Since an object with mass accelerated to lightspeed would have infinite energy; if you launched a nuclear missile to lightspeed and detonated it, would the entire universe be destroyed.
Even though accelerating objects to lightspeed is currently impossible, suppose accelerating to 99.999% lightspeed, would that cause almost complete destruction of the universe?
2007-06-08 16:09:43 · 8 answers · asked by Fancy Mc Pants 1 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Physics
well thats a weird question, but
u cant detonate a bomb after it turned to energy, thats what i think.
even if u cant(which u cant), what theory supports the destruction of the universe???
this question is nonsense
2007-06-08 16:15:48 · answer #1 · answered by M!z0 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I don't see the point of accelerating a nuclear weapon. The kinetic energy of anything of substantial size gives you something called a Kinetic Energy Weapon. These are terribly destructive. At 99.999% the speed of light, the explosive (or destructive) effects of that mass would exceed the nuclear fusion detonation.
In fact, I suspect that something (say weighing 500kg) at that speed would create something close to a fusion effect. At that speed I would save money on the plutonium, and simply use a rock.
However, the energy required to do this would add quite a few cents to my electricity bill.
2007-06-08 17:11:34 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
No. Obviously, nothing can be accelerated to the speed of light. But any macroscopic object traveling at 99.999% of the speed of light will have substantial kinetic energy, and although that energy will be large compared to the nuclear energy of the explosion if the bomb is detonated, it won't be all THAT large. Of course, all the kinetic energy would have to be supplied from some huge source of energy.
2007-06-08 16:17:45 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
No, that would increase the kinetic energy of the bomb (by a huge amount), so ramming it into something would do much more damage than ramming it into something at a smaller speed. However, this question is based on a faulty assumption. Increasing the velocity of an explosive does not increase it's chemical (or nuclear, in this case) energy. The actual explosion would be the same yield.
2007-06-08 17:00:35 · answer #4 · answered by incorrigible_misanthrope 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Goodness, no. Accelerating the bomb to 99.999% lightspeed would increase its yield by a factor of about 224. Hardly enough to destroy the whole universe.
As a rule of thumb, each time you add an extra "9" to the end of that percentage, the energy goes up by a factor of about 3.16. So, for example, "99.9999%" would increase the bomb's yield by 224*3.16 = 708. You need to add a whole lot of 9's to destroy the universe.
2007-06-08 16:36:56 · answer #5 · answered by RickB 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
No, theoretically, because you have to imagine a more violent series of events has happened in some point in time (15 billion years) of the ENTIRE universe. And the universe is just fine. Besides a sun has many nuclear explosions going on all the time, so it would not be hard to imagine an extremely fast, extremely powerful blast has occured elsewhere and in another time (or maybe right now?).
2007-06-08 16:49:57 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Well as I'm not too sure that that works out correctly, I am sure that there's no way we'd be able to get something that heavy CLOSE to 99.999% lightspeed. Nothing within the next oh... 200 years anyway.
2007-06-08 16:16:58 · answer #7 · answered by Smoke[MaxX] 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
uhh... no...
kinda a random question doncha think???
2007-06-10 13:41:19 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