Astronomers estimate that a 2
-
km wide asteroid collides with the Earth once every million years. The
collision could pose a threat to life on Earth. (a) Assume a spherical asteroid has a mass of 3200 kg
for
each cubic meter of volume and moves toward the Earth at 15 km/s. How much destructive energy
could be released when it embeds itself in the Earth? (b) For comparison, a nuclear bomb could release
about
. How many such bombs would have to
explode simultaneously to release the
destructive energy of the asteroid collision with Earth? ...?