Imagine a giant asteroid hurtling toward Earth, just like the one that wiped out the dinosaurs 65 million years ago. Would you survive such a cataclysmic event? In this video, we'll explore what it would take to make it through the massive explosion, firestorms, and global darkness that followed. Could modern technology and our survival instincts help us outlast the dinosaurs, or would we face the same fate? Get ready to dive into a world-ending scenario and see if you'd have what it takes to survive. It's time to find out if you're tough enough to withstand the ultimate test of survival!
00:00Around 66 million years ago, dinosaurs disappeared from the Earth.
00:07Except for the ones that eventually turned into birds.
00:10Suddenly, the Earth went from the age of dinosaurs to the age of mammals.
00:15Scientists have special names for these time periods.
00:18The Cretaceous and Paleogene.
00:21And the event itself is called the KPG, or KT extinction.
00:25Picture this dramatic moment in Earth's history.
00:31It happened in the blink of an eye.
00:33A colossal asteroid as big as Mount Everest, and traveling at lightning speed, slammed into Earth.
00:42It crashed down in what we now call Southern Mexico, at a place known as the Chicxulub Crater.
00:50The impact was gigantic.
00:52Everything close to it was instantly vaporized, creating an enormous burst of energy.
00:59One of the most powerful in billions of years.
01:02Nothing could survive near the crash site.
01:05As the fiery aftermath cooled, the Earth's surface went haywire.
01:09The ground twisted and trembled, causing unbelievable earthquakes.
01:14The continent started to literally bounce.
01:17Then, the ocean floor got all stirred up, provoking the gigantic tsunami.
01:22Massive waves surged inland around the Gulf of Mexico.
01:26The debris that got blasted into the sky, started falling back to Earth like a rainstorm.
01:32Even if you weren't close to the huge pieces falling in Mexico, you'd still get hit by smaller, super-hot bits flying through the air.
01:40This heated up the atmosphere so much that forests all over the world burst into flames.
01:46The dinosaurs that lived far away from the impact area first felt a little rumble.
01:55Suddenly, the sky turned dark and gloomy, as if it was nighttime during the day.
02:00The temperatures dropped drastically, and this night during the day lasted for several weeks.
02:05And then, a blanket of ash started slowly covering the entire planet.
02:12Nasty things like carbon dioxide and bits of the sea floor started floating around in the air.
02:18This messed with the temperatures once again, making it swing wildly.
02:22The Earth was hot and cold at the same time.
02:26Nature was suffering.
02:28Forest fires, no sunlight, dangerous gases in the atmosphere.
02:32All this caused big problems for plant-eating dinosaurs.
02:37They started to vanish, and the meat-eaters were having a feast, but not for long.
02:42Soon enough, the whole food chain fell apart.
02:45This is when somewhere between 50 and 80 percent of dinosaurs said their final goodbyes.
02:51What's even sadder is that this number only counts the different types of dinosaurs.
02:56If we look at the number of individual dinosaur lives lost, it's even higher.
03:02Here's an interesting fact.
03:04If the asteroid had hit just 30 seconds earlier or later, landing in the Atlantic or Pacific rather than just off the coast of Mexico,
03:13we might have had some non-avian dinosaurs still around today.
03:17But the way it happened, the asteroid struck with a force equal to 10 billion Hiroshima's.
03:27But the only ones who made it were our mammalian ancestors.
03:31They were little shrew-like creatures who had super-fast energy systems, adaptable diets, or clever hiding spots.
03:38These early mammals survived because they were tiny and didn't need much food.
03:43We're incredibly lucky that they survived this chaos.
03:46They probably didn't even understand what was happening.
03:49They just noticed the horrible smell, huge bodies everywhere, acid rain and volcanoes erupting.
03:56So now that we know how terrible this event actually was, let's talk about a big question.
04:03Could we, modern humans, survive something like this?
04:07Well, it depends.
04:09Research from a different asteroid impact about 790,000 years ago suggests we could, but it wouldn't be easy.
04:20In that other event, a massive asteroid hit Earth once again.
04:26Just like with the Chicxulub asteroid, it sent debris into the atmosphere that covered a tenth of the planet's surface.
