Thursday, May 17, 2012

Is It Possible??

Here’s where I need to be really careful.  Not in what’s been going on with “The Grove” and “Nike” and Mr Pacquiao, but with something else.
If you recall, I wrote a while back that I don’t use the word “impossible” easily.  Granted, I have used it before, albeit sparingly.  The reason is simple in that many things are indeed possible in theory and on paper.
The odds of a black hole being created by the LHC and swallowing up the Earth?  Yes, it is theoretically possible; however the odds against it happening are somewhere along the lines of 1 to 55 or 60 million against.  Yes, it is statistically possible.  But to be honest, I really don’t lose any sleep worrying about it and I’m guessing that you don’t either. 
But I was listening to an old Coast to Coast AM last night (one that I legally downloaded as a streamlink member) and the guest said something that was just wrong.
It was said, if I remember it properly, by Glenn Kimball.  Mr Kimball said that the lost civilization of Atlantis might have been destroyed when an object (asteroid, comet) struck the Earth.  In this part, that could easily have been.  Earth has been struck many times by asteroids and comets and meteors.  Meteor Crater, Arizona was created when a (you guessed it!) meteor hit the Earth.
The K-T Event of 65 million years ago was a 6km asteroid striking the Earth and wiping out the dinosaurs, as well as about 50% of all life on the Earth.  So the first part of what Mr Kimball said is entirely possible.
Where it breaks down however, is when he estimated the size of the object that would have hit.  He estimated the size of said object to be 1/7 or 1/8th the size of the Earth.
However, that simply cannot be.  That is the part that is impossible.  The impactor in the K-T Event, an asteroid 6km across, blasted out the Chicxulub Crater(*) which is 110 miles across!
A strike by an object 1/7 or 1/8th the size of the Earth wouldn’t have simply wiped out Atlantis, it would have completely wiped out the Human race.  Indeed, there is speculation that it would wipe out nearly all life on Earth.
I will grant Mr Kimball something, however.  There is a possible impact event which would account for the Biblical Flood.  It is the Burckle Crater(**) and an impact both in the region and of the size hypothesized could cause the Flood and possibly wipe out Atlantis.

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