ASTEROID IMPACT SIMULATION DETERMINING HOW EJECTED MATERIAL IS DISPERSED

The Honors Geology students at Delaware County Community College performed an undergraduate research project. The project was focusing on relationships between the velocity of objects and ejecta measurements. Asteroid impacts are one of the most devastating natural disasters a planetary body can face. Impact of these foreign bodies can lead to immense damage and potential extinction of flora and fauna. The most infamous example of this is that of the K-Pg Extinction event which led in large part to the extinction of the non-avian dinosaurs. The size of the asteroid, velocity of the object, and surface material impacted all determine the extent of destruction from these events. In our experiments, we sought to test the crater diameter and ejecta distance as a result of the impact of foreign bodies. We used an impact device to simulate asteroid impact. The results found from the impact device displayed connections between velocity and ejecta distance. We experimented using different velocities and different incoming angles for simulated asteroid impacts. We found that when we increased the velocity, keeping the device at the same inclination, the angle of the ejecta increased.