[ExI] Fermi Paradox and GRB bursts

[Anders Sandberg]

Dan <danust2012 at gmail.com> , 8/10/2014 1:57 AM:
Just speculating: Could GRBs have secondary effects on planetary systems, such as burning off too many volatiles (which are then not available, say, for cometary impacts on young worlds?) and shaking up stability (say, causing another heavy bombardment in a system by knocking asteroids off stable/nonintersecting orbits)?
No. 100 kJ/m^2 deposited in a few seconds is only about 100 times the solar heating: not enough to vaporize much, and the lost volatiles can start condensing immediately. A 20 second burst can ideally vaporize 705 g/m^2 of ice, less than a cm deep. 
Closer to the burst things might be worse, of course.

Anders Sandberg, Future of Humanity Institute Philosophy Faculty of Oxford University
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