Supplemental section of the file (for printing purposes, starts at p. 102)

Asteroid  Pole Reversal

Asteroid strike causes pole reversal

In general most impacts are too small to affect the Earth’s magnetic pole. It has been theorized that a massive deep impact might shift the Earth’s magnetic pole and may produce a pole reversal.2,19 Earth has undergone magnetic pole reversals in the past and a large impact might trigger this type of effect. The Earth’s magnetic pole deflects cosmic radiation. When the magnetic pole is weak or non-existent, such as at the mid-point of a pole reversal, charged particles from space can penetrate to the Earth’s surface.19 This cosmic radiation can cause direct harm to life on the planet and can also produce genetic damage in living creatures.

Asteroid Impact- Energy

The energy of asteroid hitting is bigger than all other possible strikes.

Nick Strobel's Astronomy Notes 10, phD in Astronomy, BS Astronomy and Physics, and MS in Astronomy, “Effect of an Asteroid Impact on Earth”, June 4 2010, June 21, 2011, http://www.astronomynotes.com/solfluf/s5.htm,AR
Obviously, something this big hitting the Earth is going to hit with a lot of energy! Let's use the energy unit of 1 megaton of TNT (=4.2× 1015 Joules) to describe the energy of the impact. This is the energy one million tons of dynamite would release if it was exploded and is the energy unit used for nuclear explosions. The largest yield of a thermonuclear warhead is around 50--100 megatons. The kinetic energy of the falling object is converted to the explosion when it hits. The 10-kilometer object produces an explosion of 6 × 10⁷ megatons of TNT (equivalent to an earthquake of magnitude 12.4 on the Richter scale). The 1-kilometer object produces a milder explosion of "only" 6 × 10⁴ megatons (equivalent to an earthquake of magnitude 9.4 on the Richter scale). On its way to the impact, the asteroid pushes aside the air in front of it creating a hole in the atmosphere. The atmosphere above the impact site is removed for several tens of seconds. Before the surrounding air can rush back in to fill the gap, material from the impact: vaporized asteroid, crustal material, and ocean water (if it lands in the ocean), escapes through the hole and follows a ballistic flight back down. Within two minutes after impact, about 105 cubic kilometers of ejecta (1013 tons) is lofted to about 100 kilometers. If the asteroid hits the ocean, the surrounding water returning over the the hot crater floor is vaporized (a large enough impact will break through to the hot lithosphere and maybe the even hotter asthenosphere), sending more water vapor into the air as well as causing huge steam explosions that greatly compound the effect of the initial impact explosion. There will be a crater regardless of where it lands. The diameter of the crater in kilometers is = (energy of impact)(1/3.4)/106.77. Plugging in the typical impact values, you get a 150-kilometer diameter crater for the 10-kilometer asteroid and a 20-kilometer diameter crater for the 1-kilometer asteroid. The initial blast would also produce shifting of the crust along fault lines.

Asteroid  EMP

Asteroid strike causes EMP

Marusek ‘7 (James, nuclear physicist & engineer, American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, “Comet and Asteroid Threat Impact Analysis,” http://www.aero.org/conferences/planetarydefense/2007papers/P4-3--Marusek-Paper.pdf)

An Electro-Magnetic Pulse (EMP) is produced by a nuclear explosion. Analogously an EMP may be generated from the energy release from an asteroid/comet impact. Of the impact effects described within this paper, this effect is theoretical and has the least level of certainty attached. If this effect materializes, I would expect a high altitude bolide explosion to produce an EMP to a far greater range than a surface impact. If an EMP is produced, the pulse would occur almost instantaneously at time of impact. This pulse would be typically of a very short duration, approximately 1 μs and is caused by the Compton-recoil electrons and photoelectrons from photons scattered in the surrounding medium. The resulting electric and magnetic fields may couple with electrical/electronic systems to produce damaging current and voltage surges. This pulse is not harmful to humans but it is deadly to electronics, especially transistors, semiconductors and computer chips. The scope of this effect has been only minimally studied. Comparing a surface impact to a nuclear weapon EMP can provide a crude measurement of the effective range of this effect. A ground-level nuclear explosion will produce a Source Region Electro-Magnetic Pulse [SREMP] as far as the distance at which the peak overpressure is 2-psi. The types of equipment damaged or destroyed by an EMP includes: • Energy Infrastructure: electrical power grids, power generating stations, the control systems in nuclear power plants, charge controllers & voltage converters in solar & wind generating electrical systems, oil and gas delivery systems, advance computer control systems. • Communications Infrastructure: television and radio broadcasting facilities, radios, cell phones, televisions, computers and networks, Internet, digital telephone switching systems, commercial telephones, microwave and satellite communications, police scanners. • Automobiles – cars manufactured after 1985 contained a variety of electronics including engine computers, electronic ignition, fuel injection systems, anti-lock breaking systems, electronic automatic transmissions, computer controlled active suspension, and four wheel steering. • Transportation Infrastructure: other forms of transportation (airplanes, buses, trucks, rail, ships), road and rail signaling, gasoline pumps, global positioning systems, radar systems, navigational aids. • Economic Infrastructure: automated machinery, banking, finance industry, stock market, computer systems in factories and offices, inventory maintenance, medical pumps and monitors, medical systems, government and corporate databases, electronic controllers used in manufacturing, chemical, petroleum product industries and metallurgical industries. Long conductors such as power lines, communication cables, radio towers, railroad tracks, large antennas, pipes, cables, metal fencing and the electronic equipment attached to them are particularly susceptible to EMP. B. Ionizing Radiation Large quantities of ionizing radiation will be produced by the impact and can severely change the environment of the upper atmosphere, producing heavily ionized regions, which can disrupt electromagnetic waves passing through those zones. The trapping mechanism for these high-energy electrons may be similar to that which produces the Van Allen radiation belts. This radiation will cause significant interruption of communications. This will interfere with all surviving telephone, television, computer and radio traffic. There will be so much static in the signal that it will be almost unintelligible. For a large impact, these disturbed regions can easily be global in size and can persist for tens of hours. This could essentially temporarily shut down all worldwide communications. C. Electromagnetic Bursters An impact can produce phantom sounds similar to a crackling or clicking sound. These strange sounds can be heard by one individual and yet another individual a few feet away will hear nothing. These sounds are commonly called electrophonic bursters. These sounds occur instantaneously at impact. It is theorized these sounds come from very low frequency (VLF) radio waves at frequencies of 10 hertz to 30 hertz that are produced during impact. These radio waves require a suitable transducer that will act as a loudspeaker to convert the electromagnetic signals into audible vibrations. Several items have been shown to work including aluminum foil, thin wires, pine needles, dry frizzy hair, and even a pair of eyeglasses.17 In another theory, they are caused by the generation of short-lived transient pulses in electric field strength.18

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