eli5: why asteroids with 1km radius are called planet killers?

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They are tiny compared to the earth. I can hardly imagine they even wipe out lives within 1000km radiused area, which still is a tiny compared to the earths surface size. Asteroids are, just giant rocks right? not atomic bombs, wich gives an increasing explosion due to it’s chain reaction. So why?

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Anonymous 0 Comments

It’s a very fast moving rock when it lands it kicks up lots of dust & debris into the stratosphere. This can create a mini ice age from the darkness, and cold of blocking out the sun. Which would kill a lot of animals either directly or from starvation from no vegetation

You also have the shock wave which would flatten buildings let alone plants and trees.

https://science.howstuffworks.com/nature/natural-disasters/asteroid-hits-earth.htm

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