I am writing a sci fi story and I want to know what would happen if a tungsten rod massing 1000kg slammed into the surface of Callisto at 15% of the speed of light? Given that there is a subsurface ocean what would the impact look like from afar, say half a million kms? Would there be a blinding light and steam and ejecta?
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I think it would evaporate instantly. – Some Student May 13 '21 at 14:19
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1Just so nobody else does the same calculation: KE of tungsten rod ≈ $10^{18}$ J; binding energy of Callisto ≈ $2 \times 10^{29}$ J. So we're not talking moon-shattering effects, at least. – Michael Seifert May 13 '21 at 14:33
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1Also, for comparison, the yield of Tsar Bomba was about $2 \times 10^{17}$ J according to Wikipedia. But that was detonated in atmosphere, so I would expect the results to be different if a comparable amount of energy was suddenly delivered to the surface of Callisto. – Michael Seifert May 13 '21 at 14:37
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1see https://what-if.xkcd.com/1/ – Carl Witthoft May 13 '21 at 14:48
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3I’m voting to close this question because story-based what-if scenarios like this are more suitable for [worldbuilding.se] – StephenG - Help Ukraine May 13 '21 at 17:26
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1Link to question on WorldBuilding.SE – Michael Seifert May 13 '21 at 19:32
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Related: https://physics.stackexchange.com/q/612624/59023 – honeste_vivere Jun 29 '21 at 14:04