Christmas Tree 4669 Posted June 12, 2009 Share Posted June 12, 2009 A teenager was hit by a meteorite travelling at 30,000mph - and lived to tell the tale. Gerrit Blank was on his way to school when he saw a massive fireball heading straight towards him from the sky. The white-hot meteorite bounced off the schoolboy's hand and hit the ground so hard it left a foot-long crater in the tarmac - as well as a three-inch scar on his hand. Gerrit, 14, said: "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 in the road." Scientists are now studying the pea-sized meteorite, which crashed to Earth in Essen in Germany. Chemical tests on the rock have now proved it is from outer space. Ansgar Korte, director of Germany's Walter Hohmann Observatory, said: "It's a real meteorite, therefore it is very valuable to collectors and scientists." Chances of being struck by a meteorite are around one in 100 million. Mr Korte said: "Most meteorites don't actually make it to ground level because they evaporate in the atmosphere. "Of those that do get through, about six out of every seven of them land in water." There is only one other known case of a human being surviving a direct hit from a meteor. A grapefruit-sized meteor crashed through the roof of a house in Alabama, in the USA, in 1954. After smashing through the top of the building, it bounced off furniture and then hit a woman who was asleep at the time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christmas Tree 4669 Posted June 12, 2009 Author Share Posted June 12, 2009 A teenager was hit by a meteorite travelling at 30,000mph - and lived to tell the tale. Gerrit Blank was on his way to school when he saw a massive fireball heading straight towards him from the sky. The white-hot meteorite bounced off the schoolboy's hand and hit the ground so hard it left a foot-long crater in the tarmac - as well as a three-inch scar on his hand. Gerrit, 14, said: "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 in the road." Scientists are now studying the pea-sized meteorite, which crashed to Earth in Essen in Germany. Chemical tests on the rock have now proved it is from outer space. Ansgar Korte, director of Germany's Walter Hohmann Observatory, said: "It's a real meteorite, therefore it is very valuable to collectors and scientists." Chances of being struck by a meteorite are around one in 100 million. Mr Korte said: "Most meteorites don't actually make it to ground level because they evaporate in the atmosphere. "Of those that do get through, about six out of every seven of them land in water." There is only one other known case of a human being surviving a direct hit from a meteor. A grapefruit-sized meteor crashed through the roof of a house in Alabama, in the USA, in 1954. After smashing through the top of the building, it bounced off furniture and then hit a woman who was asleep at the time. Ouch Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trophyshy 7066 Posted June 12, 2009 Share Posted June 12, 2009 Attain, assuming the meteorite weighs 5 grams, can you please calculate the kinetic energy with which this struck the boy? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fordy 1 Posted June 12, 2009 Share Posted June 12, 2009 surely it should have torn his hand off at the very least Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Fish 10659 Posted June 12, 2009 Share Posted June 12, 2009 Given the 5'4" boy was in Essen Germany, and the meteorite hit his hand baouncing off at an angle of 30 degrees frmo it's trajectory, can you tell me it system of origin? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew 4712 Posted June 12, 2009 Share Posted June 12, 2009 Attain, assuming the meteorite weighs 5 grams, can you please calculate the kinetic energy with which this struck the boy? Its wrong that I want to answer this question Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scousepower 0 Posted June 12, 2009 Share Posted June 12, 2009 i thought it was a BOY struck by a meteorite, clearly the pictures tell a different story. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
@yourservice 67 Posted June 12, 2009 Share Posted June 12, 2009 It's defo from outer space, the 30,000mph meteorite has an aliens face on it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paddy 17 Posted June 12, 2009 Share Posted June 12, 2009 its only a bloody clemmy!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fop 1 Posted June 12, 2009 Share Posted June 12, 2009 surely it should have torn his hand off at the very least There's clearly some exaggeration/lying somewhere in this story. