Mankind hasn’t had to deal with much in the way of deadly meteors over the years, but on the few occasions when one of the pesky space rocks does target Earth, they often self-destruct in the air before it even reaches the ground. For years, researchers have puzzled over why that happens, but a new study published in the Meteoritics & Planetary Science suggests the first concrete explanation.
Using a recent meteor explosion event — the rock that detonated in the sky above Chelyabinsk, Russia — as an example, scientists attempted to explain why the massive object seemed to cut its life short before striking ground. Using computer simulations to model the incoming path of the large meteor, the data revealed that it wasn’t necessarily the friction of the upper atmosphere the caused the explosion, but rather the pressure difference between the air in front of the rock and the air behind it.
“There’s a big gradient between high-pressure air in front of the meteor and the vacuum of air behind it,” Jay Melosh, a professor with Purdue University and co-author of the study, explains. “If the air can move through the passages in the meteorite, it can easily get inside and blow off pieces.”
[contentcards url=”http://bgr.com/2017/12/11/meteor-explosion-earth-detonation-study/” target=”_blank”]