Boy Hit By Meteorite Travelling At 30,000 MPH

I know many old sailors were killed by cannon balls passing by them. Killed instantly without a mark on their bodies. I imagine an object moving at that speed would do the same.

GrauGeist said:

I'd be willing to bet that it never physically touched his hand, but his injury was created by the trans-sonic envelope around the meteorite as it passed by him. I would have thought debris splashing back after impact, which may still be the case, but he said it hurt before it hit the ground.

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I have a feeling that his reaction time would be slower than the time it took for it to hit the ground

Might very well just be debris from the impact that hit him, or the shockwave which created the scar if the rock was close enough. High pressure air should have no problem cutting through skin considering it is used to cut through metal

Amsel said:

I know many old sailors were killed by cannon balls passing by them. Killed instantly without a mark on their bodies. I imagine an object moving at that speed would do the same.

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I doubt that Amsel, esp. considering that cannon balls rarely went past 350 m/s. Also knowing someone having personally experienced a 125mm tank round wiss past him at over 1,000 m/s I know you wont die from such a thing. Ever experienced a close call with a rifle bullet ? Now you're definitely in no doubt what just wissed past you and that you just cheated death, but it doesn't hurt you however.