What would happen if a nuclear weapon went off in space?

If a nuclear weapon is exploded in a vacuum-i. e., in space-the complexion of weapon effects changes drastically: First, in the absence of an atmosphere, blast disappears completely. There is no longer any air for the blast wave to heat and much higher frequency radiation is emitted from the weapon itself.

Can nukes end the world?

But assuming every warhead had a megatonne rating, the energy released by their simultaneous detonation wouldn’t destroy the Earth. It would, however, make a crater around 10km across and 2km deep. The huge volume of debris injected into the atmosphere would have far more widespread effects.

How much TNT would it take to destroy Jupiter?

Short answer: You’d need about 10 quintillion nukes, which is 4x the mass of the moon, to destroy Jupiter. That, or, a pile of TNT approximately equal to the mass of the sun should do the trick.

What happens when a nuclear weapon detonates in space?

Finally, regarding the long-term effects of a nuclear weapon detonating in space, that radioactive material falling into the atmosphere isn’t going anywhere. In fact, it dissipates and spreads around the entire planet.

Why was there no nuclear explosion in space?

First of all, since there is no atmosphere in space, there was no iconic mushroom cloud, nor a blast wave (which is where most of the damage of a nuclear bomb comes from on Earth).

What would happen if the Big Bang exploded on Earth?

Visually, the blast was roughly spherical, and the wave of radiation and light expanded to light up the sky. On the surface of the planet, vivid auroras of light would be seen for thousands of miles within minutes of the blast, because the charged particles from the blast would immediately begin interacting with Earth’s magnetic field.

How big was the largest Nuke ever tested?

But this 1.4-megaton bomb was insignificant compared to the largest nuke ever detonated, the 50-megaton Tsar Bomba. Performing the same test with the bigger brother of the two bombs would result in a fireball four times larger than the experiment conducted in 1962, and the EMP would be tremendously more powerful.