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Experimental study on the collisional disruption of porous gypsum spheres
Author(s) -
Okamoto Chisato,
Arakawa Masahiko
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
meteoritics and planetary science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.09
H-Index - 100
eISSN - 1945-5100
pISSN - 1086-9379
DOI - 10.1111/j.1945-5100.2009.tb02004.x
Subject(s) - gypsum , porosity , spheres , materials science , planetesimal , porous medium , mineralogy , sodium nitrate , asteroid , composite material , geology , physics , solar system , metallurgy , astrobiology , astronomy
— In order to study the catastrophic disruption of porous bodies such as asteroids and planetesimals, we conducted several impact experiments using porous gypsum spheres (porosity: 50%). We investigated the fragment mass and velocity of disrupted gypsum spheres over a wide range of specific energies from 3 times 10 3 J/kg to 5 times 10 4 J/kg. We compared the largest fragment mass ( m 1 / M t ) and the antipodal velocity ( V a ) of gypsum with those of non‐porous materials such as basalt and ice. The results showed that the impact strength of gypsum was notably higher than that of the non‐porous bodies; however, the fragment velocity of gypsum was slower than that of the non‐porous bodies. This was because the micro‐pores dispersed in the gypsum spheres caused a rapid attenuation of shock pressure in them. From these results, we expect that the collisional disruption of porous bodies could be significantly different from that of non‐porous bodies.