<p>Using the <a href="https://impact.ese.ic.ac.uk/ImpactEarth/cgi-bin/crater.cgi?dist=10000&amp;distanceUnits=1&amp;diam=220&amp;diameterUnits=2&amp;pdens=&amp;pdens_select=3000&amp;vel=20&amp;velocityUnits=1&amp;theta=45&amp;tdens=1000&amp;wdepth=3000&amp;wdepthUnits=1" rel="nofollow noreferrer">impact effects calculator</a></p>
<p>The energy before impact (making a some reasonable assumptions) is <span class="math-container">$3.35 × 10^{27}$</span> Joules = <span class="math-container">$7.99 × 10^{11}$</span> MegaTons TNT, most of which would be deposited in the Earth.</p>
<p>The impact effects calculator doesn't discuss the formation of antipodal mountains (this is not a well-understood process) but it certainly seems possible that there could be major antipodal effects. The initial crater would fill with lava, but there would not be a planet-wide magma ocean.</p>
<p>Would life survive? perhaps, life is surprisingly resiliant.  This would cause mass extinction, and probably wipe out much or all of complex life. But &quot;until the sun expands to a red giant&quot; gives us millions of years for evolution to find a way. But any answer would have to be speculative.</p>
<p>The average interval between impacts of this size is longer than the Earth's age.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-12-08T21:50:50.713Z
2020-12-08T21:50:50.713Z
James K
<p>I was looking at this <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Hypothesized-accumulative-size-distribution-of-Near-Earth-Objects-as-well-as-different_fig5_253182657" rel="nofollow noreferrer">chart</a>,
<a href="https://i.sstatic.net/C4sfV.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/C4sfV.png" alt="enter image description here" /></a></p>
<p>which shows that an order of magnitude increase in asteroid impactor diameter roughly corresponds with two orders of magnitude increase in it's rarity.  So if the K-T Impactor at 10km diameter is a 100 million year rarity impact, then a 100km diameter impact has a 10 billion year rarity (on the order of the lifetime of our planet).  On a large time scale, orbital perturbation allows for some chaotic orbits, so it might not be vanishingly likely that one of the big asteroids eventually hit earth. The asteroid <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/16_Psyche" rel="nofollow noreferrer">16 Psyche</a> orbit overlaps in distance to the sun with <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ceres_(dwarf_planet)" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Ceres</a>, so it could potentially get a natural <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gravity_assist" rel="nofollow noreferrer">gravity assist</a> into another orbit.</p>
<p>What would happen to Earth if it got hit by the asteroid <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/16_Psyche" rel="nofollow noreferrer">16 Psyche</a> at, say, 40 km/s in the Pacific off the coast of Japan?</p>
<p>I am specifically looking for an answer to one or more of the following questions: How big would the crater be?  How much kinetic energy would be released?  What portions of that would be transferred into heat, ejecta, and deformation?  Would there be a secondary antipodal mountain formation like the <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7075900/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Caloris impact on Mercury</a>?  Would it cause <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magma_ocean" rel="nofollow noreferrer">magma oceans</a>?  Would life on earth survive to reclaim the surface before the Sun went red giant?</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-12-08T00:01:41.810Z
https://impact.ese.ic.ac.uk/ImpactEarth/cgi-bin/crater.cgi?dist=10000&distanceUnits=1&diam=220&diameterUnits=2&pdens=&pdens_select=3000&vel=20&velocityUnits=1&theta=45&tdens=1000&wdepth=3000&wdepthUnits=1
James K
<asteroids><impact>
What would a 220km diameter asteroid impact do to Earth?
Connor Garcia
# What would a 220km diameter asteroid impact do to Earth?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2020-12-07)

I was looking at this [chart](https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Hypothesized-accumulative-size-distribution-of-Near-Earth-Objects-as-well-as-different_fig5_253182657),
[![enter image description here](https://i.sstatic.net/C4sfV.png)](https://i.sstatic.net/C4sfV.png)

which shows that an order of magnitude increase in asteroid impactor diameter roughly corresponds with two orders of magnitude increase in it's rarity. So if the K-T Impactor at 10km diameter is a 100 million year rarity impact, then a 100km diameter impact has a 10 billion year rarity (on the order of the lifetime of our planet). On a large time scale, orbital perturbation allows for some chaotic orbits, so it might not be vanishingly likely that one of the big asteroids eventually hit earth. The asteroid [16 Psyche](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/16_Psyche) orbit overlaps in distance to the sun with [Ceres](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ceres_(dwarf_planet)), so it could potentially get a natural [gravity assist](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gravity_assist) into another orbit.

What would happen to Earth if it got hit by the asteroid [16 Psyche](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/16_Psyche) at, say, 40 km/s in the Pacific off the coast of Japan?

I am specifically looking for an answer to one or more of the following questions: How big would the crater be? How much kinetic energy would be released? What portions of that would be transferred into heat, ejecta, and deformation? Would there be a secondary antipodal mountain formation like the [Caloris impact on Mercury](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7075900/)? Would it cause [magma oceans](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magma_ocean)? Would life on earth survive to reclaim the surface before the Sun went red giant?

**Tags:** asteroids, impact

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: https://impact.ese.ic.ac.uk/ImpactEarth/cgi-bin/crater.cgi?dist=10000&distanceUnits=1&diam=220&diameterUnits=2&pdens=&pdens_select=3000&vel=20&velocityUnits=1&theta=45&tdens=1000&wdepth=3000&wdepthUnits=1  

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## 1 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2020-12-08. Score: 4

Using the [impact effects calculator](https://impact.ese.ic.ac.uk/ImpactEarth/cgi-bin/crater.cgi?dist=10000&distanceUnits=1&diam=220&diameterUnits=2&pdens=&pdens_select=3000&vel=20&velocityUnits=1&theta=45&tdens=1000&wdepth=3000&wdepthUnits=1)

The energy before impact (making a some reasonable assumptions) is $3.35 × 10^{27}$ Joules = $7.99 × 10^{11}$ MegaTons TNT, most of which would be deposited in the Earth.

The impact effects calculator doesn't discuss the formation of antipodal mountains (this is not a well-understood process) but it certainly seems possible that there could be major antipodal effects. The initial crater would fill with lava, but there would not be a planet-wide magma ocean.

Would life survive? perhaps, life is surprisingly resiliant. This would cause mass extinction, and probably wipe out much or all of complex life. But "until the sun expands to a red giant" gives us millions of years for evolution to find a way. But any answer would have to be speculative.

The average interval between impacts of this size is longer than the Earth's age.


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