Melting a dangerous asteroid about to impact Earth

endoftime

I was wondering how much energy it would take to melt a big enough asteroid considered to be dangerous? Is it even possible?

If possible, could it be done fast enough before it impacts?

If it is completely melted can it then be somehow dispersed so that it turns into smaller chunks that are not dangerous?

Ryan_m_b

Melting an asteroid wouldn't be good enough (though it's a start), all you would have then is a molten asteroid of the same mass about to crash into Earth with the added bonus of now being so hot you cant lift bits off of it.

Continuing along your line of inquiry you would have to go further than that and vapourise it into a gas, the energy required to do that would be phenomenal. It would be far easier to just knock it off course.

pallidin

I agree. Much more practical.