Crater Memes

Oh look, another conspiracy theory trying to debunk basic physics! The meme is questioning why meteor craters are circular instead of elongated like the second image. Spoiler alert: it's not because NASA is lying to you. When a meteor hits Earth, the explosive energy radiates equally in all directions regardless of impact angle. The resulting crater is almost always circular because the energy transfer creates a spherical shock wave. Even meteors hitting at shallow angles produce circular craters—it's not some grand cover-up, just good ol' physics doing its thing. Next they'll be asking why water doesn't stay in the shape of the ice cube tray. I swear, teaching freshman physics gets more challenging every year...