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Re: (meteorobs) How much energy does a meteor emit?

Bill,

Speaking of energy emitted... heres what we're talking about on our 
meteorobs newsgroup.  The ESTIMATED energy release during ablation
of a meteoroid...

jose


>From: Lew Gramer <dedalus@latrade.com>
>Reply-To: meteorobs@jovian.com
>To: Meteor Observing Mailing List <meteorobs@jovian.com>
>CC: Roy Tucker <tucker@noaodot edu>, Alan W Harris 
><awharris@lithos.jpl.nasadot gov>
>Subject: Re: (meteorobs) How much energy does a meteor emit?
>Date: Tue, 23 Jan 2001 16:21:48 -0500
>
>
>And here's a follow up with yet another "wowie" fact along the same lines! 
>:)
>
>Note that NEITHER Roy nor Alan are currently on our 'meteorobs' list...
>
>Clear skies,
>Lew Gramer
>
>------- Forwarded Message
>
>Date: Wed, 28 Oct 1998 15:54:18 +0000
>To: Roy Tucker <tucker@noaodot edu>
>From: "Alan W. Harris" <awharris@lithos.jpl.nasadot gov>
>Subject: Re: Halley's Comet Returns In Bits And Pieces
>Cc: mplist@bitnik.com
>
>At 04:09 PM 10/28/98 -0700, Roy Tucker wrote:
> >     The thought crossed my mind that some folks might not have a good
> >feeling for how much energy 8,000 joules is. This little ten milligram 
>dust
> >grain moving at 40 kilometers per second has enough energy to lift one
> >metric ton a distance of about 0.8 meters or about 32 inches.
>
>Perhaps a more relevant comparison is to note that one watt is a joule per
>second.  So 8,000 joules is like an 8 KW light for one second, or an 80 KW
>light for 0.1 second.  A typical meteor going that speed flashes for only a
>few tenths of a second, so its peak luminosity would be like a ~20 KW
>light.  Pretty easy to see from quite a distance, in a dark sky.  There is
>a factor of "luminous efficiency" to consider, but that is about the same
>for a meteor as for an incandescent lightbulb, so the comparison to a 20 KW
>light bulb is probably not bad.  I have to confess I've never seen a 20 KW
>lightbulb for sale, but I expect it would really light up your living room
>if you could find one.
>
>Cheers,
>
>Alan Harris
>
>------- End of Forwarded Message
>
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