04:33Scientists found the pieces of that asteroid's impact, glassy rocks called tektites.
04:39They analyzed these rocks and discovered a rare mineral called rheodite.
04:44It requires extremely high pressure and temperatures to form.
04:48After studying it, scientists assumed that the impact happened in Southeast Asia, probably near Thailand.
04:55But strangely, they still haven't found the exact crater.
04:59But the main thing is, the asteroid collision did happen, and our ancestors were around during this.
05:06It surely got their attention.
05:08Even though they might not have fully grasped what was happening, the debris from this event would have caused significant climate changes.
05:15It's tough to understand how it affected our humans' evolution.
05:19All that we know is that we survived it.
05:25Currently, there are about 1,200 asteroids on a list of potential asteroid threats.
05:31But luckily, we're not in immediate danger.
05:34These asteroids are smaller than 0.6 miles in diameter.
05:38The chance of a massive asteroid like the one that hit Chicxulub between 3 to 9 miles wide striking Earth is incredibly low.
05:46Major events like this happen about once every 100 to 200 million years.
05:52On top of that, most asteroids are located between Mars and Jupiter and don't pose a threat to Earth.
06:00However, there are thousands of smaller asteroids that could potentially hit us.
06:05Most of these are small and burn up in the atmosphere, causing no harm.
06:09Some larger ones could damage buildings or cities, but wouldn't threaten all life on our blue planet.
06:15But what if a comet or a serious asteroid were to collide with Earth today?
06:23In that case, first of all, it could alter Earth's orbit.
06:27The initial energy released during an impact would cause a scorching blast wave of 570 degrees Fahrenheit.
06:35The fire would ignite vast areas of the Earth's surface.
06:38Then, it would cause a long-term impact on winter.
06:42The smoke from the megafires, along with dust and water vapor, would form a thick layer of clouds in the upper atmosphere.
06:49Just like with the dinosaur event, it would reduce sunlight and cause temperatures to drop for decades.
06:55Most plant life would die off within weeks.
06:58Large trees might survive for decades due to stored sugars and a slow metabolism.
07:03Beyond that, not much life would remain, except for microbes and smaller creatures.
07:09There are three possible strategies for humans to deal with all this mess.
07:16The best strategy is to prevent the impact in the first place.
07:19Scientists are already searching for asteroids that might cross Earth's path and discussing how to defend against them.
07:26One option is to use our biggest weapons to break up the asteroid into smaller pieces.
07:32These tiny pieces could miss Earth or burn up in our atmosphere.
07:37That would work for asteroids around 0.6 miles wide.
07:41However, this won't work for massive Chicxulub-sized asteroids.
07:45The amount of energy we'd need to destroy them exceeds our entire current arsenal.
07:51But, if we notice the asteroid early enough, maybe a series of blasts could change its course and save the day.
07:58And, according to the researchers, asteroids larger than 25 miles in size would be nearly impossible to stop with our current technology.
08:07Luckily, the chances of something like this hitting Earth are very tiny.
08:12But, okay, what if we can't prevent the impact?
08:18Here comes the second strategy.
08:20We'd have to go deep underground and create large bunkers.
08:24We know that many burrowing or deep-sea species survived the mass extinction 66 million years ago.
08:30So, these underground habitats could protect us from the direct impact effects like blasts and fires, as well as an impact winter.
08:39We'd have to harness the Earth's natural heat and live inside protective domes.
08:44They could be built in stable continental cores or deep beneath the oceans.
08:49We'd have some essential supplies like food, medicine, fuel, and water.
08:54Maybe even have some gene banks to preserve species.
08:57And the last strategy would be to copy the movie Don't Look Up and to ignore the problem until it's too late.
09:04We know that it would take collaboration among governments and institutions from many countries to design, build, and launch a series of devices into space in order to prevent the impact.
09:15If humanity will be able to pull that cooperation off, that would be a miracle.
09:21In any case, NASA takes the threat of asteroids pretty seriously.
09:25It has a well-thought-out plan involving early detection, assessment, deflection strategies, collaboration, public communication, and backup plans to protect Earth from these cosmic dangers.
09:37So we can only hope that if something like that happens, logic would prevail.
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