Example 6
The 1908 Tunguska Explosion
This example has the applet parsing parameters to a program on the server
and the program returning the data for the applet to plot.
The applet has a control panel that allows modification of the output and
the plot.
The applet is plotting data sent to it from a program that solves
the equations describing the passage of an asteroid through an atmosphere.
In particular this problem is concerned with the explosion over Tunguska,
Central Siberia, in 1908.
The program incorporates, asteroid ablation, atmospheric drag, atmospheric
lift, and most importantly asteroid disruption.
The control panel has three columns. The first column allows the selection
of material type. The second column allows you to modify the initial
conditions. The third column is the physical quantity to be plotted.
The atmosphere entry program solves the Bronshten equations.
These Ordinary Differential Equations (ODE's) describe the motion
of a body through
an atmosphere. Here they are modified to include disruption of the
bolide. The reference for the equations and the results plotted here is
Chyba, C.F., Thomas, P.J., and Zahnle, K.J, The 1908 Tunguska explosion:
atmospheric disruption of a stony asteroid, Nature 361, 40-44.
The Java source for this example.
The Perl CGI script that drives the ODE solver.
The program that solves the asteroid disruption ODE's,
entry.c, rk.c,
planet.c.
Last modified: Fri Oct 27 16:06:45 PDT 1995