Sci/Tech Boy Hit by Meteorite

[xxxtrickyxxx]

A 14-year old German boy was hit in the hand by a pea-sized meteorite that scared the bejeezus out of him and left a scar.

"When it hit me it knocked me flying and then was still going fast enough to bury itself into the road," Gerrit Blank said in a newspaper account. Astronomers have analyzed the object and conclude it was indeed a natural object from space, The Telegraph reports.

Most meteors vaporize in the atmosphere, creating "shooting stars," and never reach the ground. The few that do are typically made mostly of metals. Stony space rocks, even if they are big as a car, will usually break apart or explode as they crash through the atmosphere.

Boy Hit by Meteorite

A 14-year old German boy was hit in the hand by a pea-sized meteorite that scared the bejeezus out of him and left a scar.

www.space.com

----------------------------------------

Just had to make a post about this since I thought it was weird. Imagine going back to school and the teacher asks what everyone did during the summer break, kid replies "I got hit by a meteorite!".

 

[Romek]

Original Article

30,000mph. Red hot. Hit in the hand.
And it just left a scar?

Unlikely... =|

 

[Knight7770]

Unlikely... =|

That's why it made the news

 

[Cheesy]

Heard it on sxephil first.

Does sound quite unbelievable though.

 

[13lade619]

A red hot, pea-sized piece of rock then hit his hand before bouncing off and causing a foot wide crater in the ground.

"When it hit me it knocked me flying and then was still going fast enough to bury itself into the road," he explained.

is he superman?... ubermensch...

A 14-year old German boy was hit in the hand by a pea-sized meteorite that scared the bejeezus out of him and left a scar.

LoL.. made me crack up..

 

[xxxtrickyxxx]

oh hehe, that article you linked much better. i guess if some scientists actually found the piece of rock and examined it then maybe it could be true. ^_^

edit- looks like that other article says they found it and determined it was from space.

 

[Romek]

A red hot object, going at 30,000mph would probably go right through him.
It most certainly wouldn't just bounce off, and then dig into the ground.

 

[ElderKingpin]

The only other known example of a human being surviving a meteor strike happened in Alabama, USA, in November 1954 when a grapefruit-sized fragment crashed through the roof of a house, bounced off furniture and landed on a sleeping woman.

How is that even possible

 

[13lade619]

The only other known example of a human being surviving a meteor strike happened in Alabama, USA, in November 1954 when a grapefruit-sized fragment crashed through the roof of a house, bounced off furniture and landed on a sleeping woman.

the fragment hit the roof first and decelerated, much more believable.

A red hot object, going at 30,000mph would probably go right through him.
It most certainly wouldn't just bounce off, and then dig into the ground.

A 14-year old German boy was hit in the hand by a pea-sized meteorite that scared the bejeezus out of him and left a scar.

i just realized... he shouldve been BURNED ever so 'slightly'.. not just scarred 3 inches.

now, my guess is that he saw the meteorite hit and then shanked his arm and said that he was hit.

 

[Romek]

> the fragment hit the roof first and decelerated, much more believable.
Exactly. All that furniture, and the house itself, would've slowed it down.

Bullets travel at about 1,200 mph.
This meteorite travelled at 30,000 mph.

This meteorite was about the same size as a bullet.
The meteorite was red hot.

A bullet would probably pierce his hand.
A meteorite going 25 times that speed... Just bounced off.

...

 

[NightShade]

maybe the the boy's hand was more or less vertical so when the meteorite hit him his hand was parallel to the meteorite's path of flight so it just grazed him? Still, the way they describe it does make it sound like he's superman.

 

[Samael88]

> the fragment hit the roof first and decelerated, much more believable.
Exactly. All that furniture, and the house itself, would've slowed it down.

Bullets travel at about 1,200 mph.
This meteorite travelled at 30,000 mph.

This meteorite was about the same size as a bullet.
The meteorite was red hot.

A bullet would probably pierce his hand.
A meteorite going 25 times that speed... Just bounced off.

...

Romek, you don't watch enought futurama:

Quantum physics means that anything can happen at anytime for no apparent reason

 

[thewrongvine]

It did say he went flying... and like NightShade said... hey, I'm trying to believe here,

~Hai-Bye-Vine~

 

[gameman]

"The meteorite was red hot."

This really doesn't mean anything to me, A spark can be hotter than the sun and cause no damage. Also meteorites can be made of shock absorbing rock, but I still don't see how It did not penetrate his hand.

 

[thewrongvine]

Maybe he's Superman...
no he's not because Superman wouldn't even have the scratch!
Wolverine maybe. Or some type of regenerating mutant.
~Hai-Bye-Vine~

 

[ElderKingpin]

maybe they misstyped it, maybe it was going at like 30 MPH, look at his face, he looks like a geek ._.

 

[Atreyu]

30,000MPH
wouldn't that go through a hand?

 

[Romek]

> A spark can be hotter than the sun and cause no damage.
Proof?

 

[Vestras]

> The only other known example of a human being surviving a meteor strike happened in Alabama, USA, in November 1954 when a grapefruit-sized fragment crashed through the roof of a house, bounced off furniture and landed on a sleeping woman.

Is there such a thing as a "meteorite insurance"?

 

[FireCat]

Maybe meteorites don't fall that fast after a while?!