Recent content by Urza

Alright, I looked at High vs Low explosives, but does anyone know how much energy has to be released how quickly to create that supersonic shock wave? Maybe another way to ask that is: What is the weakest (in terms of joules per second) high explosive known, and the strongest (once again in...

Thanks, that's actually very helpful.

Ok, well since we're not imaginative enough to conceive of an object or material that can release that amount of heat without exploding then let's just consider explosions: Do all explosions create shockwaves?

Suppose you have a 1cm diameter heat source suspended 2m above the ground. How many watts of heat energy does it need to expend to create a shock wave?