A nuclear bomb detonated in outer space......

[Jeff7]

Originally posted by: DangerAardvark
Don't we already have a nuclear bomb in space called the Sun? Well, I guess it's fusion and not fission.

And gravity kind of plays a bigger role than it would in one of our bombs.

 

[FallenHero]

Originally posted by: Bateluer
Well, a nuke detonated in space would shatter the phantom zone prison mirror and release a group of Kryptonian supervillians . . .

KNEEL BEFORE ZOD!

 

[venkman]

so, Bruce Willis can't save us form teh asteroid? :Q

 

[hiromizu]

You set us up the bomb? Wha happen

 

[Raduque]

If Nukes in Space are such neutered weapons, why were they so scared of them in BSG?

 

[TridenT]

Why is this not in Highly Technical?

 

[techs]

Originally posted by: Raduque
If Nukes in Space are such neutered weapons, why were they so scared of them in BSG?

A HA!
You caught me. That was where I got the idea for the question.

"Why is this not in Highly Technical?"
Because this is where the plane on a treadmill thread was.

 

[Rubycon]

The purpose of a bomb is to create a pressure wave to collapse buildings, the release of infrared energy starts fires, and of course gamma radiation is deadly. So it really serves no purpose then!

In space (space is often considered a perfect vacuum but in actuality there is no such thing as a perfect vacuum - but it is quite close in approaching this ideal.) there is little interference. The radiation leaves in all directions, not directed and has no coherence (as in a laser someone mentioned). The inverse law applies and space is very vast so even a multi megaton bomb is futile compared to space. Again remember how much energy the sun produces.

It would be interesting to measure the electromagnetic pulse interaction with the earth's magnetic fields. Heck why not send every ICBM we have straight up set to blow at 200k miles?

 

[xeno2060]

Here ya Go

 

[Fenixgoon]

Originally posted by: Rubycon
The purpose of a bomb is to create a pressure wave to collapse buildings, the release of infrared energy starts fires, and of course gamma radiation is deadly. So it really serves no purpose then!

In space (space is often considered a perfect vacuum but in actuality there is no such thing as a perfect vacuum - but it is quite close in approaching this ideal.) there is little interference. The radiation leaves in all directions, not directed and has no coherence (as in a laser someone mentioned). The inverse law applies and space is very vast so even a multi megaton bomb is futile compared to space. Again remember how much energy the sun produces.

It would be interesting to measure the electromagnetic pulse interaction with the earth's magnetic fields. Heck why not send every ICBM we have straight up set to blow at 200k miles?

i just had a kickass idea... SEM/TEM in space. few vibrations, near perfect vacuum... probably could get true atomic resolution

though there is something to be said of the idea's practicality

 

[silverpig]

Originally posted by: Fenixgoon

Originally posted by: Rubycon
The purpose of a bomb is to create a pressure wave to collapse buildings, the release of infrared energy starts fires, and of course gamma radiation is deadly. So it really serves no purpose then!

In space (space is often considered a perfect vacuum but in actuality there is no such thing as a perfect vacuum - but it is quite close in approaching this ideal.) there is little interference. The radiation leaves in all directions, not directed and has no coherence (as in a laser someone mentioned). The inverse law applies and space is very vast so even a multi megaton bomb is futile compared to space. Again remember how much energy the sun produces.

It would be interesting to measure the electromagnetic pulse interaction with the earth's magnetic fields. Heck why not send every ICBM we have straight up set to blow at 200k miles?

i just had a kickass idea... SEM/TEM in space. few vibrations, near perfect vacuum... probably could get true atomic resolution

though there is something to be said of the idea's practicality

There are SEMs that operate in UHV... inside an STM

It's not quite as good as space, but it's not too far off.

 

[DrPizza]

Originally posted by: Jeff7
Dammit, where's DrPizza? He's got way more under his belt than just a few physics classes.

I'm right here You corrected the big mistake - EM radiation; dual nature of light.

And, there were two links posted in the thread. I read the stuff at both links, found it really interesting, and figured /thread. Those links seemed to answer all the questions quite well.

