[meteorite-list] Hole in Red Rock Lounge Roof Still aMystery?????

[Chris Peterson]

> a meteorite falling over Colorado on the plane of the ecliptic
> at 11:35 pm would have been a near verticle fall only taking
> about 4 to 5 seconds from the time it entered earths
> atmosphere till it impacted with the ground. or exploded
> in the air.

Such a meteorite would be luminous for a few seconds, but would slow to a 
subsonic speed while still very high- 10 or 20 miles or more. The remainder 
of the fall would take several minutes. That's why sonic booms associated 
with meteorite falls are reported a few minutes before the actual impact. 
Only a fraction of a percent of falls might involve an object still 
traveling faster than sound at impact. And such a fall would certainly 
produce a massive fireball- something that was not observed despite the 
presence of operating allsky cameras in the area.

> there has to my knowlege never been heard a boom more than
> 9 miles away because the curve of the earth doesnt allow it
> to reach the ground.

The distance sonic booms can be heard depends on the energy of the shock 
wave, which mainly depends on the size of the supersonic object, and also on 
the ground path and altitude. Meteors and high altitude aircraft produce 
sonic booms at ground level when they are below about 30 miles. As those 
here who have investigated meteorite falls are well aware, reports of sonic 
booms are common for large events over a diameter of 20-30 miles- much more 
than your 9 mile estimate.

Chris

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


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Steve Dunklee" <sdunklee72520 at yahoo.com>
To: "meteoritecentral" <meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com>; "Gary Chase" 
<garychase at live.com>
Sent: Wednesday, January 06, 2010 3:00 AM
Subject: Re: [meteorite-list] Hole in Red Rock Lounge Roof Still 
aMystery?????


gee boing bomb is not going to make a loud boom heard 3 blocks away. a 
friend of mine has a 3 inch cannon  but the last time he shot it it 
disrupted cell phone service, almost caused several auto accidents and 
resulted in having his house surrounded by the local police who asked " Mr 
Boyde could you please come out of your house?" his projestile was a wad of 
wet newspapers.
  Chris  Petersons explaination while having some merrit is not supported by 
scientific fact. sonic booms travel at the speed of sound and the time it 
takes the boom to reach you depends on your distance from the event, and a 
lot of other factors, like cannon balls traveling at over the speed of sound 
under 4 inches make no sonic boom. just a kind of whizzing whooshing sound. 
and smaller objects like bullets only make a buzzing sound like a bee even 
at 4 times the speed of sound.
  a meteorite falling over Colorado on the plane of the ecliptic at 11:35 pm 
would have been a near verticle fall only taking about 4 to 5 seconds from 
the time it entered earths atmosphere till it impacted with the ground. or 
exploded in the air. the shock wave in front of it would have created a 
vacume in its tail which may have allowed a 3 inch stone or iron to be 
cradled in an envelope trailing the main mass which was destroyed. in the 
same way that unburned gunpowder is found on the victims of gunshots at 
bullet velocities of 3k fps or more. the speed of sound you must know is 
only about 750 fps and depends on air pressure, humidity, temp, and the size 
of the object.
   there was an f15 eagle crashed near my house several years ago. a sonic 
boom traveling 3 minutes at the speed of sound by Mr  Petersons reasoning at 
close to 7 seconds a mile should be heard around 25 miles away. there has to 
my knowlege never been heard a boom more than 9 miles away because the curve 
of the earth doesnt allow it to reach the ground.
  are there any volunteers from the list that want to sit on an artillary 
range and listen for the sonic boom of an incomming 144mm  faster than sound 
shell? i hope not because they dont make one!
cheers
Steve