Passage III

When an asteroid hits the surface of a planet or moon, an impact crater is formed. An asteroid that hits Earth under a specific set of conditions (including speed and angle), referred to here as Set C, forms a crater with a diameter about 20 times the asteroid's diameter. Figure 1 shows the energy released by the impact, for a range of asteroid diameters.

Figure 2 shows the average amount of time that elapses between consecutive impacts on Earth by asteroids with the same diameter, for a range of asteroid diameters. Figure 3 shows the percent of the surface of the Moon, Mercury, and Mars that is covered by impact craters, for various ranges of crater diameter.

Figures adapted from Eugene M, Shoemaker and Carolyn S. Shoemake r, ''The Role of Collisions." ©1999 by Sky Publishing Corp.

17. Assume that an asteroid that hit Earth 65 million years ago was 10 km in diameter. Also assume that another 10 km asteroid will hit Earth in the future. If the amount of time that elapses between these consecutive impacts is equal to the average amount of time as given by Figure 2, a 10 km diameter asteroid will next hit Ear h approximately:

Answer and Explanation

Your Answer is

Correct Answer is A

Explanation

When the abscissa in figure 2 is 10 km, the ordinate is 100000000 years (100 million years), so 100-65=35, after 35 million years from now