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Pastimes : Nostradamus: Predictions
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To: Father Terrence who wrote (1340)8/19/1999 1:44:00 AM
From: Richnorth  Read Replies (2) of 1615
 
It's high time that Americans learnt more about atmospheric phenomena and realised that exceptionally large chunks of ice occasionally formed in the upper atmosphere!

However, I am inclined not to give full credence to the story because

i) If the ground were hard, the ice would have been smashed to many pieces upon impact and penetration into the ground would have been precluded;

ii) If the ground were relatively soft and "cushiony" lawn ground, the impact would have been largely absorbed so that the penetration would have been minimal. To be sure, the natural brittleness and uneven surface of the ice would have resulted in the ice being broken into pieces even before total contact with the ground occurred;

(As the density of ice is about 62.5 lb. per cubic foot, a 50 lb. block of ice has a volume of about 0.80 cubic foot;

If this block of ice had a circular diameter of 2 feet, its foot print (area) would have been 3.14 x 1 x 1 = 3.14 square feet so that the thickness of this cylindrical slice of ice would have been ~0.255 feet or ~3.1 inches;

Such a slice of ice (assuming it is not man-made pykrete) is very easily cracked upon impact! Most likely the ice was not a regular cylindrical slice so that some prominences on its surface would have contacted the ground first thereby causing crackup and precluding total contact of the ice with the ground. Even if the ice had fallen from a great height, its energy would not be infinite but have reached a limiting value it would have caused the pieces of ice to rebound with great speed in all directions;

iii) Any ice originating from a comet most likely would have been melted or vaporized whilst traversing through the atmosphere!
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