A question.
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Guardian
Member # 5360
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written Friday, April 25 2008 10:39
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A recent argument revolved around the question as to whether a single nuclear bomb could kill off the entirety of the human population, including the effects of radiation. Several questions were raised by this: What is the most destructive nuclear bomb currently constructed? How fast does radiation spread? How far will the light, sound, and shockwave spread, and how dissipated will they be? -------------------- Fear us, mortals, but never envy, for though we burn with power, our fuel is our sorrows. Indeed, mortals, we envy you. Posts: 1636 | Registered: Wednesday, January 5 2005 08:00 |
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Agent
Member # 5814
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written Friday, April 25 2008 12:24
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I don't know how big the biggest nuclear bomb is, but I do know that two nukes were dropped on Japan in WWII. So I'm guessing one or two nukes would not destroy the planet, not by a long shot. But a [i]nuclear war[i] would significantly impact the world. A nuclear war would almost definitely have to be between two superpowers; otherwise, conventional weapons would be used. If two superpowers nuke each other, the economic and political instability would probably cause the world to erupt into anarchy. Whether the world would become uninhabitable is a question I cannot answer. I've always wondered what would happen if a nuclear bomb was detonated at the bottom of an ocean. Would a volcano form there? Would the explosive force of the bomb cause tidal waves all over the world? Somehow, I don't think it will. After all, countries test nuclear weapons out on the ocean sometimes. But maybe I'm missing something? -------------------- "What can you do with an anthropology degree other than study people?" "...Hunt people?" Posts: 1115 | Registered: Sunday, May 15 2005 07:00 |
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Law Bringer
Member # 2984
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written Friday, April 25 2008 12:53
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What you're missing is that nuclear bombs come in different sizes. I rather think that no bomb has been built yet that could destroy humanity in one go, and not sure if we can build one. This point becomes moot though, because plenty of small ones will do the job just fine. -------------------- The Noble and Ancient Order of Polaris - We're Not Yet Dead. Encyclopedia • Blades Forge • Archives • Stats • RSS (This Topic / Forum) • Blog • NaNoWriMo Did-chat thentagoespyet jumund fori is jus, hat onlime gly nertan ne gethen Firyoubbit 'obio.' Decorum deserves a whole line of my signature, and an entry in your bookmarks. Posts: 8752 | Registered: Wednesday, May 14 2003 07:00 |
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Electric Sheep One
Member # 3431
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written Friday, April 25 2008 13:06
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Actually I've never been persuaded that available nuclear arsenals could destroy civilization. There are a lot of big bombs, but it's a big planet. But why is it a big deal whether nuclear war would really extinugish the human race? Obviously there's enough nuclear firepower stocked up to kill an awful lot of people. Isn't that bad enough? -------------------- Listen carefully because some of your options may have changed. Posts: 3335 | Registered: Thursday, September 4 2003 07:00 |
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Law Bringer
Member # 6785
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written Friday, April 25 2008 13:34
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In terms of physical damage, the largest current bomb would destroy a major city. Radiation would spread by the wind to cover a large area as a secondary effect. The shockwave depending upon detonation height would destroy some buildings. You could achieve the same effect with enough conventional bombs. Jericho had more the disruption of infrastructure and government leadership from 23 simultaneous atomic blasts. The country survived, but was disorganized until leadership and supply chains were rebuilt. Nuclear winter refers to the debris cloud by multiple detonations covering the atmosphere much like a large volcanic eruption (Krakatoa) or the First Gulf War oil fires. This would produce climatic changes depending upon the location and amount. Now using a bomb to trigger an earthquke by exploding it along a fault line would produce wide spread devastation, but even that is unlikely. [ Friday, April 25, 2008 13:36: Message edited by: Randomizer ] Posts: 4643 | Registered: Friday, February 10 2006 08:00 |
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...b10010b...
