What would happen if you detonated a nuclear bomb at the bottom of the ocean?

We have a lot of nukes. But the ocean has a LOT of water. The explosion would make a tsunami, and that tsunami would kill people. If we drop these in the Mariana Trench (the deepest spot in the oceans) there's a chance that the tsunami would kill millions of people.

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What would happen if a nuke exploded at the bottom of the ocean?

Unless it breaks the water surface while still a hot gas bubble, an underwater nuclear explosion leaves no trace at the surface but hot, radioactive water rising from below. This is always the case with explosions deeper than about 2,000 ft (610 m).

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Can you survive a nuclear bomb in the ocean?

Nope. Water, being incompressible, propagates a blast wave much more readily than air. Water would provide more protection from radiation but much less protection from a blast. Putting a concrete wall between you and the blast or getting below mean ground level would serve you better.

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Are there nukes at the bottom of the ocean?

The anomaly was down to naturally occurring radiation from minerals in the seabed. So for now, the US' three lost hydrogen bombs – and, at the very least, a number of Soviet torpedoes – belong to the ocean, preserved as monuments to the risks of nuclear war, though they have largely been forgotten.

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Could a nuke in the ocean cause a tsunami?

Conceivably tsunami waves can also be generated from very large nuclear explosions. However, no tsunami of any significance has ever resulted from the testing of nuclear weapons in the past.

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What If You Detonated a Nuclear Bomb In The Marianas Trench? (Science not Fantasy)

23 related questions found

What is a Poseidon bomb?

In January 2023, the Russian news agency TASS reported that Russia had produced the first set of nuclear-powered, very long range, nuclear-armed torpedoes known as “Poseidon.” Strategic experts are warning that the Poseidon torpedo would have the potential to devastate a coastal city, cause radioactive floods, and ...

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How big would a tsunami be if an asteroid hit the ocean?

A 250 meter asteroid would result in less than a a 10 meter high tsunami after 60 km of travel, a 500 meter asteroid would result in a 100 meter high wave after 30 km of travel and in a 10 meter high tsunami after 200 km of travel, a 1 km diameter asteroid would run 80 km before the tsunami wave amplitude was less than ...

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How many nukes are missing in the ocean?

FARO, Wayne County — United States military leaders have admitted to losing six nuclear weapons since 1950. Unsealed documents show one is in the Mediterranean Sea, two are in the Pacific Ocean, two in the Atlantic Ocean and one is in Eastern North Carolina.

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How many nukes are at the bottom of the ocean?

For those keeping count, at least two nuclear capsules, four unarmed weapons, and one armed nuclear weapon are currently sitting at the bottom of the sea.

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Is the bottom of the ocean radioactive?

“The ocean is quite radioactive, much more so than rivers,” she says. “Sodium and chloride make it salty, but that is also caused by other major ions such as potassium. Potassium 40 makes the ocean very radioactive.

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Which countries would survive a nuclear war?

The study published in the journal Risk Analysis describes Australia, New Zealand, Iceland, Solomon Islands and Vanuatu as the island countries most capable of producing enough food for their populations after an “abrupt sunlight‐reducing catastrophe” such as a nuclear war, super volcano or asteroid strike.

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What to do if a nuke is coming?

Stay inside. Stay tuned. GET INSIDE: If warned of the possibility of a radiation hazard, immediately get inside the nearest building and move away from windows. Put as many walls between you and the outside to protect you from the radiation outside.

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How long would it take for radiation to clear after a nuclear war?

For the survivors of a nuclear war, this lingering radiation hazard could represent a grave threat for as long as 1 to 5 years after the attack. Predictions of the amount and levels of the radioactive fallout are difficult because of several factors.

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Do nukes explode when they hit the ground?

These weapons are set off by fuses that are activated when the weapon strikes the ground or something equally hard, such as a concrete building, or otherwise detonated at the surface. In the context of a nuclear weapon, a ground burst is a detonation on the ground, in shallow water, or below the fallout-free altitude.

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What happens if you shoot a nuke down?

If an interceptor missile actually destroys a nuclear missile in mid-air, it could cause a plutonium or uranium core to fall to the ground. This causes the radiation to fall on the surface and propagate.

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What was the largest explosion in history?

Detonated by the Soviet Union on October 30, 1961, Tsar Bomba is the largest nuclear device ever detonated and the most powerful man-made explosion in history.

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How many nukes are enough to destroy Earth?

It would take just three nuclear warheads to destroy one of the 4,500 cities on Earth, meaning 13,500 bombs in total, which would leave 1,500 left. 15,000 warheads are the equivalent of 3 billions tons of TNT and 15x the energy of the Krakatoa volcano, the most powerful volcanic eruption ever.

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How many nukes are left?

As of 2022, about 12,700 nuclear warheads are still estimated to be in use, of which more than 9,400 are in military stockpiles for use by missiles, aircraft, ships and submarines.

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Where is the biggest nuke in the world?

Tsar Bomba, (Russian: “King of Bombs”) , byname of RDS-220, also called Big Ivan, Soviet thermonuclear bomb that was detonated in a test over Novaya Zemlya island in the Arctic Ocean on October 30, 1961. The largest nuclear weapon ever set off, it produced the most powerful human-made explosion ever recorded.

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What's the difference between atomic bomb and nuclear bomb?

So, atomic bombs are a kind of nuclear bomb that only utilize nuclear fission. The other type of nuclear bombs are thermonuclear bombs, also known as hydrogen bombs, which use the process of nuclear fusion to some degree.

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Is Hiroshima still radioactive?

The answer is a definitive no. After the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombs, residual radiation was left behind but this declined rapidly. According to the city of Hiroshima local government website, research has indicated that 80 percent of residual radiation was emitted within 24 hours of the bombing.

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What is the largest nukes ever dropped?

The Tsar Bomba is the single most physically powerful device ever deployed on Earth, the most powerful nuclear bomb tested and the largest human-made explosion in history. For comparison, the largest weapon ever produced by the US, the now-decommissioned B41, had a predicted maximum yield of 25 Mt (100 PJ).

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How tall was the tsunami that killed the dinosaurs?

Scientists estimate the waves reached an unfathomable 2.5 miles high as they crashed into the land masses of the day — particularly what would have roughly been considered the Gulf Coast. The catastrophe is considered 30,000 times larger than any other recorded event.

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How big was the asteroid that killed the dinosaurs?

When the 6-mile-wide asteroid that led to dinosaur extinction hit Earth 66 million years ago, the impact also triggered a “mega-earthquake” that lasted weeks to months, new evidence suggests.

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