Re: deep water = less ejecta?

[Mike Habib <habib@jhmi.edu>]

On Jan 27, 2008, at 9:16 PM, don ohmes wrote:

> Anyhow, what I was thinking re impactors is that the rock vapor  
> fraction of the ejecta will have a much higher 'boiling point' and  
> change phase fairly quickly, therefore carrying further and cooling  
> more slowly (due to geometry and density) than the water fraction  
> which as a vapor will lack momentum and dissipate it's heat quickly.  
> But whatever. It is out of my depth, anyway (pun intended).
>
> Don


Oh, I see what you're saying.  It would indeed seem as if the timing  
of state changes could affect inertial components and thus dispersal  
distance.  It's not my area of expertise, either, so I can't really  
comment on that aspect with much confidence.  There's the added factor  
that the heat capacities will change as the ejecta cool, so the  
overall heat loss curves are non-linear, which makes things rather  
more complicated (as if they weren't messy enough...)

Cheers,

--Mike


Michael Habib, M.S.
PhD. Candidate
Center for Functional Anatomy and Evolution
Johns Hopkins School of Medicine
1830 E. Monument Street
Baltimore, MD 21205
(443) 280-0181
habib@jhmi.edu