Member # 869
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written Friday, April 25 2008 13:43
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quote:Earthquakes involve the release of truly enormous amounts of energy, more than even a nuclear bomb produces. I doubt you could cause any major tectonic changes by nuking the continental plates. The current consensus also seems to be that a severe nuclear winter isn't a likely outcome of nuclear war. Nuking every city with a population of over 100,000 or so could end civilisation as we know it, but I doubt a nuclear war could send humanity extinct on its own. [ Friday, April 25, 2008 13:46: Message edited by: Thuryl ] -------------------- The Empire Always Loses: This Time For Sure! Posts: 9973 | Registered: Saturday, March 30 2002 08:00 |
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Agent
Member # 4574
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written Friday, April 25 2008 14:01
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The biggest nuclear bomb, to the best of my knowledge, was the tsar bomba. Its explosive yield was fifty megatons, although the Soviets could have gone up to one hundred megatons. They didn't however, feel that that much radiation was worth the sabre-rattling it would give them. Anyways, it was tested. Humanity was destroyed. All that's left if a bunch of zombies spending their lives on computer terminals, deep indoors away from the radioactive surface. -------------------- "I'm happy I'm the mentally disturbed person I am." -Nioca "Yes, Iffy is a demon." -Iffy "All (Spiderweb) servers should be taken down, erased, and then subjected to dissolution by alkahest." -Alorael Posts: 1186 | Registered: Friday, June 18 2004 07:00 |
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Shock Trooper
Member # 2123
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written Friday, April 25 2008 16:19
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I this link will enlighen you greatly. We cant afford to have a mine shaft gap. -------------------- "The President finally had what he wanted. The President had a planet. All to himself." -A Planet For The President Posts: 228 | Registered: Monday, October 21 2002 07:00 |
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Guardian
Member # 5360
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written Friday, April 25 2008 17:43
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But the question is, could we build a bomb large enough to wipe out humanity in a single go? Including radiation, light, sound, and shockwave. [ Friday, April 25, 2008 17:50: Message edited by: Faint Piping of Two Demoniac Flutes ] -------------------- Fear us, mortals, but never envy, for though we burn with power, our fuel is our sorrows. Indeed, mortals, we envy you. Posts: 1636 | Registered: Wednesday, January 5 2005 08:00 |
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Canned
Member # 7704
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written Friday, April 25 2008 21:55
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A bomb must have a target. Places like the Australian deserts, Russia's taiga, islands, way up north, way down south and deep space wouldn't be targeted . The people there would survive the horrible holocaust would have their lives complicated by the nuclear waste in the atmosphere and in the ocean. Our descendants wouldn't live they would survive. As many biologists looked in the fossil record the only way to be certain to leave a species no chance what so ever is that the plants at the bottom of the food chain get replaced by an other type of plant. As we are not witnessing any brutal changes in the food chain, mankind, even crippled by atomic war, would have great chances of survival. It would be difficult to wipe out humanity with one or many bombs. [ Friday, April 25, 2008 21:59: Message edited by: upon mars ] -------------------- You can jump off a bridge, fire a gun in your mouth, drink poison,or going in to the tiger's pit but you will still end up dead it's a mater of time and how . Posts: 312 | Registered: Sunday, November 26 2006 08:00 |
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Electric Sheep One
Member # 3431
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written Friday, April 25 2008 22:49
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No, I don't believe we could construct a single bomb that would kill everyone. That would be scaling up H-bomb technology by a factor of, oh, at least a million, probably a lot more, and technologies like that do not scale well. To rub out everyone you would need to make a bomb that actually did significant damage to the planet itself, and as Thuryl said, we are not in that league. Humans are just not capable of global-scale effects over time periods less than centuries. We are simply not (yet?) that powerful. The scaremongers for a succession of causes have suppressed people's sense of scale. No doubt their intentions in doing so were noble, but it was dumb and dangerous, because it amounts to crying wolf. -------------------- Listen carefully because some of your options may have changed. Posts: 3335 | Registered: Thursday, September 4 2003 07:00 |
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Law Bringer
Member # 2984
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written Saturday, April 26 2008 00:07
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quote:But some tectonic plates are already under tension along the fault lines. Perhaps a bomb might shake something loose just enough to trigger an earthquake that might have happened anyway in the next few millennia? -------------------- The Noble and Ancient Order of Polaris - We're Not Yet Dead. Encyclopedia • Blades Forge • Archives • Stats • RSS (This Topic / Forum) • Blog • NaNoWriMo Did-chat thentagoespyet jumund fori is jus, hat onlime gly nertan ne gethen Firyoubbit 'obio.' Decorum deserves a whole line of my signature, and an entry in your bookmarks. Posts: 8752 | Registered: Wednesday, May 14 2003 07:00 |
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Warrior
Member # 6923
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written Saturday, April 26 2008 05:43
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With current technology we might be able to take out the human species with a sufficiently sized asteroid, but that's beside the point. -------------------- One, Two, Three, Pfhor, Five… Avernum 2 AM Status - On hold, because I'm bored - Maps - Tomb of Dahris-Bok - Annotation - Fort Draco/Ganrick Spider/Areana Caves Posts: 74 | Registered: Friday, March 17 2006 08:00 |
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Councilor
Member # 6600
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written Saturday, April 26 2008 06:01
