Curious layman Posted January 4, 2021 Posted January 4, 2021 Been reading about kinetic energy weapons, and it got me thinking, say a 200 tonne passenger jet crashed into London at Mach 8, what would the resulting explosion/shock wave be like. Would it have the potential to flatten London, or would it be just a big ball of flames? Also, during the planes descent, would it speed up due to gravity or slow down due to a loss of thrust and friction?
J.C.MacSwell Posted January 4, 2021 Posted January 4, 2021 On 1/4/2021 at 1:11 AM, Curious layman said: Also, during the planes descent, would it speed up due to gravity or slow down due to a loss of thrust and friction? Expand Mach 8 is going to be above the terminal velocity, so assuming it's no longer is powered, it will be slowing down regardless of angle of descent. 1
swansont Posted January 4, 2021 Posted January 4, 2021 On 1/4/2021 at 1:11 AM, Curious layman said: Been reading about kinetic energy weapons, and it got me thinking, say a 200 tonne passenger jet crashed into London at Mach 8, what would the resulting explosion/shock wave be like. Would it have the potential to flatten London, or would it be just a big ball of flames? Also, during the planes descent, would it speed up due to gravity or slow down due to a loss of thrust and friction? Expand The kinetic energy would be 1/2 mv^2 Mach 8 is 2744 m/s If that's at elevation, yes there will be more energy owing to the potential energy, but it's 2 x 10^6 joules/meter, which is small compared to the KE and, as you say, some will be lost to air resistance 7.5 x 10^11 Joules, or 0.18 kilotons of TNT equivalent, or ~1/83 of the Hiroshima bomb yield 1
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