Originally posted by: venkman
so, Bruce Willis can't save us form teh asteroid? :Q

He could. That's why they had to place the nuke deep below the surface and not just at the surface. At the surface, it would do minimal damage. Additionally, you could consider conservation of momentum. Although photons, while massless, do have momentum.

 

[Iron Woode]

just remember, "a nuclear bomb doesn't have to lock onto anything."

let's see who remembers this.

 

[Anubis]

Originally posted by: Raduque
If Nukes in Space are such neutered weapons, why were they so scared of them in BSG?

EMP?

 

[NikolaeVarius]

http://www.projectrho.com/rocket/rocket3x.html

 

[Throckmorton]

Originally posted by: Jeff7

Originally posted by: Fayd
uh, no, photons arent gonna be the thing that damages.

it's gonna be radiation energy.

Radiation can be photonic.

Gamma radiation = EM radiation = photons.

All radiation is photons

 

[Throckmorton]

Originally posted by: Raduque
If Nukes in Space are such neutered weapons, why were they so scared of them in BSG?

Because you people don't live in space, they live in spaceships.

 

[JohnCU]

Originally posted by: Throckmorton

Originally posted by: Jeff7

Originally posted by: Fayd
uh, no, photons arent gonna be the thing that damages.

it's gonna be radiation energy.

Radiation can be photonic.

Gamma radiation = EM radiation = photons.

All EM radiation is photons

fixed

 

[marvdmartian]

Out in space, the greatest threat would be the radiation, unless you were really close to the blast. Concerning the BSG question, didn't they generally shoot the nuclear warheads at the ships filled with people and atmosphere, that were traveling through a vacuum?? Hmmmm..... perhaps the whole "makes big hole in side of ship" thing might be what does the trick??

If it's a near-earth blast (or close to a space going vessel), then EMP would be a pretty major effect too. I read this and went :shocked:

The worst effects of a Russian high altitude test occurred on 22 October 1962 (during the Cuban missile crisis), in ?Operation K? (ABM System A proof tests) when a 300-kt missile-warhead detonated near Dzhezkazgan at 290-km altitude. The EMP fused 570 km of overhead telephone line with a measured current of 2,500 A, started a fire that burned down the Karaganda power plant, and shut down 1,000-km of shallow-buried power cables between Aqmola and Almaty.

Stop and think about that. That warhead was only ~15x as strong as FatMan, that was dropped on Hiroshima, and look at the damage the EMP blast created!

Probably why the idea of using nukes as a shield against incoming ICBM's was dropped. The resulting EMP blasts would be phenomenal!!

 

[GodlessAstronomer]

Originally posted by: Fayd

Originally posted by: MagnusTheBrewer

Originally posted by: Fayd

Originally posted by: techs

Originally posted by: MagnusTheBrewer
Don't forget that the release of energy that superheats the air on earth is still being released. There is still a blast wave.

A wave of what?

energy.

least. that's all i can think of.

Winnar! The type and amount of energy released of course depends on the device. However even photons (think laser) in a concentrated area would have a serious impact.

uh, no, photons arent gonna be the thing that damages.

it's gonna be radiation energy.

Ever heard of gamma radiation? Infrared radiation? You fail at physics.

Edit - whoops, didn't realise this thread was so long. Sorry.

 

[GodlessAstronomer]

Originally posted by: Throckmorton

Originally posted by: Jeff7

Originally posted by: Fayd
uh, no, photons arent gonna be the thing that damages.

it's gonna be radiation energy.

Radiation can be photonic.

Gamma radiation = EM radiation = photons.

All radiation is photons

No. Alpha radiation = helium nuclei. Beta radiation = electrons and positrons.

 

[SagaLore]

Originally posted by: puffff

Originally posted by: CatchPhrase
It would be just as destructive.

It would be less destructive. There's nothing to destroy in space.

Dunno... the shockwave could cause a chain reaction of collisions with all the space garbage orbiting us, and we'd end up with a very cool display of falling stars.

 

[CPA]

Originally posted by: venkman
so, Bruce Willis can't save us form teh asteroid? :Q

And Jeff Goldberg can't save us from the alien mothership?