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From: bl@hplabsb.UUCP (Bruce T. Lowerre)
Newsgroups: net.tv,net.astro
Subject: Re: Amazing Stories' amazing attitude toward facts
Message-ID: <3090@hplabsb.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 9-Oct-85 12:55:44 EDT
Article-I.D.: hplabsb.3090
Posted: Wed Oct  9 12:55:44 1985
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Xref: watmath net.tv:3353 net.astro:1029

> I hope some others were as annoyed as I was by the way "Amazing Stories"
> treated meteors in its latest airing. Two large meteors hit within a few
> blocks of each other, first -- OK, even though highly improbable, it was
> possible, and could be used as a story device, so no real gripe there.
> 
> My real bitch is the way they showed a meteor, depicted as nearly a
> meter across, coming through a second-story bedroom window and causing
> only moderate damage to the *room*, coming to rest embedded in the
> floor. Hmmph. I would expect a crater, about half a kilometer or so
> across, where the *neighborhood* used to be. Plus assorted other effects
> (earthquakes triggered by the impact, since this was set in So. Cal.,
> etc.) should have happened. Considering the depiction of the characters
> prior to the meteor striking, I would have viewed this as a happy
> ending to the story -- sort of divine retribution, always a good plot
> device. 

A meteor entering the Earth's atmosphere will expend its energy by burning
away the outer layers.  Whether or not it reaches the ground and at what
velocity depends on how much energy it has initially (1/2 M(V**2)), i.e.,
it's a function of its mass and initial velocity.  Small meteors (most)
will usually burn up before reaching the ground.  Very large ones (a mile
or more in diameter) will hit the ground with considerable force (your
scenario).  Occationally a meteor will expend its high velocity while
still in the air and hit the ground like a falling rock (which is what
it is).  There are documented cases of meteors falling through houses
causing a hole in the roof and a coronary to the owner.