Huge asteroid that 'could end human life' defying gravity as it moves towards Earth

[Jesse]

Source: Huge asteroid that 'could end human life' defying gravity as it moves towards Earth, scientists say

Source

© Copyright Original Source

Get your affairs in order people. You are all gonna die on 16 March, 2880.

[Cow Poke]

Get your affairs in order people. You are all gonna die on 16 March, 2880.

Thanks! Now I lay awake at nights worrying about this.

[klaus54]

Good!

The world needs a good ol' mass extinction.

K54

[Jedidiah]

Get your affairs in order people. You are all gonna die on 16 March, 2880.

Maybe.

[tabibito]

You reckon we should stick around to watch?

[klaus54]

Source: Huge asteroid that 'could end human life' defying gravity as it moves towards Earth, scientists say

...
The University of Tennessee researchers said 1950 DA is rotating so quickly it “defies gravity” and is held together by cohesive forces, called van der Waals, never before detected on an asteroid....

Source

© Copyright Original Source

???

[Cow Poke]

Source: Huge asteroid that 'could end human life' defying gravity as it moves towards Earth, scientists say

Source

© Copyright Original Source

???

Magic!

[klaus54]

Magic!

Yep. Either that or 2) Journalistic license from misapprehension or 3) Science Falsely-So-Called.

K54

[tabibito]

Scientists suggest that asteroids are usually made of loose masses of rubble, which are held together by friction and gravity. The researchers say that the 1950 DA is spinning so fast that it is defying the laws of friction and gravity. The scientists also examined the thermal images as well as the orbital drift of the asteroid to find its bulk density and thermal inertia.

"We found that 1950 DA is rotating faster than the breakup limit for its density," says Ben Rozitis, an astronomer at the University of Tennessee at Knoxville. "So if just gravity were holding this rubble pile together, as is generally assumed, it would fly apart. Therefore, interparticle cohesive forces must be holding it together."

Interparticle Cohesive Forces makes a fascinating read.

[rwatts]

Interparticle Cohesive Forces makes a fascinating read.

This is one of the proofs that the theory of Intelligent Falling is a better description of aspects of nature than are Newton's and Einstein's theories of gravity.

[klaus54]

The thing must be made of nano-scale particles.

Doesn't scare me...

K54

[TimelessTheist]

Thanks! Now I lay awake at nights worrying about this.

We should probably be a little worried about it though, since it could potentially destroy Earth.....or rather, it has a 1 in 4000 chance to hit Earth....okay, maybe we shouldn't be that worried about it, but still.

[Sparko]

I never understood the idea that blowing up an asteroid would cause more damage because it would break up. Presumably it would break up into much smaller pieces that would mostly burn up in the atmosphere, instead of one giant rock that detonates like a huge nuclear bomb.

[Roy]

I never understood the idea that blowing up an asteroid would cause more damage because it would break up. Presumably it would break up into much smaller pieces that would mostly burn up in the atmosphere, instead of one giant rock that detonates like a huge nuclear bomb.

Consider why the military employ(ed) shrapnel instead of solid shells, cluster bombs instead of single bombs, and grapeshot rather than cannonballs.

Roy

[Sparko]

Consider why the military employ(ed) shrapnel instead of solid shells, cluster bombs instead of single bombs, and grapeshot rather than cannonballs.

Roy

Yeah but would you rather be hit by some shrapnel or a nuclear bomb that could destroy all life on the planet?

I would also think that smaller pieces would have a much greater chance of just burning up in the atmosphere, like most meteors do.