Most geologists believe that the dinosaurs became extinct 65 million years ago when a large comet or asteroid struck the earth, throwing up so much dust that the sun was blocked out for a period of many months. Suppose an asteroid with a diameter of 2.0 km and a mass of 1.0 × 10¹³ kg hits the earth (6.0 × 10²⁴ kg) with an impact speed of 4.0 × 10⁴ m/s.
a. What is the earth’s recoil speed after such a collision? (Use a reference frame in which the earth was initially at rest.)
b. What percentage is this of the earth’s speed around the sun?
The earth orbits the sun at a distance of 1.5 × 10¹¹ m.