# giant rocks falling from the sky? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 17, 2011, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giant-rocks-falling-from-the-sky/567888 "2011-01-17T01:13:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2011, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giant-rocks-falling-from-the-sky/567888/61 "2011-01-17T20:15:53Z")
> [@meldiocre](#): > > i promise my next question will be better. 😃 That’s good. And try not to get insulted if you get some snarky responses. That’s just how this place is. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2011, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giant-rocks-falling-from-the-sky/567888/62 "2011-01-17T20:19:18Z")
> [@meldiocre](#): > > okay, THAT makes sense. thank you for that. i promise my next question will be better. 😃 Dinna fash yersel! Any question that allows us to make Looney Tunes and nuke jokes is worth asking. ---
**Author:** ![Chessic\_Sense](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7c8e57/32.png) [@Chessic\_Sense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chessic_Sense)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2011, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giant-rocks-falling-from-the-sky/567888/63 "2011-01-17T20:40:23Z")
> [@meldiocre](#): > > if theres no pie (i.e. dust) then it cant make a mess (i.e. blot out the sun). no? all ive pretty much heard from you intellectuals is “lol ur dum”, i haven’t really gotten a reason that it wouldnt work to _move the dust-causing materials_ since the dust is the problem in the end. 1. The dust isn’t the problem in the end. 2. You got plenty of responses telling you that the asteroid’s energy is the problem. 3. You got several responses saying that the “dust-causing materials” is the entire crust of the earth. 4. No one said you were dumb. They said your idea was dumb and then they told you why. So I don’t know why you want to pretend that the question hadn’t been answered until **Colibri** mentioned thermals. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2011, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giant-rocks-falling-from-the-sky/567888/64 "2011-01-17T21:56:46Z")
To be fair the basic idea of reducing the amount of junk kicked into the atmosphere isn’t bad; it’s just that by having it impact on land instead of ocean\* as much as can be done in that direction has already happened. None of the materials we can realistically use (if you can work degenerate matter or neutronium a little old asteroid isn’t going to be a problem for you anyway) is going to make a difference because at these energies their relative strength doesn’t matter. - A land impact means no or smaller tsunami, and a fair amount of the impact energy gets radiated back out into space from the impact crater, instead of getting absorbed by water flowing back over it. ---
**Author:** ![TruCelt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trucelt/32/523_2.png) [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2011, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giant-rocks-falling-from-the-sky/567888/65 "2011-01-17T22:12:43Z")
> [@Capitaine\_Zombie](#): > > Then, why not dig a hole in the shape of a giant baseball glove? I’m sure if we would all work together we could even dig another one in the shape of those baseball caps where you can put soda cans on top. It’s been tried. See “Great Lakes” Seriously though, Meld, this outta help: [http://www.environmentalgraffiti.com/featured/10-greatest-major-impact-craters-on-earth/1403](http://www.environmentalgraffiti.com/featured/10-greatest-major-impact-craters-on-earth/1403) be sure to note the size of the meteors which caused those craters. Also, have you ever watched a basement being dug for a new house? Did you see how long it took to cart away the soil? Personally, I like Wolfman’s Airbag idea. ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2011, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giant-rocks-falling-from-the-sky/567888/66 "2011-01-17T22:47:12Z")
Let’s assume it’s a cube. 1 cubic mile is 147,197,952,000 cubic feet. The Earth’s continental crust has a density of about 2.7 g/cc, so 168.5 pounds per cubic foot, so 2.48 × 10^13 pounds would have to be moved Minimal average lift required is 1/2 mile = 2640 feet. That’s 4.18200981 × 10^15 foot pounds. = 1.35 × 10^12 kilocalories = many many cheeseburgers = 5.67 × 10^15 joules One gallon of gasoline contains about 130.22 MJ of energy So with 100% efficient heat engines, it’d take 43,542,036.2 gallons of gas just to lift the dirt out of the hole. Double or triple that if you want to use real heat engines. [Current US gasoline production is 8-9 million barrels a day](http://www.eia.doe.gov/oog/info/twip/twip_gasoline.html#production) Perhaps Kuwait would be willing to donate the resource shortfall? ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2011, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giant-rocks-falling-from-the-sky/567888/67 "2011-01-17T23:23:36Z")
If we just ignore the meteor, maybe it will get bored and leave us alone. ---
**Author:** ![meldiocre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5f9b8f/32.png) [@meldiocre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/meldiocre)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2011, 7:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giant-rocks-falling-from-the-sky/567888/68 "2011-01-18T07:56:12Z")
> [@Chessic\_Sense](#): > > 1. The dust isn’t the problem in the end. > > So I don’t know why you want to pretend that the question hadn’t been answered until **Colibri** mentioned thermals. i have an active imagination. either that or i dont know anything about physics/geology and his was the first answer that made sense. also dont worry about it, colibri, ive had dumber ideas than this and been called worse things than a haver of dumb ideas. i have what’s known as retard resilience. i will live to post another question another day. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2011, 8:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giant-rocks-falling-from-the-sky/567888/69 "2011-01-18T08:48:13Z")
I predict you’ll be very popular here. ---
**Author:** ![Harmonious\_Discord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/74df32/32.png) [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2011, 8:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giant-rocks-falling-from-the-sky/567888/70 "2011-01-18T08:51:36Z")
Luckily the Philadelphia Experiment was successful at opening a wormhole. They can just use that technology. The new and better Hadron Collider was supposed to replace it, but we know how that’s been working out. Earth defense is always over budget and years behind schedule. We could always use the Giant Telsa coil to remove the dust like the high end air purifiers do. ---
**Author:** ![TruCelt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trucelt/32/523_2.png) [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2011, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giant-rocks-falling-from-the-sky/567888/71 "2011-01-18T22:02:59Z")
> [@meldiocre](#): > > i have an active imagination. either that or i dont know anything about physics/geology and his was the first answer that made sense. > > **also dont worry about it, colibri, ive had dumber ideas than this and been called worse things than a haver of dumb ideas. i have what’s known as retard resilience.** i will live to post another question another day. We actually have a Doper with a similar problem who is quite popular on the board. His strategy is to attach a poll to each of his hypotheticals, thus allowing us to express our disagreement without rancor. . . 😉 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giant-rocks-falling-from-the-sky/567888.md?page=3)