What would happen if a nuclear bomb was detonated in a hurricane?

[brainhulk]

 

[dainthomas]

Best case: Radioactive hell-icane that irradiates the entire ocean for a thousand years.
Worst case: Godzilla in addition to above.

So no bueno.

 

[dave_the_nerd]

You're tickling the hurricane.

 

[snoopy7548]

I got it! Why don't we nuke a lizard and make our own Godzilla to guard the border?

 

[Fritzo]

Jokes aside, a detonation large enough to disrupt a tropical storm/hurricane would be devastating to land masses in the region. Trade winds would carry radiation and toxic materials through Africa, and they would most likely cycle up through South America and the Eastern US. So, unless you like cancer and poisonous sea food, this is a terrible idea.

 

[GrumpyMan]

Well you would get either a Sharknado or Zombienado?

 

[OccamsToothbrush]

Best case: Radioactive hell-icane that irradiates the entire ocean for a thousand years.
Worst case: Godzilla in addition to above.

So no bueno.

We're going to need Godzilla to save us from King Ghidora and a nuclear hurricane is a small price to pay. You gotta break a few eggs...

 

[Jeeebus]

Well you would get either a Sharknado or Zombienado?

that's ridiculous. It would be a Sharkicane.

 

[BudAshes]

Winning!

 

[SKORPI0]

What happens if you nuke a hurricane? - Sept 2017 article.

Why don’t we destroy tropical cyclones by nuking them? reads an article by Chris Landsea, a science and operations officer with the National Hurricane Center (NHC).

Apart from the fact that this might not even alter the storm, this approach neglects the problem that the released radioactive fallout would fairly quickly move with the tradewinds to affect land areas and cause devastating environmental problems.

“Needless to say, this is not a good idea.”​

A nuclear weapon wouldn’t have any appreciable impact on a hurricane because of the energy that would be needed to affect it, Landsea wrote.
Hurricanes can release energy at a rate of 5 to 20×1013 watts; that release is equivalent to a 10-megaton nuclear bomb that explodes every 20 minutes, he added.
Even if a nuclear bomb were to explode, it would produce a shock wave that would propagate away from the site of the explosion somewhat faster than the speed of sound.

 

[Mai72]

Umm... Trump scares me. Can he actully try this out?

Is there anyone that can stop him?

 

[IronWing]

Guys, I got this! We build a giant H bomb but, this is the important part, we build backwards so that instead of blowing up, it sucks in. We suck the hurricane into a little ball, wrap it in cling wrap, and drop it in the waste bin. Neat and tidy.

 

[whm1974]

Guys, I got this! We build a giant H bomb but, this is the important part, we build backwards so that instead of blowing up, it sucks in. We suck the hurricane into a little ball, wrap it in cling wrap, and drop it in the waste bin. Neat and tidy.

And do that way too many times the Earth will be ocean free.

 

[Fritzo]

Umm... Trump scares me. Can he actully try this out?

Is there anyone that can stop him?

No, he can not try this out. We're good. He's even on Twitter this morning denying he said it.

 

[brainhulk]

Guys, I got this! We build a giant H bomb but, this is the important part, we build backwards so that instead of blowing up, it sucks in. We suck the hurricane into a little ball, wrap it in cling wrap, and drop it in the waste bin. Neat and tidy.

Sorry Mel Brooks already beat you to that one with Mega Maid

 

[Captante]

No, he can not try this out. We're good. He's even on Twitter this morning denying he said it.

Phew .... was worried for a minute there!

 

[Muse]

Dude, they design those things so they don't go off by accident...

 

[sdifox]

Since we are in fiction territory, may as well send in Misaka Mikoto with her clone sisters to reverse airflow by controlling thousands of windmills. Wee bit less radioactive.

 

[Muse]

Long story short, you'd have a lot of highly toxic radioactive materials spread around very quickly.

 

[IronWing]

Long story short, you'd have a lot of highly toxic radioactive materials spread around very quickly.

Yeah but, as folks have said, hurricanes pack orders of magnitude more energy than a nuke so if the bomb stops just one hurricane, we come out ahead. How many times has the coast been damaged by a nuke? I rest my case.

 

[Fritzo]

Phew .... was worried for a minute there!

The fact he's denying it pretty much confirms he was saying it though. This is the danger of putting game show hosts in charge of the world.

 

[Paratus]

For those interested in the energies involved I’ll quote myself from the P&N thread on the same subject.

Just so folks understand the relative amounts of energy involved here.

• Atomic Bomb (Hiroshima): 6.3x10^13 joules of energy
• Tsar Bomba (largest bomb ever detonated): 2.4x10^17 joules
• Average Hurricane - Rain formation: 5.2x10^19joules/day + 1.2x10^17joules/day of wind kinetic energy.
• Increase in Ocean Heat Content 0-2000m over the last 50 years from global warming: 3.4x10^23joules.

So your average hurricane is putting out the equivalent of about 10 A-bombs a second or 1 Tsar Bomba every 6.5-7.0 minutes.

The increase in ocean heat could provide enough energy for an extra hurricane every day for 18 years. (Or the equivalent of detonating 3+ Tsar Bombas per hour or 205 A-Bombs per minute for 50 years).

(Folks like @SlowSpyder don’t believe that amount of energy will ever make any change whatsoever in the environment because Al Gore is a wizard).

 

[Muse]

Yeah but, as folks have said, hurricanes pack orders of magnitude more energy than a nuke so if the bomb stops just one hurricane, we come out ahead. How many times has the coast been damaged by a nuke? I rest my case.

Well, what chance has a nuke to destroy a hurricane if it's so weak in comparison? Plus, that radiation is bad for us. Originally it was buried in the ground. Scattered in the wind, it's kind of like Pandora's box effect. All manner of radioactive isotopes.

 

[Red Squirrel]

You need to strap a bunch of air conditioners to the bomb first. When it detonates the freon will kill the hurricane. Now you'll just need to deal with a bunch of 3 eyed mice the size of Godzilla.

 

[JEDIYoda]

Guys, I got this! We build a giant H bomb but, this is the important part, we build backwards so that instead of blowing up, it sucks in. We suck the hurricane into a little ball, wrap it in cling wrap, and drop it in the waste bin. Neat and tidy.

No wewtake it and drop it in Mar lago…..