Table of Contents
What would happen if we launched a nuclear bomb at the sun?
Absolutely nothing. Or more properly, if we could turn the entire earth into a nuke and manage to launch it to the sun, the blast would be so negligible that it’ll seem like nothing happened. Nothing. The sun is an enormous nuke.
Can we launch nukes from 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. With such weapons the lethal radii (from nuclear radiation) in space may be of the order of hundreds of miles.
How many megatons would it take to destroy the sun?
Hint: it’s a lot To do that would require a lump of TNT larger than the Sun, roughly 6 x 1034 tons (60 billion, trillion, trillion tons!). Overcoming the gravitational binding energy would destroy the Sun, as this is the energy required to blow all its bits to an infinite distance away.
How much TNT would you need to destroy the earth?
How many tons would it take to destroy Earth? It basically boils away the whole Earth. The gravitational binding energy of Earth is about 2.2*1032 J, corresponding to 5*1022 tons of TNT. The largest weapon tested so far (Tsar bomba) had 50 megatons, we would need 1015 or 1 quadrillion of them.
Why can’t we just launch missiles at the Sun?
Launching so many missiles at the Sun – they all have to reach not just escape velocity, but also need to counter the huge 30 km / sec orbital velocity of the Earth around the sun. With existing technology, they’d be doing repeated flybys of Earth Venus, Jupiter and so on before they eventually lose enough delta v to hit the sun.
Do any countries have nukes on satellites in orbit?
It is just possible, but highly unlikely, that the nations with both nuclear weapons and space launch capability (Us, Russia, China) have cheated and have hidden nukes on satellites in orbit.
What is an initial submarine launched missile?
Initial Submarine Launched (Ballistic) Missiles tended to also be surface launch missiles. The best example of these were the Soviet submarines of the Zulu class with their seaborne Scud missiles. But this system was extremely limited if not crude. The eventual goal was a system that kept the submarine underwater at all times.
Are there missiles that can destroy satellites?
Yes, there are missiles that are designed to destroy satellites. The missile above successfully destroyed a defunct U.S. spy satellite with the designation USA-193 after its failed launch.