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Would it count if we attached a nuclear bomb to the asteroid? :P Dikiyoba. [ Saturday, April 26, 2008 06:01: Message edited by: Dikiyoba ] -------------------- Episode 4: Spiderweb Reloaded • Episode 5: Spiderweb Resistance Posts: 4346 | Registered: Friday, December 23 2005 08:00 |
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Law Bringer
Member # 2984
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written Saturday, April 26 2008 06:03
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quote:ASTEROIDS with frigging NUKES attached to their HEADS! :P -------------------- The Noble and Ancient Order of Polaris - We're Not Yet Dead. Encyclopedia • Blades Forge • Archives • Stats • RSS (This Topic / Forum) • Blog • NaNoWriMo Did-chat thentagoespyet jumund fori is jus, hat onlime gly nertan ne gethen Firyoubbit 'obio.' Decorum deserves a whole line of my signature, and an entry in your bookmarks. Posts: 8752 | Registered: Wednesday, May 14 2003 07:00 |
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Shaper
Member # 32
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written Saturday, April 26 2008 06:03
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I imagine if you wanted to do the most damage it would be by detonating a large quantity of them within the oceans. It wouldn't directly impact humans; however, I imagine the irradiated rain would be unpleasant... -------------------- Lt. Sullust Quaere verum 真実長ガス Posts: 2462 | Registered: Wednesday, October 3 2001 07:00 |
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Councilor
Member # 6600
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written Saturday, April 26 2008 06:10
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quote:Dikiyoba shall inform the Really Quite Evil Coalition of Sharks and Velociraptors to add it to their arsenal at once! -------------------- Episode 4: Spiderweb Reloaded • Episode 5: Spiderweb Resistance Posts: 4346 | Registered: Friday, December 23 2005 08:00 |
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Shaper
Member # 3442
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written Saturday, April 26 2008 07:31
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How do we know you aren't already a raptor? You seem to know the name they operate under... -------------------- Nikki's Nook - training wheels provided. Posts: 2864 | Registered: Monday, September 8 2003 07:00 |
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Councilor
Member # 6600
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written Saturday, April 26 2008 08:03
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Dikiyoba assures you that raptors and dikiyoras are very different. The fact that they are both similarily-sized evil reptiles is mere coincidence. -------------------- Episode 4: Spiderweb Reloaded • Episode 5: Spiderweb Resistance Posts: 4346 | Registered: Friday, December 23 2005 08:00 |
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Law Bringer
Member # 335
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written Saturday, April 26 2008 08:19
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RAPTORS on ASTEROIDS with frigging NUKES attached to their HEADS! —Alorael, who sees would like to see a movie based on this. Randall Munroe could direct. Posts: 14579 | Registered: Saturday, December 1 2001 08:00 |
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Lifecrafter
Member # 7538
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written Saturday, April 26 2008 12:00
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I personally wonder, sticking nukes to asteroids, what would happen to said nukes when they reach the Earth's gravitational field. Usually this does some damage to stellar objects once they enter the atmosphere, correct? -------------------- Do not provoke the turtles. They do not like being provoked. -Lenar ET reminds me of myself before I was taken into a small chatroom by TM, Alec, and various other members. They then proceeded to beat some sense into me... -Lt. Sullust My website: Nemesis' Refuge (Last Update: 3/16/08) Posts: 743 | Registered: Friday, September 29 2006 07:00 |
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Shaper
Member # 3442
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written Saturday, April 26 2008 12:50
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I don't think it matters. Once the RAPTORS land, we're done for. This may be the only way to survive, though it says nothing of asteroids. -------------------- Nikki's Nook - training wheels provided. Posts: 2864 | Registered: Monday, September 8 2003 07:00 |
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Electric Sheep One
Member # 3431
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written Saturday, April 26 2008 13:12
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One can't really 'reach' anything's gravitational field. Gravitational fields just gradually get weaker with distance; there is no sharp boundary. There isn't really a perfectly sharp boundary for the Earth's atmosphere, either, but it does fade out much more quickly than the Earth's gravity, so one can speak of 'entering' the Earth's atmosphere. And then it's just a matter of friction, from falling very fast through increasingly thick air. Spacecraft and meteors get windburn. It would be a problem for nukes, not to mention raptors. But nukes can be heat-shielded well enough to survive entering the atmosphere from space. That's what ICBMs do, after all. They leave the atmosphere and re-enter it. -------------------- Listen carefully because some of your options may have changed. Posts: 3335 | Registered: Thursday, September 4 2003 07:00 |
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? Man, ? Amazing
Member # 5755
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written Saturday, April 26 2008 13:28
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So, are you saying that raptors can't be heat-shielded, or that no one has tried? This could be a bizness opportunaty for someone. -------------------- Synergy, et al - "I don't get it." Argon - "I'm at a loss for words..." Posts: 4114 | Registered: Monday, April 25 2005 07:00 |
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Shaper
Member # 3442
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written Saturday, April 26 2008 13:45
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quote:You'd lose too many men trying to get to the raptor hive, never mind telling them your plans. And, for all we know, they might already be heat-shielded - everybody who was sent to find out was devoured before they could return. -------------------- Nikki's Nook - training wheels provided. Posts: 2864 | Registered: Monday, September 8 2003 07:00 |
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