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JonGoodwyn 1 Posted June 12, 2009 Share Posted June 12, 2009 surely it should have torn his hand off at the very least There's clearly some exaggeration/lying somewhere in this story. Well he has a plaster on his thumb, maybe it just whacked that (pretty fucking hard, admittedly). I guess its like if someone shot you and the bullet only graced your shoulder it wouldn't blow your arm off, just scratch it. Would have been much better if it had knocked his head off or something, mind. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom 14011 Posted June 12, 2009 Share Posted June 12, 2009 Puff. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fop 1 Posted June 13, 2009 Share Posted June 13, 2009 surely it should have torn his hand off at the very least There's clearly some exaggeration/lying somewhere in this story. Well he has a plaster on his thumb, maybe it just whacked that (pretty fucking hard, admittedly). I guess its like if someone shot you and the bullet only graced your shoulder it wouldn't blow your arm off, just scratch it. Would have been much better if it had knocked his head off or something, mind. Aye, except a bullet isn't travelling at anything like 30,000mph (and those will tend to just go straight through whatever body part is there, not really deflect off or knock them out of the way), in fact more than 10-13 times as fast and given the way kinetic energy works velocity is more important than mass, so even if the meteor weighs a fair bit less (a heavy bullet would be 10g) there's likely a lot more energy involved. So something is probably being exaggerated, the speed, or how it "hit" him (if it did) etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trophyshy 7066 Posted June 14, 2009 Share Posted June 14, 2009 The 'scar'. Andrew, go for it mate. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bawan 0 Posted June 14, 2009 Share Posted June 14, 2009 The 'scar'. Andrew, go for it mate. its got a face that scar Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Fish 10659 Posted June 14, 2009 Share Posted June 14, 2009 surely it should have torn his hand off at the very least There's clearly some exaggeration/lying somewhere in this story. Well he has a plaster on his thumb, maybe it just whacked that (pretty fucking hard, admittedly). I guess its like if someone shot you and the bullet only graced your shoulder it wouldn't blow your arm off, just scratch it. Would have been much better if it had knocked his head off or something, mind. Aye, except a bullet isn't travelling at anything like 30,000mph (and those will tend to just go straight through whatever body part is there, not really deflect off or knock them out of the way), in fact more than 10-13 times as fast and given the way kinetic energy works velocity is more important than mass, so even if the meteor weighs a fair bit less (a heavy bullet would be 10g) there's likely a lot more energy involved. So something is probably being exaggerated, the speed, or how it "hit" him (if it did) etc. could it be that the expected speed in space was 30,000? or the unlikely event that it grazed his hand by taking a path that would meant it scraped his hand rather than a direct impact? or maybe his hand was scarred by debris when the meteorite hit the ground? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fop 1 Posted June 14, 2009 Share Posted June 14, 2009 surely it should have torn his hand off at the very least There's clearly some exaggeration/lying somewhere in this story. Well he has a plaster on his thumb, maybe it just whacked that (pretty fucking hard, admittedly). I guess its like if someone shot you and the bullet only graced your shoulder it wouldn't blow your arm off, just scratch it. Would have been much better if it had knocked his head off or something, mind. Aye, except a bullet isn't travelling at anything like 30,000mph (and those will tend to just go straight through whatever body part is there, not really deflect off or knock them out of the way), in fact more than 10-13 times as fast and given the way kinetic energy works velocity is more important than mass, so even if the meteor weighs a fair bit less (a heavy bullet would be 10g) there's likely a lot more energy involved. So something is probably being exaggerated, the speed, or how it "hit" him (if it did) etc. could it be that the expected speed in space was 30,000? or the unlikely event that it grazed his hand by taking a path that would meant it scraped his hand rather than a direct impact? or maybe his hand was scarred by debris when the meteorite hit the ground? Probably something like that. Maybe even just missed him but burnt him in passing (as there seems to be no bruising). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ayatollah Hermione 13760 Posted June 14, 2009 Share Posted June 14, 2009 (edited) Superman would have caught it and flicked it back. Pussy Edited June 14, 2009 by Stiva Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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