What is the biggest meteorite that has fallen to the ground?

Astrophysicists from Canada argue that the mass of the meteorite stream that bombards our long-suffering planet has exceeded 21 tons per year. But in most cases this remains unnoticed, since a person can observe and find meteorites only in the habitat zone.

The share of land on the Earth's surface is only 29%, the rest of the planet is occupied by the World Ocean. But also from these 29% it is necessary to take away places not inhabited by man or altogether unsuitable for habitation. Therefore, finding a meteorite is a great success. However, there was a case when the meteorite itself found a person.

The collision of a meteorite with a person

In the history of the fall of the celestial bodies, only one officially documented case of direct contact of a meteorite with a person is known to Earth.

It happened in the USA on November 30, 1954. A four-kilogram meteorite, breaking through the roof of the house, injured the hostess's leg. Hence, the risk that the human head may fall and a more serious guest from space, still there. I wonder which is the largest meteorite that fell on our planet?

Meteorites are divided into three categories: stone, iron and iron. And in each of these categories there are giants.

The largest stone meteorite

More recently, on March 8, 1976, space presented the Chinese people with a gift in the form of a meteor shower. The stones fell to the surface of the earth for 37 minutes. One of the fallen specimens had a weight of 1.77 tons. It was the largest meteorite that fell to the ground, having a stone structure. The incident occurred near the Chinese province of Jilin. The same name was given to the space visitor.

Until now, the Jilin meteorite remains the largest meteorite in stone discovered on earth.

The largest iron-stone meteorite

The largest representative of the category of iron-iron meteorites weighed 1.5 tons. Found it in 1805 in Germany.

The colleague of the German meteorite, found in Australia, weighed just 100 kg less than the German one.

But all of them were surpassed by an iron guest from space, whose weight was ten times greater than all previously found meteorites.

The largest iron meteorite

In 1920, an iron meteorite with a diameter of 2.7 meters and weighing over 66 tons was found in the south-west of Namibia! More than this specimen on our planet has not yet been found. It was the largest meteorite that fell to Earth. The name was given to him in honor of the farm Goba West, whose owner stumbled upon him during the cultivation of the field. The approximate age of the iron block is 80 thousand years.

To date, the meteorite Goba is the largest solid block of natural iron.

In 1955, the largest meteorite that fell to the ground, Goba, was declared a national monument and taken under state protection. This was a compulsory measure, since for 35 years, while the meteorite was in open access, it lost a mass of 6 tons. Part of the weight was lost as a result of natural processes - erosion. But the main mite in the process of "losing weight" was made by numerous tourists. Now you can approach the heavenly body only under supervision and for a fee.

The meteorites discussed above, of course, are the largest in their category from all previously discovered. But the question of what the largest meteorite fell to the ground, and remained open.

Meteorite that killed dinosaurs

Everyone knows a sad story with the extinction of dinosaurs. The reason for their death is still being debated by scientists, but the version that the meteorite was the culprit of the tragedy remains the main one.

According to scientists, 65 million years ago, the Earth was impacted by a huge meteorite, which caused a catastrophe of a planetary scale. The meteorite fell on the territory that now belongs to Mexico - the Yucatan Peninsula, near the village of Chicxulub. Evidence of this fall was found in 1970, the impact crater. But since the hollow was covered with sedimentary rocks, meteorite was not thoroughly examined. And only 20 years later, scientists returned to its study.

As a result of the work carried out, it turned out that the funnel left by the meteorite has 180 km in diameter. The diameter of the meteorite itself was about 10 km. The impact energy at the fall was 100,000 Gt in TNT equivalent (this is comparable to the simultaneous explosion of 2,000,000 largest thermonuclear charges).

It is assumed that as a result of a meteorite impact, a tsunami formed, while the wave height varied from 50 to 100 meters. The particles of dust raised during the impact for several years densely closed the Earth from the Sun, which led to a drastic change in climate. Acid rains and recurring large-scale fires aggravated the situation. On the planet came the analogue of the nuclear winter. As a result of the catastrophe, 75% of the species of animals and plants died out.

Nevertheless, officially, the Chicxulub meteorite is the largest meteorite that fell to earth 65 million years ago. He practically destroyed all life on the planet. But in the history of the fall of meteorites to Earth in size, it takes only the third place.

The first among the giants

Presumably 2 billion years ago, a meteorite fell on the Earth, which left a trace on its surface with a diameter of 300 km. The meteorite itself presumably had a diameter of more than 15 km.

The crater left after the fall is in South Africa, in the province of Free State, and is called Vredefort. This is the largest impact crater, and left it the largest meteorite that fell to Earth in the history of our planet. In 2005, the Vredefort crater was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The largest meteorite that fell to Earth, did not leave a photo for itself, but a huge scar in the form of a crater on the surface of our planet will not allow it to be forgotten.

It is noted that the fall of meteorites, whose dimensions are measured at least tens of meters, occurs with a periodicity of hundreds of years. And meteorites of a larger size fall even less often.

According to scientists' forecasts, in 2029 the Earth wants to visit a new guest.

A meteorite named Apophis

The meteorite that threatens our planet was called Apophis (that was the name of the serpent, which was the antipode of the sun god Ra in Ancient Egypt). It will fall to Earth or still miss and will pass next to the planet, it is reliably unknown. But what happens if the collision does happen?

Scenario of the collision of Apophis with the Earth

So, it is known that the diameter of Apophis is only 320 meters. If it falls to Earth, there will be an explosion equal in its power to 15,000 bombs dropped on Hiroshima.

If Apophis lands in the mainland, there will be a shock crater, having a depth of 400-500 meters and a diameter of up to 5 km. The resulting shock wave will destroy the capital structures at a distance of 50 km from the epicenter. Buildings that do not have the strength of a brick house will be destroyed at a distance of 100-150 km. The column of dust will rise to a height of several kilometers and then cover the entire planet.

The stories disseminated by the media about the nuclear winter and the end of the world are too exaggerated. The meteorite dimensions for such consequences are too small. It is possible to lower the temperature by 1-2 degrees, but even after six months it will return to normal. That is, the predicted catastrophe, if it does happen, will not be global.

If Apophis falls into the ocean, more likely, there will be a tsunami that will cover the coastal areas. The height of the wave will depend on the distance between the shore and the place where the meteorite falls. The original wave can have a height of up to 500 meters, but if the fall of Apophis takes place in the center of the ocean, then the wave reaching the shore will not exceed 10-20 meters. Although this is also quite serious. The storm will last for several hours. All these events should be considered only as possible with some probability. So whether or not Apophis will collide with our planet?

The probability of Apophis falling to Earth

Apophis will theoretically threaten our planet twice. The first time was in 2029, and then in 2036. After conducting observations with the aid of radar installations, a group of scientists was excluded completely from the probability of a meteorite colliding with the earth. As for the year 2036, today the probability of collision of a meteorite with the Earth is 1: 250 000. And with each year as the accuracy of calculations increases the probability of collision decreases.

But even with such a probability, various versions of Apophis's forced deviation from the course are considered. Thus, Apophis is an object more likely to be of interest than a threatening one.

In conclusion, I would like to note that meteorites are strongly destroyed when entering the earth's atmosphere. When approaching the Earth, the speed of falling guests from space is 10-70 km / sec, and when they come into contact with a gas atmosphere having a rather high density, the temperature of the meteorite increases to a critical one and it simply burns out or collapses very much. Thus, the atmosphere of our planet is the best defender from uninvited guests.