- #1
PatentLawyer
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I saw a science fiction movie in which some guys planted an atomic bomb in a cave in an asteroid which was headed toward Earth. The bomb blew the asceroid into a million meteroites which harmlessly burned up in the atmosphere.
Is this possible ?
An atomic bomb, detonated on Earth, creates an enormous amount of heat. That heat can melt things, and also creates an enormous outwardly radiating pressure pulse in the air. That pulse causes damage.
However, in a vacuum, there is no air. Hence, no pressure pulse. The matter of which the bomb is constructed may be ejected at high velocity, but that is a very small amount of ballistic stuff.
I guess the radiation could melt the asteroid. But it seems that, given the heat capacity of rocks, and computing the total heat capacity of an asteroid which is, say, 10 miles in diameter, even the energy in a large atomic bomb is insufficient to melt that astreroid.
And what good would melting do anyway ?
So can an atomic bomb destroy an asteroid in space ?
Thank you.
Is this possible ?
An atomic bomb, detonated on Earth, creates an enormous amount of heat. That heat can melt things, and also creates an enormous outwardly radiating pressure pulse in the air. That pulse causes damage.
However, in a vacuum, there is no air. Hence, no pressure pulse. The matter of which the bomb is constructed may be ejected at high velocity, but that is a very small amount of ballistic stuff.
I guess the radiation could melt the asteroid. But it seems that, given the heat capacity of rocks, and computing the total heat capacity of an asteroid which is, say, 10 miles in diameter, even the energy in a large atomic bomb is insufficient to melt that astreroid.
And what good would melting do anyway ?
So can an atomic bomb destroy an asteroid in space ?
Thank you.