What would happen if a 10 km long meteorite hit earth?
There have already been films about similar scenarios – most notably “Deep Impact” and “Armageddon.” Those movies don’t tell you how bad it really could be really be though. A meteor doesn’t fly into the atmosphere at the leisurely pace of a Boeing 747, for one thing. It would hit so fast, you would miss it if you blinked. Not that you want to be around in visual range. If you’re close enough to see, you’re probably close enough to be incinerated by the heat. When it does hit, it will cast a plume of dust, smoke, magma, and various other debris so high into the atmosphere that a lot of that expelled matter will traverse the skies and land at the antipode (the opposite end of the earth from the collision point). This will cause some of the massive forest fires all around the world. Microscopic shards of volcanic glass will settle in our lungs and painfully cause us to drown in our own blood. If you are fortunate enough to live through all that, there is still the matter of a global fami
