Why does Hollywood always try to deceive me? Unlike most ppl, I like to get my facts from my movies, its more fun that way. Now, we’ve all seen the "asteroid-hitting-the-earth" movies right? If you haven’t here’s my 1-minute summary:1. A big-@$$ asteroid is discovered on a collision course with the Earth.
2. Governments get together and agree on a plan to nuke the asteroid in space.
3. The plan works, or not.
4. The earth is saved, or not.
So I was doing some reading and I came across the scientifically more correct version of the story, here goes:
1. Our chances of spotting the asteroid early on (1 year before impact) is less than 0.001%
2. IF we are that lucky, then nuking it won’t help much. Why? It is argued that even if successfully nuked all what will happen is that instead of one BIG asteroid heading our way, 5-7 medium ones will be. Not only this, we get them sprayed with radioactive sauce too, for FREE! yaaay!
3. IF we spot the asteroid 6 months or less before impact. We would be too late to act.
4. REALISTICALLY, in 99.999% of the cases, we will discover it only ONE second before impact.
Now, pause and reflect on that for a second…
Scientists tell us that because asteroids that are capable of destroying life on earth are relatively small (compared to other heavenly bodies: stars, planets …etc) they don’t reflect much light to be visible. The fact is they enter the Earth's atmosphere ONE second before impact and only then do they light up. Let me repeat this, you will only see the asteroid that is going to end life on earth with your naked eye only one second before it happens….. in 99.999% of the time.
See how Hollywood deceived me?! No ground shaking! No bright rock hurling in the sky! Nothing! It’s like being hit by a bullet in the head. You hear a BANG and then you’re gone. I understand why Hollywood added all those scenes, for a movie it’s defiantly more exciting, but realistically if the world is going to end; I like it quick and painless.
But hey that's me, What about you?
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