this post was submitted on 15 Feb 2025
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Science Memes
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Why explode, the car didn't accelerate or interact with the continent
Even ignoring the tires interacting with the road, you have air molecules. I don't think that would be enough to destroy a continent, but it would be very destructive.
Here is a cool What If? from xkcd about throwing a baseball at 0.9c.
Sound like a ton worth of mass would do a lot of damage indeed
Wow, that seems to be the very first What If ever!
For the same reason this baseball causes an expanding plasma-ball disintegrating everything. Fusion with air molecules that can't get out of the way fast enough https://what-if.xkcd.com/1/