Why do NUKES blind you when they go off?

Question

As depicted in movie and games, how come nukes have a sharp, quick, white light go off and blind you? Does this really happen? A explanation will earn you your points.

Answer 1

They give off a lot of their energy in the light spectrum. And that means enough to fry your eyes.

They also emit heat and radiation as cosmic rays and particles.

Answer 2

I believe you are refering to what is called "flashblindness". Depending on distance and viewing angle, the bright flash of the detonation can bleach the optic nerves (the rods and cones) and cause temporary blindness. The duration of the blindness varies depending on many conditions such as time of day, atmospheric conditions and viewing angle. Viewing a detonation on a clear night for instance would likely produce longer durations of blindness due to the pupil being opened in a wider position. Also direct viewing of a detonation can cause retnal burns, which are a more severe and permenant injury. This type of injury can occur even if the person is outside the immediate danger zone of the blast. For example, a 1 megaton blast at an altitude of 25 miles on a clear night can cause retnal burns on observers out to the horizon line.

Answer 3

The high temperatures and pressures cause gas to move outward radially in a thin, dense shell called "the hydrodynamic front." The front acts like a piston that pushes against and compresses the surrounding medium to make a spherically expanding shock wave. At first, this shock wave is inside the surface of the developing fireball, which is created in a volume of air by the X-rays. However, within a fraction of a second the dense shock front obscures the fireball, making the characteristic double pulse of light seen from a nuclear detonation.

Answer 4

Nukes blind you for the same reason the sun blinds you - extreme quantity of electro-magnetic radiation.

Thats not fiction either, lol.

BTW heat, light, microwaves, x-rays, etc are ALL electromagnetic radiation. Nukes give them all off in HUGE quantities all at once.

Answer 5

Yes, when a nuke goes off the energy is given off as heat, light, and radiation. It is not a joke when they say that your shadow gets burned on to a wall

Answer 6

It cooks the stuff in your eyes like an egg in a microwave. The nerves are fried and dead. It really can happen. If you're close enough, you get vaporized. I'm a military fiction author and know a lot about nuclear weapons so feel free to ask me if you have any other questions.

Answer 7

If your close enough to see the blinding flash and not in a jet flying away it won't matter, your dead.

The flash is from the nuclear reaction creating an explosion. Since light travels faster than speed, you see it first then will hear it and feel its effects.

Answer 8

are you kidding me...do you understand anything about nuclear energy...imagine putting a lil piece of the sun on the earth when one goes off...

it is so exponentially powerful that it can turn sand into glass for ten miles around the impact zone alone...word is, that with todays nuclear hydrogen powered explosions, 'that if you can see the explotion' chances are, your not going to survive it.

Answer 9

the strong white light is unnatural to our sensitive eyes. Think about welders....that is just a little spark in comparison and if they dont; where a face mask they will go blind.

Answer 10

Blind you? LOL The bombs we have today will disintegrate you if you are close enough to see the flash...........