Andy uses a carrot gun to discuss the hazards of micrometeoroid impa’’re familiar with it is really determined by the chemical bonds that holds it together, rather than the atoms and molecules themselves. At extreme speeds, collisions have so much kinetic energy that all of an object’s chemical bonds are likely to be broken, in effect resulting in a high-energy explosion as unbound atoms hurtle out in all directions. So how do spacecraft protect themselves from these superfast threats? One approach is to use a Whipple shield – two layers of shield separated by a gap. Subscribe for regular science videos: http://bit.ly/RiSubscRibe The Ri is on Twitter: http://twitter.com/ri_science and Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/royalinstitution and Tumblr: http://ri-science.tumblr.com/ Our editorial policy: http://www.rigb.org/home/editorial-policy Subscribe for the latest science videos: http://bit.ly/RiNewsletter