Bad reporting on "Discovery This Week"

John Dlugosz · #1 (**permalink**) 11-July-2005, 04:12 PM

I think it's on the Discovery Science Channel. They reported that the Deep Impact impactor was the mass of a car and yeilded a blast equivilent to 4.5 tons of TNT.

820 pounds is a rather light car, isn't it?

And I thought the blast was 16 megatons. Anyone know for sure before I write them a letter?

--John

Hamlet · #2 (**permalink**) 11-July-2005, 04:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by John Dlugosz

I think it's on the Discovery Science Channel. They reported that the Deep Impact impactor was the mass of a car and yeilded a blast equivilent to 4.5 tons of TNT.

820 pounds is a rather light car, isn't it?

And I thought the blast was 16 megatons. Anyone know for sure before I write them a letter?

--John

The 4.5 tons of TNT is about right. According to the Deep Impact impactor page:

Quote:

The impactor delivers 19 Gigajoules (that's 4.8 tons of TNT) of kinetic energy to excavate the crater.

The number for the mass of the impactor is right, but that would be a very small car!

They may have been confusing the size of the flyby spacecraft which was descibed as:

Quote:

About the size of a Ford Explorer,

John Dlugosz · #3 (**permalink**) 11-July-2005, 09:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hamlet

The 4.5 tons of TNT is about right. According to the Deep Impact impactor page:

Quote:

The impactor delivers 19 Gigajoules (that's 4.8 tons of TNT) of kinetic energy to excavate the crater.

Oh, then the first report I heard got it wrong. Too bad -- I liked pointing out that something with the blast of a medium nuke couldn't even nudge it, so that idea for deflecting is toast.

So who was it who said 16.4 megatons?

--John

Thread Tools	Search this Thread
Show Printable Version Email this Page	Search this Thread: Advanced Search
Display Modes
Linear Mode Switch to Hybrid Mode Switch to Threaded Mode