why, if a big enough meteor hits the earth, is the impact like a nuclear bomb?

Question

why, if a big enough meteor hits the earth, is the impact like a nuclear bomb?

In: 1

Answer 1

It’s the blast wave and thermal radiation of a nuke, but without the ionizing radiation. It can be like a large or small nuke depending on factors like size, mass and velocity. The more of all, the bigger the boom. Plus nukes tend to be air burst to maximize the effects, while an asteroid is ground burst, so it will be throwing a lot of stuff into the air that will eventually come back down and hit things.