Satuday Data: The End of Life As We Know It. (Real & Imagined).

     I enjoyed the premier of the new CBS show "Salvation" Saturday night, and found it interesting that a news story about potential end of the Earth scenarios showed up online today. 

     I tried reading the actual research paper but my eyes glazed over at the math used to determine what it would take for all living things on the planet to be destroyed. One example:

D=αρ 2/3 M 1/3 p (36π) 1/3 ρ w  . $$D=\frac{\alpha {\rho }^{\mathrm{2/3}}{M}_p^{\mathrm{1/3}}}{{\mathrm{(36}\pi )}^{\mathrm{1/3}}{\rho }_w}\mathrm{.}$$

                           

 You can test your algebraic knowledge by reading the paper HERE.

     The Washington Post has a more reader friendly but pay-wall-limited story HERE. It includes this information about planet killing asteroids:

"...the asteroid that finished the dinosaurs was six miles across; an asteroid called Vesta that is one of the potential ocean killers has a diameter of 326 miles.) The chances of such a massive collision are so small, the scientists said, that the sun would die first.

Now that's comforting!

 You can watch Salvation Wednesday nights at 8:00 PM on CBS 8 in Montgomery. 
 
[Saturday Data is a regular feature of www.timlennox.com.]

Celebrating one decade online this Fall.