Dramatic video captures the moment sonic boom from Russian meteor terrifies schoolchildren by smashing windows of sports hall

Scary: Suddenly, the windows of the sports hall completely blow out, leaving the children completely terrified

Schoolchildren pictured practicing their karate moves on each other - Seconds later sonic boom from meteor smashes windows of hall - Children cover their ears with hands and run away in terror

It was a terrifying moment which left nearly 1,500 people injured and caused more than ?20 million worth of damage.

But few images have been able to capture just how much every day life was turned upside down following the enormous Russian meteor than this video.

These pictures show young Russian schoolchildren practicing their karate moves on each other in a sports hall, completely unaware that their day was about to be completely transformed.

As they continue with their class in Chelyabinsk, a sudden change of light can be seen through the large windows on the left of the picture.

Seconds later, the windows of the sports hall completely blow out - resulting in the school children running away in complete terror.

Many place their hands to their ears as they run for cover. Their instructors look towards the windows in horror.

It is believed the windows were smashed out after a sonic boom - which was the sound of the shock waves created by the meteor traveling through the air faster than the speed of sound.

The meteor injured nearly 1,500 people and caused widespread property damage in Chelyabinsk on Friday, with health officials yesterday saying that 46 of the injured remain hospitalised.

The debris narrowly missed a direct and devastating hit on the industrial city which has a population of 1.13 million but spread panic through its streets as the sky above lit up with a blinding flash.

Scientists yesterday claimed the meteor is the biggest space rock to have hit earth in more than a century.

The 100,000 tonne rock, measuring around 55 feet in diameter, created a huge hole in a frozen lake when it crashed into the ground.

As it raced through the sky, the 50-foot wide chunk of space rock compressed the air ahead of it, creating the enormous temperatures that meant it exploded in a fireball somewhere between 18 and 32 miles above the ground at around 9.20am local time on Friday.

Although some debris fell to earth, 'whipping up a pillar of ice, water and steam' and creating a 20-foot-wide crater, the damage in nearby towns was actually caused by shockwaves created by the meteor breaking the sound barrier and then exploding.

Scientists have found more than 50 tiny fragments of the meteor, allowing them to uncover information about its contents.

Local residents have been more interested in the black market value of the fragments since the dramatic incident, as a 'gold mine' has been kickstarted for the valuable pieces.

As they search for their own pieces of the meteor, rocks have already been put on the internet for sale, and police are warning all purchasers to prepare for possible fraud.

Paul Chodas of NASA's Near-Earth Object Program Office said: 'We would expect an event of this magnitude to occur once every 100 years.'

He told the Wall Street Journal: 'When you have a fireball of this size we would expect a large number of meteorites to reach the surface and in this case there were probably some large ones.'

Viktor Grokhovsky, who led the expedition from Urals Federal University, said that 53 fragments of the meteor have been plucked from the ice-covered Chebarkul Lake.

He said they are less than a centimeter (half an inch) in size, about 10 per cent iron, and belong to the chondrite type, the most common variation of meteorites found on Earth.

Divers inspecting the lake have found nothing at the bottom, but Mr Grokhovsky said a fragment as large as 50-60 centimeters (20-24 inches) could eventually be found there.

Ice hole: Experts said the meteor that left a 50-foot hole in a frozen lake on the outskirts of Chelyabinsk, in the Urals, weighed around 100,000 tonnes and measured 55 feet in diameter

Workers in the city remained busy replacing acres of windows shattered by a powerful shockwave caused by the meteor's strike, which NASA said released 500 kilotons of energy, the power equivalent to more than 30 Hiroshima bombs.

The local governor estimated the damage at 1 billion rubles (?21.5million) and said he hopes the federal government will provide at least half that amount.

On Saturday, divers searched the waters beneath the ice for traces of space rock but surfaced empty handed, leaving some experts questioning whether the hole was indeed formed by a piece of falling debris.

Source: http://www.sott.net/article/258699-Dramatic-video-captures-the-moment-sonic-boom-from-Russian-meteor-terrifies-schoolchildren-by-smashing-windows-of-sports-hall

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