Chapter 7: Q74P (page 170)
A meteor whose mass was about \(1.5 \times {10^8}\;{\rm{kg}}\) struck the Earth \(\left( {{m_{\rm{E}}} = 6.0 \times {{10}^{24}}\;{\rm{kg}}} \right)\) with a speed of about 25 km/s and came to rest in the Earth.
(a) What was the Earth’s recoil speed (relative to Earth at rest before the collision)?
(b) What fraction of the meteor’s kinetic energy was transformed to kinetic energy of the Earth?
(c) By how much did the Earth’s kinetic energy change as a result of this collision?
Short Answer
The results for parts (a), (b), and (c) are\(6.25 \times {10^{ - 16}}\;{\rm{km/s}}\),\(2.5 \times {10^{ - 17}}\), and \(1.17\;{\rm{J}}\), respectively.