7/21: Hotel on the moon

[russotto]

Originally posted by dhamsaic


theoretically, yes. but imagine if it was sticking up far enough and say a baseball-sized meteor went flying through it, as if you threw a baseball at a barn. you're correct in that the probability of something being hit from above is linear to the area it occupies, but what about sideways? without an atmosphere, could something not hit it from the side? if so, is the probability not then increased to the volume occupied instead of the area?

I haven't done the math, but I think the additional chance of being hit caused by height is either negligible or makes it proportional to surface area rather than volume.