How would a nuclear explosion react in space?

Question

And also, how do you think a nuclear explosion would react near the event horizon of a black hole?

Would nuclear fusion and fission react the same way in space?

warchild when you say a nuclear explosion would react the same way in space as on land, what do you mean? It wouldn't make a mushroom cloud, and the radiation would react in a weird way.

Answer 1

A hydrogen bomb would be about 1/1000 of its power in space with no other atoms around it to react with because it works off of the reaction of the atoms from the warheads radioactive core smashing together with other atoms like helium which is released in the reaction, and with no gravity to pull on the smoke, and no air to produce a shock wave you would get a bright flash then radiation hitting you at near the speed of light> mostly gamma rays. But this radiation is nothing of that compaired to what is given off by heavenly bodies like quazars and stars. As for a Depleted Plutionium bombs Also known as Atom Bombs( Depleted Plutionium is uranium that has been used up in nuclear power plants and become more dence and then refined(cleaned) to weapons grade(done because more dence means more particals for reaction)) it will make a larger bang in space then that a hydrogen bomb (given they are the same Kilo,mega,Gigaton rating ,although, hydrogen bombs are far easier and smaller to make in the higher gigaton zone>takes less radioactive material). They will give off more alpha and beta particals>more radiation, because of it using its own warhead mass as fuel but it would still be far weaker in space because of lack of air/other reactants ect. but would still look pretty.
And then for if you were to set them off by a blackhole well first you have to ask if you are in with the gravity time dilation theory which says as you get to a body with enough gravity and mass that time accually slows. This means it might take a a really long time to do anything or for its shereical partical wave to expand. So given that and that a blackhole with be ripping at any particals near it even atoms in a nuclear reaction it will either shorten the reaction or have a long chain of particals going into the center of the blackhole. But you also have to think about what the hole has been sucking up maybe you would start a chain reaction or it will just be swallowed up like the stars they eat all the time. Either way you would have a hard time seeing it because of it sucking in all the light right away anyway.
Well thats my take on it.

Answer 2

in space, there would be no sound, and the explosion would be the same as it were on land, though i doubt the radiation would still exist.

Near the event horizon of a black hole, the explosion would take place much longer, because gravity is so strong time is slowed down there. Also, the particles in the bomb that explode would fall towards the black hole immediately, before moving outwards.

The laws of physics do not change anywhere in the universe. Therefore, nuclear fusion and fission would react the same exact way in space. Matter of fact, the vacuum of space would have no effect on the reactions.

Answer 3

The detonation of a nuclear warhead in deep space, where the gravitational field is extremely weak, would produce a spherical pressure wave that would expand outwards at great velocity. Every type of radiation given off by the fusion of atoms would cause the area affected to increase in volume very quickly, as the radiation would be traveling at the speed of light. The pressure wave would be very intense initially, but would decrease inversely with the distance from the detonation. So the farther away from the blast that you were, the degree of the effects that you would experience would be less. But, as there is very little in interstellar space to slow down the wave, you would have to get VERY far from the blast area before you were at a safe distance. There would be no fire typical of Earth conditions, as there is essentially no oxygen in space to sustain chemical burning. There would however be copious amounts of both visible light, and other forms of energetic radiation expelled--x-ray, ultraviolet, even gamma rays if the blast were powerful enough. Possibly even sound waves, but that's another story altogether. As to the premise of a nuclear detonation at the event horizon of a black hole, as stated previously, such an explosion would assume a fairly spherical volume. However, I am not sure what sort of dimension an event horizon takes, i.e. I don't know if it is one sided, so you can only see it/get to it from one direction (imagine a dark black circle drawn on a sheet of white paper--you can see the circle/event horizon from only one side of the paper), or if it can be seen/approached from both sides (imagine a donut, known as a torus--you can see both sides of it and go through it from either side). This would be important in the answer to your question, as this would impact how much of the radiation would be subsumed by the gravity of the black hole, and how much of it would be able to escape. The varying angles of a two-dimensional object versus a three-dimensional object would alter the vectors of the radiation/particulate matter expelled from the blast.

Answer 4

If we're talking about a hydrogen bomb, you'd get a big, spherical explosion of highly energized helium particles, rather like an exeedingly heavy solar flare.

If you used a uranium or plutonium bomb, you'd get a similar explosoin, but you'd end up with a cloud of radioactive heavy particles and swarms of nuetrons.

There really isn't a lot of data about how things work "near" an event horizon, but there dosn't seem to be any compelling reason to believe that the explosion would be any different. Of couse, if it went off very near to the black hole, then we wouldn't be able to see it.

Answer 5

Hi...
Quite a simple answer for this!
As we know there is no atmosphere in outer space,a nuclear explosion even if occurs wud break down or burst out the crator nearby it depending on the force and power of the explosion.And those broken pieces wud move on in space by their respective rotational or revolutional orbits.And as for the smoke...it wud turn to crystalline substance wich wud gradually become firm by time!
And if it were in the Black hole...since NASA has bn unable to discover much about it...u can say tht Black Hole wud jst suck it up b4 even the explosion cud occur!!!
Adios-Sur

Answer 6

yeah, not much considering the size of space it could cause minor damage to the surface of nearby planets when i say minor i mean it also there is no oxygen to power it
take a nuclear explosion on earth, they are so powerfull because the air around the explosion cant get sucked in enough

Answer 7

A nuke would just be a short-lived sun, whether near earth or a black hole. The black hole would require a longer-lived explosion to show anything different.

Answer 8

Good question.

There's no air to expand a billionfold and create huge pressure. No flammable material to burn. It would just appear as a huge white light - no fireball of any kind.

Just radiation. I guess the radiation would have some pressure. The sun's radiation exerts pressure, so I guess this would.

Answer 9

we as there is no oxygen in space plus very low pressure ,so there would be no explosion only some light will be emitted just after a sec it will disapear

Answer 10

well the sun is sort of a reactor isnt it, i think on the edge of a black hole it would just get sucked in and no one would know it happened.