14-Year-Old Boy Smote By Meteorite 435
eldavojohn writes "Winning the lottery requires incredible luck and one in a million odds. So does getting hit by a falling space rock. A 14-year-old German boy was granted a three-inch scar by the gods. A pea-sized meteorite smote young Gerrit Blank's hand before leaving a foot-sized crater on the road. The boy's account: '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.' Curiously, the rock was magnetic, and tests were done to verify it is extraterrestrial. The Telegraph notes the only other recorded event of a meteorite striking a person was 'in November 1954 when a grapefruit-sized fragment crashed through the roof of a house, bounced off furniture and landed on a sleeping woman.' Space.com lists a few more anomalies and we discussed the probability of these things downing aircraft recently."
Count me a skeptic (Score:5, Informative)
Bad Astronomy Post on This (Score:5, Informative)
http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2009/06/12/a-boy-claims-he-was-hit-by-a-meteorite/ [discovermagazine.com]
Short story is that it's possible (although not as presented in the media right now), but be skeptical.
Re:What's this picture for? (Score:5, Informative)
Watch out chilluns (Score:4, Informative)
Curiously, a British girl was hit in the foot [bbc.co.uk] by a meteorite a few years ago. Is this tit for tat in a new grudge war between the two rivals?
Re:quote (Score:3, Informative)
However, it is a well known fact that one in a million chances happen 9 times out of 10.
"Smitten", not "smote" (Score:5, Informative)
... unless the boy as doing the smiting.
Re:skeptical (Score:4, Informative)
Well, the "meteorite" was magnetic, which implies either a high iron content or a high nickel content. Either one is shiny. Surely the sun reflecting off the "meteorite" could explain the "streak of light".
Seriousoy, though... can you please do the calculation that proves for a meteor of some diameter N, and some density M, it is impossible for the meteor to enter the atmosphere at some speed O, at an angle P, that would result in the meteorite not being cool to the touch at elevation Q? Please account for atmospheric and local weather conditions. Or, you could link to a source with the required info.
See, here's the thing... most meteors enter the atmosphere obliquely, which results in a long path of travel before touchdown (if they don't burn up completely). But just assume that it's possible for a meteor to not hit obliquiely (and factoring in rotation, etc)... surely it is possible for a meteor of sufficient density and size to be traveling at higher than terminal velocity, and above normal temperature, when it hits the surface (or a teen standing on the surface).
Re:skeptical (Score:5, Informative)
How the [File System Check] does stupidity of this level get modded up?
As much as I hate replying (twice!) to AC's, I feel compelled to go to the trouble of a Google search.
Meteorite Myths [meteorites.com.au] (cribbed in turn from space.com, apparently)
"All of these things together mean that not only is the rock not hot when it hits the ground, it can actually be very cold. Some meteorites (what a meteoroid is called after it impacts) have actually been found covered in frost!"
Pic of hand, pea-meteorite and impact (Score:4, Informative)
Phil Plait (The Bad Astronomer)'s take on it (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Points for creativity (Score:5, Informative)
If it were simply dropped within the atmosphere with no impetus, yes - it'd hit terminal velocity.
But if it actually came from space, it could have been traveling hellaciously fast, been slowed down somewhat by the atmosphere, but by no means just down to whatever terminal velocity would be.
Think about it this way - if you fire a gun from the top of a building, the bullet would still hit faster than terminal velocity because it had something propelling it. Same for a meteorite.
Re:skeptical - temperature (Score:2, Informative)
When something goes supersonic it gets worse and worse at transferring heat to the air molecules, which is a big problem for supersonic craft such as the SR-71 Blackbird - one reason is black is to maximize heat transfer by radiation.
Meteorites which are ice cold when they hit were slowed down below ~330m/s high in the atmosphere and thus cooled down, the hot ones are the fast ones.
Re:Points for creativity (Score:5, Informative)
Re:"Smitten", not "smote" (Score:5, Informative)
I was kind of curious on the choice of the word Smote in the title as well.
Smote: past of smite
1: to strike sharply or heavily especially with the hand or an implement held in the hand
2 a: to kill or severely injure by smiting
b: to attack or afflict suddenly and injuriously
3: to cause to strike
4: to affect as if by striking [children smitten with the fear of hell â" V. L. Parrington]
5: captivate, take [smitten with her beauty]
intransitive verb: to deliver or deal a blow with or as if with the hand or something held
The title would have me believe that this meteorite was hurled by someone or someone smacked the kid with this meteorite by holding it in their hand.
By using smitten, the kid would be awe struck, or wondrous toward the meteorite but not necessarily physically hit by it.
Original Source (Score:5, Informative)
Well, and I don't know where the details in TFA here posted came from. Actually, the german article states some facts differently (I'll try a translation, umlauts were replaced by me, because /. sucks at Unicode):
"Erst habe ich nur einen grossen, weissen Lichtkegel gesehen. Meine Hand hat weh getan, dann hat es geknallt."
"First I saw only a big, white cone of light. My hand hurt, then there was a bang."
"Nachdem ich das weisse Licht gesehen habe, habe ich an meiner Hand etwas gespuert. Ich denke, dass mich der Meteorit gestreift hat. Vielleicht war es aber auch nur die Hitze", berichtet er und zeigt den Ruecken seiner linken Hand. Die rund zehn Zentimeter lange Brandwunde ueberdeckt bereits eine Kruste. "Das Geraeusch, das folgte, klang wie das Reissen einer Steinplatte und war ziemlich laut", erinnert sich Gerrit und deutet auf den kleinen Kreis aufgeplatzten Asphalts zu seinen Fuessen.
"After I saw the white light, I felt something at my hand. I think, the meteorite streaked me. But maybe it was only the heat." he reported and shows the back of his left hand. A brand around 10 centimeters long is already covered by an eschar. "The sound that followed, sounded like a paver being ripped apart and it was pretty loud", he comemorates and points to a small circle of burst open bitumen by his feet.
END OF TRANSLATION
There's also a picture where one can see the "crater" in front: http://www.derwesten.de/nachrichten/staedte/essen/2009/6/10/news-122286237/imageshow.html?resourceId=picture23923142 [derwesten.de] (the caption reads: "Gerrit Blank shows his brand and the meteorite that streaked him, while it was falling, near the "crater".
Re:Red flags (Score:2, Informative)
Occam's Razor (Score:3, Informative)
Re:What's this picture for? (Score:1, Informative)
This other photo has much better colors:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1192503/Close-encounter-rock-kind-Schoolboy-survives-direct-hit-meteorite-travelling-30-000mph.html [dailymail.co.uk]
(Different photo taken at the same place in similar position. And with a sensationalistic headline to boot. Also includes a closeup of the hands.)
Re:Points for creativity (Score:3, Informative)
He's likely misremembering what happened. Car crash witnesses do it all the time. He's just (unconsciously) assembling the information he has into something that meshes with his expectations and with what he knows happened after the event happened. He was likely blown back by the force of the meteorite's impact with the Earth, not it hitting him, and as you very correctly mention it was too fast for him to perceive of pain then the sound.
Re:Original Source (Score:2, Informative)