Questions tagged [explosions]
For questions about explosions (rapid volume expansions associated with an enormous release of energy to the outside).
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Calculating asteroid impact blast wave properties
One of the biggest arguments against large nuclear devices is that most of the energy escapes into space. My limited understanding is that this happens because when the shockwave is still in the ...
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Deflecting a lunar mass with consecutive nuclear explosions [closed]
I'm looking for help in determining the amount of deflection an object with a mass of roughly $7\times10^{22} \,\text{kg}$ (a lunar mass) needs from colliding with a planet. Let's stipulate that the ...
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Can we use thermonuclear explosion to fight climate change? [closed]
Nuclear war can create nuclear winter, which is opposite to global warming. Can we detonate thermonuclear (because they don't create radiation) bombs somewhere to decrease global temperature?
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Why is velocity proportional to radius in a spherical explosion?
While doing problems on spherically symmetric explosions, I noticed I had been intuitively assuming that velocity scales linearly with radius of the "shell" under consideration. To be more ...
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Will a nuclear blast just above the surface of an asteroid push it, or just heat it and maybe produce outgassing?
Will a nuclear blast just above the surface of an asteroid push/nudge it, or just heat it and maybe produce outgassing? In other words, would nukes be actually useful to deflect asteroids?
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Is the inertia of the inwards pressure of any difference in the implosion type nuclear bomb?
In a fissile nuclear bomb, such as the gadget in the trinity test, uses an explosion to create an inwards pressure to compress plutonium from a non-critical-state, into a super-critical-state.
So you ...
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It is possible to estimate the height of an explosion by its looks?
There's various social media postings (e.g. on reddit or on Twitter) saying this is what an exoatmospheric intercept (by an Arrow) missile looks like (I took 4 frames from the video, in case you don't ...
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Why do some nuclear tests feature what seems to be an additional fireball on top?
Have a look at this frame from footage recorded during Operation Hardtack I - Test POPLAR
Clearly the bit on top is extra hot, and it seems to be above the main fireball, or at least not part of the ...
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Relation between blast wind and overpressure
Suppose we have the ambient air pressure, density, speed of sound and blast overpressure. How can we use this data to get the speed of the blast wind?
Currently I simply assume that 50% of the wave's ...
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The relationship betwen Equivalent Megatons and Yield
This article defines a concept called Equivalent Megatons (EMT) and gives a formula of calculating it in terms of Yield (measured in megatons).
In evaluating the destructive power of a weapons system,...
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What does a symmetrical explosion mean in the context of preventing accidental nuclear weapon trigger?
I just watched a video entitled This Is the Real Risk We Face with Nuclear Weapons. In the video, it referenced a "broken arrow" incident where a US B-52 was carrying a nuclear weapon met ...
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How is it that underground nuclear tests create huge caverns without violating conservation of mass?
If a multi-megaton underground nuclear test 500m down in deep hard rock detonates, we’re told that it will leave a rather radioactive cavern in its wake (I’m just using Gnome as an example, I’m not ...
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Explosive lenses and timing: don't the triggers have to be synchronized or do the lenses make the arrangement more forgiving?
I do not know if this is physics or engineering, but it is complex engineering I think at least.
(In the implosion fission bomb first tested at Trinity and used in Nagasaki. Not the gun type.)
A big ...
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Taylor flat plate theory with local cavitation
Background
I'm studying the so-called Taylor flat plate theory. The problem considers an infinite plate which separates a region of water from a region of air. There is an incident shockwave from the ...
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If a spacesuit cracks open, does the astronaut blow up due to difference of pressure? [duplicate]
Me and my friends had a discussion on emergencies in outer space. One questioned what would happen if a spacesuit ruptured and exposed an astronaut to vaccuum. One claimed that since there is no ...
