Video Shows How Killer Asteroid Destroys Earth When It Hits At Speed Of Light

A simulation video showed exactly what would happen if an asteroid traveling at a speed of light collides with Earth. As seen in the clip, the impact would create a massive explosion that would incinerate the entire planet.

In a video simulation released by the Space Sim YouTube channel, a relatively large asteroid can be seen hurtling towards Earth. According to the YouTube channel, the video showed a simulation of what would happen to Earth if an asteroid moving at a speed of light hits it.

As seen in the 3-minute clip, the initial impact of the asteroid caused a massive amount of debris from Earth to fly out into space. Then, the explosion from the impact event can be seen as it spreads across the surface of the planet.

Due to the velocity of the asteroid and its size, it created a huge explosion that crept across the Earth’s surface, eventually engulfing the whole planet. Based on the level of destruction shown in the video, it would be safe to say that the impact event could wipe out almost all life on Earth.

Of course, in the world of physics, an object traveling at the speed of light is impossible because the only thing that can travel this fast is light itself. But, for the purpose of exploring the possibility of such an event, various experts on the matter discussed what would happen to Earth if it gets hit by an asteroid traveling at light speed.

“Anything traveling close to the speed of light has an incredibly large amount of energy,” Simon Hudson, a physics and chemistry post-graduate from the University of Hull in England posted on Quora.

“Transfer this energy in the collision to the other object and things get very messy, very bright and lots of new bits of matter and exotic particles leave the scene at or close to the speed of light,” he added. “And everyone nearby dies.”

Another Quora user noted that the resulting impact from the asteroid strike, no matter how small the space rock is, would be powerful enough to wipe out life on Earth and push the planet out of its orbit.

“If hypothetically a meteorite could travel at the speed of light and retain its mass, a meteor the size and weight of a full Coke can would make a hole 300 miles in diameter, kill all [life on Earth] and push our planet out of its current orbit around the Sun,” user Stone McKenna posted.