[extropy-chat] SURVIVAL: When asteroids or comets strike

[Mike Lorrey]

Question: If an asteroid is spinning, would its angular momentum be
translated into explosive energy upon impact? If so, how much would a 3
km body tumbling at 1 rotation/10 minutes add to the impact from its
rotation?

>From long ago talk about the kinetic energy of an disintegrating
flywheel, would it be possible to create flywheel warheads? If one used
a mass driver on the moon as a cannon (a la TMIAHM), how much kinetic
energy would be added to its impact by, say, a 300 rpm spin?

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Mike Lorrey
Chairman, Free Town Land Development
"Live Free or Die, Death is not the Worst of Evils."
                                       - Gen. John Stark
Sado-Mikeyism: http://mikeysoft.zblogger.com

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