The 1908 Tunguska Explosion

A detailed Summary of The 1908 Tunguska Explosion

Not much is known about the Tunguska explosion and many scientists have different opinions and theories about what could have caused such mass destruction. Pictures or painting of the event are unavailable because of the isolated area and early date of this occurrence. We should thank the Russian scientists for recording eyewitness stories and descriptions, for which we can each, infer and judge what really happened.

June 30, 1908; 7:17 AM - seismic vibrations were recorded as much as 1000 km by early instruments while the fiery cloud of debris and "deafening bangs" could be seen and heard nearly 500 km away. Information recorded by onlookers and witnesses reveal that a group of reindeer herders, approximately 60 km away from Ground Zero, were propelled into the air and some were even knocked unconscious from the explosion. Among the few deaths, one of the reindeer herders was blown into the air and hit a tree, hence dying from severe trauma.

Witnesses from a nearby town Kirensk described the event:

"A ball of fire...coming down obliquely. A few minutes later [we heard] separate deafening crash like peals of thunder...followed by eight loud bangs like gunshots."

A Russian fiction writer, A. Kasantsev, published in 1946 a story about a possible explanation for the explosion. Mr. Kasantsev believed that a nuclear powered alien spacecraft exploded in the Tunguska area while on a mission investigate the planet. Furthermore, this unrealistic theory paved the way for many more reasonable ones. Some theorized that a black hole caused the explosion, some though anti-matter was involved. Modern research concluded that in fact a meteor or comet did cause the explosion in midair, but never collided with Earth. The explanation for no visible debris includes that it vaporized, melted (if it was an icy comet), or was simply looked over.

"Above central Siberia on June 30, 1908, at approximately 7:17 AM local time, a small comet entered the atmosphere from behind the sun and moved in a southeast to northwest direction. The comet was composed of about 30,000 tons of water, methane, and ammonia ice with traces of silicates and iron oxides. Penetrating the atmosphere at approximately 60 km/sec (130,000 mph), the object created an intense shock wave, which wrapped tightly around its nose. As it descended that sunny morning, its nucleus exploded (possibly 3 times) approximately 8 km above the Earth's surface. A huge black cloud immediately appeared following the explosion, which released 1023 ergs of energy. A heat wave with a temperature of approximately 16.6 million degrees Celsius at the focus was generated that had a tree-scorching effect for a radius of 15 km. The heat wave was followed by air shock waves, which disfigured or toppled 80 million trees occupying approximately 8000 km2 of Siberian taiga (a radius of 30 km), and initiated a seismic wave of Richter magnitude 5, but, to our astonishment, left no crater. The dust from the tail of the comet moved away from the sun and provided anomalously bright night sky in Europe and parts of Western Russia. No trace of the comet itself was found except for tiny magnetite and silicate globules. The principal consequences were fear and awe amon

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Approximate Word count = 1368
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: Science