[meteorite-list] Crash BOOM Bang - Colorado spings event

From: Linton Rohr <lintonius_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Wed, 6 Jan 2010 13:57:52 -0800
Message-ID: <E9E7DE0DDDAE4073A8B63F7E36BAFCDD_at_D190TH71>

"I doubt an M80 would blow a hole in much of anything. How thick?
1/4". 1/2". 5/8". I would be surprised if an M80 could blow a hole in
even a 1/4" piece of plywood."

I'm afraid I'll have to dispute that, Eric. I had a few M80's back about
10-12 years ago and, being a woodworker, I grabbed a couple boards out of my
shop to serve as blasting platforms. Can't remember the dimensions now, but
I would guess something like a 1"x4". I was astounded. It blew the whole end
of the board apart. There were splinters of wood everywhere. I can say with
confidence, it would easily blow through 1/4" plywood, probably blow through
1/2", and perhaps even 3/4".
Couldn't find any You-tube videos with wood, but here's a nice one with a
watermelon and there were others with pumpkins, computer moniters, etc.
watermelon - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d1HNjq6KGio&feature=related
pumpkin - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gu0AFsUFDnk&feature=related
monitor - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L27KO5USomQ&NR=1
Mind you, these were not made by scientists. <g>
Linton

----- Original Message -----
From: "Meteorites USA" <eric at meteoritesusa.com>
To: <meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com>
Sent: Wednesday, January 06, 2010 12:27 PM
Subject: Re: [meteorite-list] Crash BOOM Bang - Colorado spings event


> It seems to me the definitions and people interpretations of sound is the
> issue regarding the BOOM.
>
> If I were to describe an impact type sound I might say BANG, or THUMP, if
> I were to try to describe a crashing sound like multiple objects colliding
> or perhaps some books or plates tumbling to the floor from a high shelf I
> would probably use the word CRASH in my description. And if I were to hear
> an explosion or "hollow" sounding impact (like that of an object impacting
> a roof) I might say "it was a loud BOOM! or BAM"
>
> It doesn't mean sonic boom or explosive boom or impact boom. It's people's
> interpretations of sound and nothing more.
>
> Eyewitnesses are usually not very accurate. They tell things from their
> own personal perspective and experience in ways that relate to them, which
> is fine, but for finding meteorites it's not reliable. It's totally
> subjective, and it take a good investigator to get good solid details.
>
> Regards,
> Eric
>
> P.S. I doubt an M80 would blow a hole in much of anything. How thick?
> 1/4". 1/2". 5/8". I would be surprised if an M80 could blow a hole in even
> a 1/4" piece of plywood. I'd be interested in seeing a video of a real M80
> blowing a hole in a piece of plywood. This isn't a challenge to you
> personally Chris, anyone is welcome to produce a video showing just that.
> I'll even post it on my site for all to see for comparison to the hole in
> the roof.
>
>
>
>
>
> On 1/6/2010 8:47 AM, Chris Peterson wrote:
>> It doesn't have to be a sonic boom, that's just one possibility with a
>> meteorite fall. In this case, the sound was described as being like an
>> explosion or boom, both by witnesses inside the building as well as
>> several blocks away. Some sort of mechanical noise from impact is
>> certainly possible, although the descriptions are a bit off for that. One
>> witness saw a flash of light and heard a boom, in the direction of the
>> bar and low to the ground. Again, not consistent with a meteorite impact.
>>
>> In general, most meteorite falls are silent, with no sonic boom and no
>> significant impact sounds.
>>
>> It could be a meteorite, but the evidence argues better for other
>> explanations. It isn't even certain that something hit the building- this
>> is exactly the sort of damage you see from small explosives (put an M80
>> on a sheet of plywood, and it will look just like the roof of this
>> building).
>>
>> Chris
>>
>> *****************************************
>> Chris L Peterson
>> Cloudbait Observatory
>> http://www.cloudbait.com
>>
>>
>> ----- Original Message ----- From: <meteoritehunter at comcast.net>
>> To: <GeoZay at aol.com>
>> Cc: <clp at alumni.caltech.edu>; <meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com>
>> Sent: Wednesday, January 06, 2010 9:32 AM
>> Subject: Colorado spings event
>>
>>> Why does there have to be a sonic boom? In New Orleans, a stone of over
>>> 20 kg crashed through two floors of a house and ended up in the dirt
>>> under the house, major city, nobody saw or heard anything other than the
>>> neighbors who thought a car accident had happened.
>>>
>>> Kitchener, ONT, a guy golfing saw a 500 gram stone plop down in the
>>> grass a few feet from him, no sounds heard.
>>>
>>> Can't this be a small meteorite, which somehow escaped detection.
>>>
>>> Something hit that building, and the object has not been found. That
>>> means it was pocketed, because it did not evaporate into thin air.
>>
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Received on Wed 06 Jan 2010 04:57:52 PM PST