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View Full Version : Boy Survives 30,000 mph Meteorite Impact



Fobio
06-12-2009, 11:51 AM
From Gizmodo:

http://gizmodo.com/5288407/boy-survives-30000-mph-meteorite-impact



http://cache.gawker.com/assets/images/gizmodo/2009/06/meteoriteBoy_01.jpg

This 14-year-old boy is Gerrit Blank, and he is probably smiling because he survived a 30,000 mph meteorite hit. His tale—confirmed by scientists at Germany's Walter Hohmann Observatory—seems like the genesis of a superhero:


At first I just saw a large ball of light, and then I suddenly felt a pain in my hand. Then a split second after that there was an enormous bang like a crash of thunder. The noise that came after the flash of light was so loud that my ears were ringing for hours afterwards. When it hit me it knocked me flying and then was still going fast enough to bury itself into the road.
That could have been written by Stan Lee himself, but it is what really happened. According to scientists, the highly magnetic rock—the size of a pea—came from outer space. It was probably a lot bigger when it entered the atmosphere, but this was the bit that survived the burning process. It hit him on his hand, leaving a 3-inch scar. If the hot meteorite had hit him on his head or torso, he would be dead now.

Only one other human has survived a meteor strike—a 1 in a million chance.

Tokic_o
06-12-2009, 11:58 AM
wow.

JashiK
06-12-2009, 02:10 PM
wait... so the odds are 1 in 1 million? Odds of getting hit by a meteorite is better than winning the damn lotto!!!

kurse
06-12-2009, 02:43 PM
what a day that kid musta had

ElegantGremlin
06-12-2009, 02:45 PM
wait... so the odds are 1 in 1 million? Odds of getting hit by a meteorite is better than winning the damn lotto!!!

I think thats the odds for surviving getting hit by a meteor.

whiteomega
06-12-2009, 03:50 PM
lucky kid, though i guarantee the meteorite wasn't doing 30,000 miles per hour when it hit him. if it was, there wouldn't be much left of him, or the immediate area.

Fobio
06-12-2009, 04:02 PM
lucky kid, though i guarantee the meteorite wasn't doing 30,000 miles per hour when it hit him. if it was, there wouldn't be much left of him, or the immediate area.

yeah...I kinda doubt that too...

I'd like to know the whole story...but a few interesting points:

1. Meteorites come down on a daily basis, whether human or a plane, they can hit moving things.

2. Forget about 30,000mph...a round from one of those 105 mm Howitzers on those AC 130 gunships, whizzing by you will take out a limb without actually touching you.

The kid said he hear a loud bang...I wonder where that came from...the sonic boom?

JashiK
06-12-2009, 04:12 PM
I think it was the sonic boom...

DruidB
06-12-2009, 05:39 PM
wait... so the odds are 1 in 1 million? Odds of getting hit by a meteorite is better than winning the damn lotto!!!

Think about that for a bit... with 4+ Billion People in the world... does that make sence? 4 thousand people in the world have been hit by a meteorite?

:chuckle

Thrizzl3
06-13-2009, 01:13 PM
lucky kid...