Date:         Sat, 18 Jan 2003 00:07:54 +1300
Reply-To:     Andrew Grebneff <andrew.grebneff@STONEBOW.OTAGO.AC.NZ>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Andrew Grebneff <andrew.grebneff@STONEBOW.OTAGO.AC.NZ>
Subject:      Re: VW's vs Meteorites
In-Reply-To:  <001f01c2beb9$b456a680$03fea8c0@kc.rr.com>
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>yeah.  Did you pick up on the fact that the speed of an incoming meteor is
>around 13 miles per second?

They're pretty fast indeedie. Speed relative to the ground depends on
earth/rock vectors... a rock FOLLOWING the earth will be moving much
more "slowly" than one colliding head-on with the planet.

>I saw a picture of a woman who was hit in the stomach by a meteorite when I
>was a kid at grade school.
>
>I think the picture was from the 40's or 50's,  but she was sleeping in the
>bedroom when the meteorite smashed thru the roof.
>
>The roof slowed  it down enough so that all it did was leave a huge black
>and blue bruise.

It is likely that the bruise was caused by a piece of house
(shrapnel). A rock large enough to leave such a huge bruise would not
have been slowed much by the roof. She would have been splashed.
Simple physics.