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Did the NEO reported a few days before the earthquake in Haiti contribute to the tectonic disruption?

If so, shouldn't more attention be paid to cataloging these (near earth) objects within the known asteroid belt including the areas around Saturn and even as far out to Neptune?

9 Answers

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  • 1 decade ago
    Favorite Answer

    No. From memory that object was tiny - few tens of metres across. That is much too small to have any effect whatsoever. The tidal effects of the Moon every day are almost infinitely greater.

  • RickB
    Lv 7
    1 decade ago

    We SHOULD pay attention to NEO's, for the sake of predicting COLLISIONS. But they have essentially zero effect on us as long as they stay in space.

    I did a calculation to make the point. If we assume the reported NEO weighs a million tons (probably an overestimate, given its small size) then during its closest approach to earth (about 80,000 miles) it exerts a gravitational tidal acceleration on the earth in the amount of 8 × 10^-22 m/sec². This is many, many orders of magnitude smaller than the effect of (say) a mosquito flying at ground level over Haiti.

  • Roger
    Lv 7
    1 decade ago

    Absolutely not, the gravity from the NEO is too small to have cause the earthquake. Now if a NEO of a few hundred meters or so hits the Earth well that's a different story...

  • Anonymous
    1 decade ago

    Absolutely. The peak tidal force of it was mind-staggering 800 billion times weaker than tidal force of the moon. It sure must cause Earthquakes, if the moon can't be the cause (because the Earthquakes caused by tides are weaker and have a different signature as Earthquakes caused by tectonic tensions).

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  • Anonymous
    1 decade ago

    It's more likely that I caused the earthquake in Haiti when I stubbed my toe on the carpet in Washington that day. I'm pretty sure the NEO had less effect than I did.

  • 1 decade ago

    Within the last seven days there have been 958 earthquakes in or near the USA including Puerto Rico, do you think a NEO caused those also?

  • ?
    Lv 7
    1 decade ago

    No. NEOs pass the Earth several times a year and have no measurable effect on the Earth.

  • Anonymous
    1 decade ago

    No. It would take an object with enough mass/gravity to cause disruption on a global scale.

  • 1 decade ago

    The gravity from one ship in the harbor would have 100's of times more effect.

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