What if We Nuke the Moon?

what would happen if we were to detonate

a very very powerful nuclear weapon on

the moon would the explosion knock its

orbit towards Earth causing tidal waves

and misery could the moon be destroyed

showering the Earth in a rain of

meteoric

[Music]

death during the Cold War the moon was a

major Target for space exploration and

you know military bases so the US Air

Force commissioned a serious study into

the effects of a nuclear detonation on

the surface of the Moon but just quoting

stuff is boring so let's conduct a very

important scientific experiment with an

imaginary 100 Megaton thermonuclear

Warhead about twice as powerful as the

most powerful bomb ever detonated we'll

also place a number of curious

astronauts around the Moon as observers

let's push the button and slow down time

for the first few milliseconds nothing

much happens outside our weapon

meanwhile inside High explosives send a

shock wave to a radioactive metal core

compressing it so much that it reaches

criticality and starts a nuclear fishing

Chain Reaction the 100 million Dee

plasma created in this first stage sets

off the second stage with atomic nuclei

fusing like they do in the core of a

star very briefly our weapon contains

one of the the hottest places in the

universe and only now barely 10

milliseconds later does the rest of the

universe find out that anything has

happened as suddenly the bomb dissolves

and a flaming star of nuclear death is

born so far so good but everything that

happens now is very different from what

we're used to on Earth because of one

major difference there's no

atmosphere as the fireball shines it

releases a flash of X-rays and thermal

photons a wave of silent heat which

rushes outwards in all directions on

Earth this heat would Char and burn

everything within a 50 km radius at

least but on the moon without an

atmosphere and oxygen rich air there's

no burning at all also there are no

things to burn the crunchy top soil of

the moon is made from silicate Rock and

metals chewed to dust by eons of

meteorite impacts mixed with tiny traces

of water when heated by the explosion

x-rays from the fireball vaporize a thin

cloud of Rock from the lunar surface

while the Unlucky dust that's inside the

fireball melts into glass any astronauts

watching the show within about 50 km can

expect to be fried and now we begin to

see one of the biggest differences

between explosions in space and on Earth

on Earth the atmosphere fights back

against the plasma bubble its expansion

is violently stopped within Moments by

the pressure of the atmosphere but this

is not good news as the fireball Rams

the atmosphere it it produces the most

destructive part of a nuclear explosion

on Earth the shock wave compressed air

around the explosion rushes out faster

than the speed of sound shattering

buildings and roaring so loud it

ruptures organs but on the moon there is

no shock wave no atmosphere means

nothing to impede the expanding

explosion in space on the moon the

fireball just grows in Airy silence as

there's no atmosphere to stop it or to

give it a voice this would be an amazing

thing to watch from a safe distance

unfortunately there's hardly any safe

viewing distance for a nuclear explosion

on the moon without an atmosphere

weakening the deadly ionizing radiation

that can scramble DNA anyone close

enough to get a good look will be

exposed to fatal amounts of radiation

but of course that's not all while all

of this happens the explosion hammers

against the moon transferring about a

tenth of the explosion energy into

seismic waves powering an intense

moonquake the Moon is much smaller than

the Earth and our astronauts will feel

an inescapable violent shaking no matter

where they're standing comparable to an

earthquake of seven on the r to scale

this shaking could seriously damage or

even level infrastructure we might have

built anywhere on the moon those who hit

on The Far Side of the Moon would have

no idea it was an exposion the quaking

would feel like an asteroid the size of

the Great Pyramid had struck and it's

not over yet where our bomb explodes the

ground splatters like water when a rock

strikes a pond

as the explosion pushes against the

surface it may excavate as much as 100

million cubic M of dust and rock forming

a crater a km across while Bedrock is

pulverized to Rubble debris is shot into

the sky in every direction again without

an atmosphere there's no drag to slow

any of it down much of the debris

scattered never returns to the Moon

flying off faster than escape velocity a

flurry of microm meteorites have been

cast off to explore or the solar system

many of which will rain down on the

earth though few will be larger than

Pebbles any satellite astronaut or space

station in the way though will have a

really bad time microm meteorites are

launched at many speeds and angles

allowing them to spread all over the

surface of the Moon like bullets they'll

punch through our curious astronauts no

matter where they

stand finally our explosion comes to an

end on Earth the fireball Rises like a

hot a balloon forming a sort of stalk as

it reaches up cooler air is drawn in

around it rounding the top into a

mushroom cloud but on the moon well you

know by now no atmosphere no mushroom

the larger the plasma gets the cooler it

becomes and the less energy it has to

make interesting or terrifying things

happen within seconds of pulling the

trigger the bubble reddens and Fades

from view it would be visible from the

earth like a star flickering to life

only to fade out right away a spark and

then nothing as The Cloud of tiny debris

reaches far above the surface of the

Moon it's illuminated by the Sun for a

few minutes giving it an eerie Beauty

for anyone left to observe the

spectacle what about the moon's orbit

it's basically unchanged trying to move

the moon with a nuke is like trying to

move a truck by blowing on it nuclear

explosions may be big but space is

bigger our Mighty explosion just leaves

another Ator one among

Millions still anyone on the moon will

continue to not enjoy themselves the

material that ends up raining back to

the Moon is radioactive and without any

natural processes to wash it away or

bury it the surface of the Moon will

remain contaminated although fortunately

the worst of the radiation will have

decayed to a level comparable to Natural

levels from cosmic rays in about a year

in conclusion we can say with confidence

that while the moon itself does not care

about being m and we'll barely notice

using the moon as a nuclear test ground

kind of ruins it for everyone trying to

spend some time there or to build

something useful so maybe we should just

not do that