.. perhaps the footpath was always the victim and the young guy was just close by .. wonder if any meteorite collecters have had a good look around the site yet .
not that they would likely tell anyone for the moment

[space oddity]

Once again, the media have been duped and the public sold a story that sounds good, but is a load of c#@p . Any astro buff (so I am into meteorites) knows that a meteorite the size of a pea will have lost all of its cosmic velocity typically 10 miles above the surface and hits the ground at terminal velocity of up to about 220 m/sec . An object this small would probably have the same terminal velocity of a decent sized hailstrone and be unlikely to cause a 30 cm crater. A gash I could believe, but the crater is pure bulls%#t . Once again, as anyone should know, it takes an impactor impacting at a cosmic velocity in excess of 5km/sec to cause a crater 8 times the diameter of the impactor - caused by the vapour pressure of the instantaneous conversion of kinetic energy into thermal energy. It is too early in the morning to do the mathematics, but a quick calculation yields that the force is equivalent to hitting a cricket ball 20 metres- enough to be caught and bowled . q.i.d.

[Omaroo (Chris Malikoff)]

Originally Posted by space oddity

Once again, as anyone should know, it takes an impactor impacting at a cosmic velocity in excess of 5km/sec to cause a crater 8 times the diameter of the impactor - caused by the vapour pressure of the instantaneous conversion of kinetic energy into thermal energy.

Of course they should... but no mention of asymptotic mathematics?

[GrahamL]

Again.. I'd start at the 30cm mark on the footpath and work back from there.. "If" something did impact there it was likely much larger than the little fragment the boy is holding .. sure the maths dosn't hold up against that tiny bit of rock but neither does the credibility of the source by which we disscredit it.. hell.. maybe someone lobbed a
firecracker over the hedge at him .. who knows

[dpastern (Dave Pastern)]

Reminds me of a Far Side cartoon, Two guys in a wheelchair with a meteor coming down from the heavens about to smack them one. The quote from memory was something like "you got hit by lightning too!". Sadly, I can't find this image via a Google search. I don't have a scanner, so I can't scan it (I have Gary's complete collection 2 volume set - massive books).

Dave

[Terry B]

It must be true. The SMH now has it as its opening story
http://www.smh.com.au/
.

[space oddity]

Brain has woken up now and the mathematics is clearer, but still almost as per quick calculation. Mass of meteorite being pea sized ( 5mm diameter on some web sites) and density of 8 for a nickel-iron is 1 gram . Terminal velocity of this size/surface area object would be lucky to be 80 m/sec. A cricket ball is 160 grams. 6.3 m/sec to get same kinetic energy. This is basically a little 10 metre dolly catch- still the caght and bowled. Maximum speed really could be 800m/sec (fat chance, but would explain the sounds) would be the cricket ball wacked at 63 m/sec or 227 kmph which should just get a six. Still reckon this story should be dealt the same. Where is Roy when you need him ?(drinking?)

[Baddad (Marty)]

Originally Posted by Terry B

It must be true. The SMH now has it as its opening story
http://www.smh.com.au/
.

Hi All & Terry,

For an explosion or impact resulting in any kind of crater in hard ground, the debri would be flying out at tremendous speed like shrapnel.

I find it hard to believe that a person would survive at the close proximity the article describes. The shock wave alone would have caused fatal injuries.

If the teen was at some distance a glancing blow by debri would do the expected injury. The speed that all this occurs would be so great that he would not be able to discriminate what happened first. The impact or the injury to the hand.

I say that a very probable explanation is that the media has sensationalized the incident and the truth being that the teen was some safer distance from the impact area.

Cheers Marty

[xnomad]

Other than the link coming from the Daily Mail (found it on reddit.com) what also interested me when I posted this was no mention in the German press (including their tabloids). I'm fluent in the lingo and had a look through most of the big online sites to see what sources closer to home were saying before the Daily Mail waved their wand over it, but I couldn't find a thing (although there might be now 3rd or 4th hand...)

Slashdot were discussing this article too, and someone sent a link from the BBC about a similar story a few years back, also not terribly convincing.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/2218755.stm