Question:

Recently there has been a lot of hue and cry over the

Last updated: 7/10/2022

Recently there has been a lot of hue and cry over the

Recently there has been a lot of hue and cry over the possibility of an asteroid hitting the earth. NASA reports that it has spotted an asteroid Bennu which may possibly hit the earth somewhere in 22th century. The probability of its hitting the earth's surface is only one in 2000, yet social media sites are expert in spreading rumour about its possible impact Assume that it was at rest at a large distance from earth and it is moving only under the influence of earth's gravitational field. Neglect the influence of any other celestial body like sun, moon etc. on the asteroid or the earth. The size of Bennu is much smaller than earth. (Take: escape speed from earth's surface as 11 km/s.) If the asteroid were to hit the surface of the earth normally at the equator and gets embedded in the earth just below the surface, the duration of the day would become 30 hrs. What is the mass of the asteroid/mass of earth?