Tuesday, November 21, 2006

Save the world, win prizes

So there is a big meteorite heading towards earth. It is the size of the sugar loaf mountain and will hit in 10 years. What do you do?

Marks will be given for the stupidity of the idea.

Already thought of

  1. Ion drive to gently push it
  2. Paint it. Light pushes dark areas more and so changes the course

My entries

  1. A trebuchet like device that throws rocks off
  2. Bacteria that eat the thing
  3. Will it burn if ignited hot enough? “The iron content is more than 91% and the nickel content near 8%. There are also traces of cobalt and phosphorus.”


1. Catapult matter off the meteorite and by Newton’s laws the path of the meteorite will change.

2. Eat it. It is probably made from iron or some such metal. Plenty of bacteria love eating the stuff. They tend to like hot temperatures though. Extremophiles for low temperatures and no oxygen do exist but they tend not work quickly.

Ok so please comment with your idea to save the world

2 comments:

  1. Well obviously I would have to say use a big frickin laser to blast some bits off it and change it's course.

    Would bacteria eat it fast enough?

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  2. I would gather together all practicioners of faith healing, crystal powers, astral telepathy, televangelism and the Real World Power of Jesus Christ, and launch them at the asteroid.

    It probably wouldn't have much effect, but if I'm dying then they're going first.

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