Re: Space Probe

On Wed, 29 Mar 2006 14:46:27 GMT, Larry Stedman <stedman@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
wrote:

Is the analogy something you picked for dramatic effect or does it
mirror reality? Is the relative volume of space between Mars and
Jupiter vs. all the asteroid matter actually in the same ratio as
California's surface area vs. a handful of sand?

It would be interesting to do the actual calc. We'd have to remove
several clumps of sand from the initial mass to represent the main
asteroids and then see what was left over. One crucial factor would be
to use the estimates of how many pieces (and their size), the left over
asteroid "dust" is supposed to be. Maybe the parallel is even less than
a handful of sand!

Just considering the volume to be evenly distributed (total volume
equivalent to a 1500 km diameter body, total space defined by a torus
with tube radius 9e7 km and full radius 4e8 km) I get a ratio of 3.5e16
(belt volume to asteroid volume). In actuality this is going to be lower
because a lot of asteroidal volume is concentrated in a few large
bodies.

Taking the surface area of California at 4.1e11 m^2, and the area of a
handful of sand at 0.1 m^2, you get a ratio of 4.1e12.

Sounds to me like a handful of sand thrown across California is at least
10,000 times denser than the asteroid belt! A better comparison to the
asteroid density would be a teaspoon of sand scattered across the entire
Earth.

_________________________________________________

Chris L Peterson
Cloudbait Observatory
http://www.cloudbait.com
.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Blowing up an asteroid
    ... slow more easily and burn up more than the big rock. ... Lets look at what Earth Crossers and Aseroids outside the main belt ... You then attempt to give the asteroid a nudge of mm/s. ... orbiting pile of sand? ...
    (sci.space.policy)
  • Re: Blowing up an asteroid
    ... slow more easily and burn up more than the big rock. ... blowing it up would be a bad idea. ... Destruction of an asteroid should be done ... orbiting pile of sand? ...
    (sci.space.policy)
  • Re: Space Probe
    ... Dave, a great analogy! ... Jupiter vs. all the asteroid matter actually in the same ratio as ... California's surface area vs. a handful of sand? ... thousands of particles and little free space. ...
    (sci.astro.amateur)