A teenager was hit by a meteorite travelling at 30,000mph - and lived to tell.
Gerrit Blank was on his way to school when he saw a massive fireball heading straight towards him from the sky.
The white-hot meteorite bounced off the schoolboy’s hand and hit the ground so hard it left a foot-long crater in the tarmac - as well as a three-inch scar on his hand.
Gerrit, 14, said: "At first I just saw a large ball of light and then I suddenly felt a pain in my hand.
“Then, a split second after that, there was an enormous bang like a crash of thunder.”
"The noise that came after the flash of light was so loud that my ears were ringing for hours afterwards.
“When it hit me it knocked me flying and then was still going fast enough to bury itself in the road.”
I was wondering that too. If it burrowed into the ground how did it not blow his hand off.
Also, they said he saw it coming, I would think that if you saw a bright thing falling from the sky you wouldn’t stand there staring at it… or well, maybe I would.
dude, just think about how faxt 30,000 miles per hour is. That thing went from atmosphere to earth FAST. He probably couldn’t even tell what altitude it was at or what speed. He probably looked up, saw a light in the sky, and BOOM mother fucker hit the ground
Young Gerritt has an active imagination. Why? His account is impossible. He could not have seen a meteoritic white ball of light in the day because meteorites flame out in the upper atmosphere FAR from where they land. ( think of the ones you have seen crossing the sky at night) A meteorite this small would not be glowing, it would NOT even be HOT by the time it reached the earth. It would be incapable of making a crater in the street because its maximum terminal velocity would only be 56 to 104 km per hr (closer to 56). It would be impossible (1) to graze the back side of his hand and (2) make a mark this wide and long. (Look at the photo and try to align your backhand to an imaginary flight path while keeping the rest of your body out of the way) However, I can understand why a 14 year old might need a ‘special’ explanation to parents and teachers for a burn the size of a cigarette.
lol… mom you know how you burned me with your cigarette? Well i told the teacher that it was a meteorite, can I have some food now?
