Impact energy420 sextillion J
724World energy years
781 quadrillionHighway car crashes
42 sextillionDoor slams
~100 teratons of TNT; 2 million times larger than the Tsar Bomba
Photo from Wikimedia Commons
Chicxulub Asteroid Impact
The 10 km rock that ended 165 million years of dinosaur dominance/Events & Phenomena
Approximately 66 million years ago, an asteroid roughly 10 km in diameter slammed into what is now the Yucatan Peninsula at about 20 km/s, releasing energy equivalent to 100 teratons of TNT. The impact created a crater 150 km wide, triggered mega-tsunamis over a kilometer tall, ignited global wildfires, and blotted out the sun with debris for months. It wiped out 75% of all species, including the non-avian dinosaurs. The silver lining: it cleared the way for mammals and eventually us.
Measurements
Crater diameter150,000 m
2,122Boeing 747 lengths
500,334Light-nanoseconds
~150 km across; the entire crater is buried under sediment today
Asteroid diameter10,000 m
10,000Guitar lengths
164Hockey rink lengths
Estimated 10-15 km; roughly the size of a large city
Impact speed20,000 m/s
741Falling cats
20.4SR-71 Blackbirds
~72,000 km/h; about 60 times the speed of sound
Estimated asteroid mass1 quadrillion kg
7.1 billionBlue whales
370 billionBlue whale tongues
490 millionSpace Shuttle launches
~1 quadrillion kg assuming ~2,600 kg/m³ density
Tsunami wave height (near field)1,500 m
1.81Burj Khalifas
517Condor wingspans
60,000Postage stamp widths
Estimated initial wave height near the impact site; ~1.5 km
Fireball temperature20,000 K
13.6Lava flows
64.2Cat body temperatures
Plasma fireball reached ~20,000 K at the impact site