Timeline for Can a nuclear detonation on Moon destroy life on Earth?
Current License: CC BY-SA 3.0
11 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
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| Oct 27, 2016 at 7:53 | vote | accept | Allahjane | ||
| Oct 24, 2016 at 19:16 | comment | added | PearsonArtPhoto♦ | @Joshua I'm assuming that somehow the entire force of the nuclear weapon was able to push a rock to the required speed to hit Earth, very much a series of worst case assumptions. The size estimates I found were from Wikipedia, which as you said varies by a fair amount. Basically, I'm making many worst case assumptions, which when all added up together come to something damaging, but not an end to all life on Earth. | |
| Oct 24, 2016 at 18:44 | comment | added | NeutronStar | Also, what is meant by "The power required to have a rock hit Earth is equivalent to that of making a 450 m crater"? The power required to have a rock hit Earth depends on the mass of the rock, and small pebbles definitely will not make a 450 m crater, nor would require much energy to be put in an Earth-intercept course. | |
| Oct 24, 2016 at 18:43 | comment | added | NeutronStar | I'm having a difficult time following what you're proposing here. Through what medium is the energy from the nuke-cannon propagating through? Are we shooting moon rocks with the nuke-cannon? A shock wave (the primary destructive element of an explosion) would not be able to propagate from moon to Earth. | |
| Oct 24, 2016 at 13:59 | comment | added | GrinningX | Ahhhh... thank you for the clarification. Perhaps I need coffee. Yes, that's an interesting point. | |
| Oct 24, 2016 at 13:46 | comment | added | PearsonArtPhoto♦ | It would not affect the energy created by fission. Basically, I'm imagining a rock that was launched from the Moon in a cannon which launches the rock somehow safely using the entire energy of the bomb (Worst case). The minimum energy would be enough to escape the Moon, at the 2.7 km/s listed. When said rock hits Earth, it will be moving at close to Earth escape velocity, as listed. Thus, the rock will have in effect picked up energy. | |
| Oct 24, 2016 at 13:26 | comment | added | GrinningX | Can you please detail your math? I am not clear why the velocity of a nuclear bomb would affect the energy created by nuclear fission. Certainly we can talk about the mass of the bomb and its velocity imparting additional force, but I'm pretty sure that the power unleashed during fission is irrespective of velocity of the mass being moved. Otherwise any given ICBM would have hundreds of MT of yield. | |
| Oct 24, 2016 at 9:46 | history | edited | PearsonArtPhoto♦ | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
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| Oct 24, 2016 at 8:04 | comment | added | user | Did you mean cannon instead of canon? | |
| Oct 23, 2016 at 18:58 | history | edited | PearsonArtPhoto♦ | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
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| Oct 23, 2016 at 18:37 | history | answered | PearsonArtPhoto♦ | CC BY-SA 3.0 |