Colossal Collisions 

What are the effects of this asteroid collision and how can we prevent a future one? These students claim 
that a barrier can help knock an asteroid from hitting earth. 
 
By: Isabella O’Campo November 26, 2018 
 
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Sacramento, CA​- Earth has been around for a long time and has had many things 
happen to it. One of the biggest events that have happened is the extinction of 
dinosaurs. We all know that every last living thing went extinct because of an asteroid. 
The same thing is going to happen to us. How? Well in about 42 days, an asteroid is 
going to hit the earth at a speed of 103,450 km/h. This asteroid is called Etiam. It is 78 
km long, 20 km wide, and has a mass of 6,890,000,000,000,000 kg. (​ Stanford NGSS 
Integrated Curriculum 2018) T ​ his asteroid has a large mass, it is going to be hard to 
either destroy or move. If we create something that has more mass than Etiam, there is 
a possible chance that we could successfully save Earth.​(Stanford NGSS Integrated 
Curriculum 2018) I​ f this asteroid hits Earth we will all instantly or slowly die. 
 
What are the effects of this asteroid collision and how can we prevent a future one? 
 
 We can protect Earth from this asteroid because we have evidence of the first 
asteroid collision. My first piece of evidence to support this statement is was in 
Resource Card 1. I found a picture with different layers with several different types of 
fossils. (​Pathwayz.org)​ As I was observing the picture, I noticed that there was a red 
line and under that red line there were more fossils than over the red line. After doing 
research, I figured out that the red line is called the KT boundary. The KT boundary is a 
thin clay line which is in between the Mesozoic and the Cenozoic era. It is the moment 
where the asteroid hit an all organisms slowly dying.  
 
The second piece of evidence that I have is when I was watching the video ​“The 
Day the Mesozoic Died.”​ It explained how most sedimentary rocks have darker and 
lightyear layers. When you go to a mountain or fairly large sedimentary rock, there is the 
KT boundary somewhere there. The clay line that separates the time period where 
dinosaurs and mammals lived.  
 
“The Day the Mesozoic Died”​ makes this list of evidence again claiming that 
when quartz is stuck with a lot of pressure, it becomes shocked. This happens because 
the structure of the crystal becomes deformed. 
 
The asteroid that killed all of the dinosaurs wasn’t the only asteroid that hit Earth. 
February 2013 was the year that an asteroid called ​Chelyabinsk ​hit Russia. It wasn’t as 
big as Etiam, but had a mass of 10,000,000 kg and was going 60,000 to 90,000 km/h. I 
know that Etiam collision will be more destructive because of its huge size in mass. The 
bigger the mass the more kinetic energy. The more kinetic energy means that the 
asteroid will have more speed. The greater the speed an object is going it is going to do 
more damage. For example, if you pass a soccer ball to someone, it won’t hurt at all. If 
you kick a soccer ball at someone it going to hurt more. 
 

 
 

Rubber Band Test  Tape Wall Test 

 
    

Tape Wall and Spoon Test  Spoon Test 

 
The first figure, Rubber Bands, is just a bunch of rubber bands that are around the 
bottom of the ramp. This knocks the ball of course which is an act of Newton’s First 
Law. The ball was going in a straight line until it knocked off course. It worked but 
sometimes it can get really close to the pennies. This isn’t good because if Earth has a 
bigger mass than Etiam, Earth will pull it into our atmosphere. The second figure, Tape 
Wall, had to be the most successful. It worked every time because Newton’s Third Law 
helped with this. The ball was rolling until it came in contact with the wall. It then rolled 
back a little while the tape wall was being pushed back a little bit each time. The third 
figure was just like the Tape Wall except it had a spoon incorporated. It would act with 
Newton’s Third Law. Just like the Tape Wall, the ball was rolling until it came in contact 
with the wall. It then rolled back a little while the tape and spoon were being pushed 
back a little bit each time. The last figure was the Spoon. The spoon was definitely an 
act of Newton’s First Law. It first was rolling in a straight line. That was until the spoon 
guided the ball off its course, going to the right around the pennies. We tested each 
figure about five times. The only thing that we changed during each test, was the ball 
that was going down the ramp and the pennies were the only thing that we did not 
change. After each test we recorded all the data such as did any of the pennies move, 
how many pennies are still in both stacks, and how far were the pennies moved if any 
were moved? After testing all of our experiments, all of them were successful meaning 
that none of the pennies were knocked, moved, or touched during testing. 
 
My partners and I have concluded that the Tape Wall could stop Etiam from 
continuing its path. We would make a barrier just like the tape wall in space around the 
part of Earth facing asteroid belt. To test this solution we first put four textbooks on top 
of each other. We placed a ramp on the top of the of the textbooks. Next we kind of took 
tape and made it look like a wall. We placed two stacks of 20 pennies, which 
represented Earth, about one foot from the bottom of the ramp. We used a bouncy ball, 
Etiam, and start to roll it down the ramp (making sure that it rolled down smoothly). We 
just let the ball roll and recorded what happens. We tested this about five times and we 
found that it was successful every time. The ball would stop every time because the 
wall was in the way of the ball’s path. This is an act of Newton’s First Law. Newton's 
First Law claims that every object will remain at rest or in motion in a straight line 
unless compelled to change its state by an external force. The tape wall act relates to 
the first law because the ball was moving in a straight line, that was until the the wall 
completely stopped the ball every time. 
 
This would be a great choice to use but 
there are some constraints into making this 
design. One of the huge constraints is money 
and time. Tied in with time is who would take the 
time to do this. There is also materials and the 
space that we need. There is a lot of room in 
space but it would float off in space because of 
the lack of gravity. Once we know that the 
asteroid has not hit Earth or has been knocked 
off course, then we know that our plan worked.