Boy struck by Meteorite and survives

[Shojin]

Thought this was pretty interesting.

A teenager was hit by a meteorite travelling at 30,000mph - and lived to tell the tale.

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."

Scientists are now studying the pea-sized meteorite, which crashed to Earth in Essen in Germany.

Chemical tests on the rock have now proved it is from outer space.

Ansgar Korte, director of Germany's Walter Hohmann Observatory, said: "It's a real meteorite, therefore it is very valuable to collectors and scientists."

Chances of being struck by a meteorite are around one in 100 million.

Mr Korte said: "Most meteorites don't actually make it to ground level because they evaporate in the atmosphere.

"Of those that do get through, about six out of every seven of them land in water."

There is only one other known case of a human being surviving a direct hit from a meteor.

A grapefruit-sized meteor crashed through the roof of a house in Alabama, in the USA, in 1954.

After smashing through the top of the building, it bounced off furniture and then hit a woman who was asleep at the time.

Boy Hit By Meteorite Travelling At 30,000mph - Yahoo! News UK

Natural selection almost got him.

[Gunitsoldier]

I wanted to post a CERTAIN WORD here but I guess I won't. (lame)

Kid's lucky , cool story he can tell when he meets ppl tho.

Hi i'm Gerrit, I got struck by a meteorite.

[Beckwin]

Creationism.

[Sol-Blackguy]

12/12/2012 having a warm up?

[Beckwin]

Only a just, loving Christian God would be able to spare that boy's life, who otherwise would've been selected by nature to die.

[AoE]

http://www.dreamagic.com/roger/meteorMan.gif

[Woozie]

http://www.dreamagic.com/roger/meteorMan.gif

Beat me to it D:

[Eratosthenes]

Phil Plait explains why this story is probably bullshit.

[Conrad]

If the meteorite was able to bounce off of his hand with just a scar, wouldn't it have either gone through his hand or broke a bone to still be able to make a foot-long crater in the ground?

[Correction]

Read the link Eratosthenes just posted. It casts doubt that the OP link is telling a complete picture but offers a possible explanation how it still might be a meteorite and how the kid got a scar from it landing near him.

[Conrad]

I didn't click the link before posting, but I appreciate your concern towards my literacy.

[Blarg]

Shouldn't the odds be much lower than 1:100 million

[Plow]

Shouldn't the odds be much lower than 1:100 million

~70 people in the world right now are going to get hit with meteorites at some point by that stat, I have no idea if that's accurate or not, but I would think we would hear about it a bit more often if that were the case...


Especially since this is BG and there's 15 "x person died" threads for every "survival story," and obviously the vast majority of people that get hit by meteorites are gonna die.

[Woozie]

~70 people in the world right now are going to get hit with meteorites at some point by that stat, I have no idea if that's accurate or not, but I would think we would hear about it a bit more often if that were the case...

Only one person in recorded history has ever been hit by a meteor. So the odds are 1 in <however many people have ever lived>

[Priran]

Ansgar Korte, director of Germany's Walter Hohmann Observatory, said: "It's a real meteorite, therefore it is very valuable to collectors and scientists."

how about you give it to the kid who got his hand mangled, dickface

[Priran]

Ansgar Korte, director of Germany's Walter Hohmann Observatory, said: "It's a real meteorite, therefore it is very valuable to collectors and scientists."

or you could just let the kid have it, dickface

[Komm Suesser Tod]

or you could just let the kid have it, dickface

However, my friend the Dutch science writer Govert Schilling talked to Kortem who is claiming he never saw the meteorite and was misquoted. Interesting. While this doesn’t negate the story, it does cast some doubt on it.

That's from the other article about it.

Also, seems to me like if a three inch scar is what you consider mangled, then I have been thoroughly maimed many times over.

[Odon]

There is no fucking way a meteorite going 30,000 MPH would just bounce off his hand and then make an impact crater physics don't work like that son. Shit should have blown his hand to bits.

[altwight]

his hand would have exploded

[Heavencloud]

There is no fucking way a meteorite going 30,000 MPH would just bounce off his hand and then make an impact crater physics don't work like that son. Shit should have blown his hand to bits.

http://www.lambofgod.ca/images/banner08.gif