What impact angle does the Giant-Impact Hypothesis suggest Theia used against the young Earth?
Answer
A glancing angle
The prevailing Giant-Impact Hypothesis favors a collision geometry that was not perfectly direct. The interaction is thought to have occurred at a glancing angle. This specific type of impact was crucial because it provided just the right amount of kinetic energy and necessary velocity to loft a massive cloud of vaporized rock and debris into orbit around Earth. If the collision had been perfectly head-on, the energy released would likely have either caused both planetary bodies to merge completely, or the energy might have been so extreme as to vaporize both Earth and Theia entirely, precluding the formation of the Moon as we know it.
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