Page 72 - The Day of Judgment

70 THE DAY OF JUDGMENT

This is only one of the possibilities that would end with
destruction. As a natural consequence of this process, the disaster
issuing from the Sun is an unavoidable end. In addition, research
reveals many other factors that could destroy Earth.

METEORS

The universe contains millions of moving large and small
meteors. The consequences of a collision between these and a planet
vary, according to the mass of the meteor involved.
Scientists estimate that 1,000 tons to more than 10,000 tons of
meteoritic material falls on the Earth each day. However, most of
this material is very tiny—in the form of micrometeoroids or dust-
like grains a few micrometers in size. 20 And most of the rest is
reduced to ash partly because of the friction they encounter upon
entering the atmosphere. In other words, Earth's atmosphere
protects us from possible catastrophes day after day. Somewhat
distressingly, however, some meteors are large enough to destroy
all life on Earth. Scientists have shown that meteor strikes in Earth's
past have altered its geological and ecological landscape
significantly.
One meteorite, estimated to have a diameter of 60 kms (37 miles),
exploded in the atmosphere above Tunguska in Siberia in 1908 and
2
destroyed some 2,000 km (770 square miles) of forest. Its explosive
force was 1,000 times more powerful than the atom bomb dropped
on Hiroshima. Fortunately, it exploded above a largely uninhabited
area. If it had exploded above the Eiffel tower, it probably would
have killed over 10 million people. 21
This event brought home to people the great threat of
catastrophic natural disasters. This is how it happened: