How does the size of a crater depend on the size of the meteorite?

One such 'scaling law' for craters was published in 1987 by Schmidt and Housen in the International Journal of Impact Engineering vol. 5 page 543. It goes like this:


                           1/3    0.78     0.44     -0.22
     D    = 1.16   ( Pp/Pt)     Dp        V        G

Where D is the crater diameter in centimeters, Pp and Pt are the densities ( gm /cubic centimeter) of the projectile and the target, Dp is the diameter in centimeters of the projectile, V is the impact velocity in centimeters/sec, and G is the acceleration of gravity at the surface in centimeters/sec/sec. The impact kinetic energy, in ergs, is of course 1/2 m V-squared where m is the projectile mass in grams.
Copyright 1997 Dr. Sten Odenwald
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