Recently a meteorite passed so close to the Earth that it created fear in the minds of the people living on Earth. In such a situation, it is natural for people to wonder that if a piece of the moon breaks off and moves towards the Earth, how much time will it take for it to fall on the Earth. Let us know about this in detail.
Understand the distance of the moon from the earth
If any part of the moon breaks and falls on the earth, it will be an extremely rare and devastating event. The probability of such events is low, but it can definitely be analyzed on the basis of science. Actually, the moon is about 384,400 kilometers away from the earth. In such a situation, if a piece of the moon breaks and starts coming towards the earth, then the speed and travel time of that piece will mainly depend on many factors.
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The answer is also in gravity and velocity
In fact, any object in the moon’s orbit remains stationary until an external force affects it. However, if a piece of the moon breaks off and starts moving towards the Earth, it will start getting attracted rapidly due to the Earth’s gravity. To understand this process in simpler terms, we need to know that when any object in the moon’s orbit falls towards the Earth, it continuously gains speed.
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Understand it this way, while moving towards the earth, that piece gains speed at the rate of 9.8 m/s², which is the force of gravity. But, this rate increases further when it enters the earth’s atmosphere, because at that time the aerodynamic force also starts working on it.
Understand from NASA
According to a NASA report, objects falling from space usually fall at a speed of 11 kilometers per second i.e. about 40,000 kilometers per hour. Since the orbit of the moon is away from the Earth, it will take a maximum of a few hours for the broken piece of the moon to reach the surface of the Earth. To understand it in simpler terms, if a piece of the moon moves towards the Earth at a speed of 40,000 kilometers per hour, then it will take about 9.5 hours to cover a distance of 384,400 kilometers.
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