[meteorite-list] Crater maker

[Graham Christensen]

I would think that larger meteorites would have a larger ratio of 
crater:impactor size because they have a lower surface area to volume ratio 
so they would impact with a higher final velocity. So to make a crater, I'm 
sure you'd need an impactor much larger than 3 feet as the 10 to 1 ratio 
would suggest, in fact a 3 foot impactor would most likely lose all of its 
cosmic velocity and impact at terminal velocity. Isn't the Hoba meteorite 
something like 9 feet long?

Graham

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Graham Christensen
voltage at telus.net
http://www.geocities.com/aerolitehunter
msn messenger: majorvoltage at hotmail.com


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Michael L Blood" <mlblood at cox.net>
To: <cynapse at charter.net>; "Meteorite List" 
<Meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com>
Sent: Sunday, March 20, 2005 7:28 PM
Subject: Re: [meteorite-list] Crater maker


> Thanks to all who responded.
>        Other than the 10 to 1 ratio, I pretty much thought
> the same as what most people stated.
>        Here is what I did respond with:
> --
> One "formula" in which I hold very little
> belief, is a ratio of 10 times the diameter of the
> impactor. This question has far to many variables, such
> as speed of meteorite upon contact, type of soil
> and composition of meteorite (ie, stone or Iron),
> angle of trajectory, etc. In addition, the K-T event
> produced a crater (as indicated by hypercompacted
> quartz) with a diameter of 500 miles - but the impactor
> is estimated at "only" 6 miles in diameter - the ol' 10
> to one ratio implies there should have "only" been a crater
> 60 miles in diameter.
>        Best wishes, Michael
>
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