Worldbuilding

Questions tagged [explosions]

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For questions that refer in general to the violent expenditure of energy in a specific area that is typically referred to as an explosion.

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4
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1answer
82 views

is it possible for biological creature to spew/breath explosion instead?

i want to make my dragon spew/breath explosion mix with the gizzard stone fragments/shrapnel rather than common fire breath like a flamethrower but more like a shotgun. so is there any explosion ...
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4answers
146 views

Drawbacks of my Catastrophe Inhibitor

Warning lots of text ahead. The fluff: The story uses a Catastrophe Inhibitor (CatIn) to stop nukes, orbital bombardment and other such weapons from being the go-to method of defeating everything on ...
7
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3answers
358 views

How could a charge-type breath weapon work?

Charge-type breath weapon: Creatures with this type shoot singular, high-damage, high-precision "charges" of (insert dragon's element here) that explode upon contact. Examples: Toothless from the ...
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3answers
313 views

Is antimatter boosted nuclear weapon theoretically possible?

Are there any fundamental obstacles to using a nuclear explosion as a trigger for antimatter generation and thus considerably increasing the yield?
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7answers
300 views

How would a character build an explosive from natural elements?

A character is on an alien planet that is very much like any one of our large deserts. Sort of a Tatooine like on Star Wars. He needs to cause a diversion. There aren't any explosives on planet of ...
4
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1answer
169 views

Would conventional explosives work differently under denser atmosphere?

Would conventional explosives work differently under denser atmosphere? (If yes in any noticeable way, then how to roughly calculate the difference) Possible clarifications: normal, conventional ...
1
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1answer
126 views

Is there a formula for scaling explosive detonation velocity? (Supernova level) [closed]

For context, I’m planning a novel with as much ridiculous magic as ridiculous science so, yes I know, it’s impossible but bear with me. There is a supermassive black hole that weighs 1 trillion solar ...
12
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8answers
3k views

How would an energy-based “projectile” blow up a spaceship?

I have noticed this in many fictions: during a battle between spaceships exchanging fire in empty space, a pulse of laser fire hits the hull and the entire spaceship explodes into many pieces. Is ...
10
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2answers
186 views

Fortifications capable of withstanding atmosphere-clearing blast

On the Atomic Rockets site, there is a series of handy tables, the first of which is aptly named "The Boom Table", providing examples for a wide range of energy releases (in both Joules and TNT ...
58
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8answers
10k views

Does a grenade kill you the same way a gun does?

Disclaimer This seems a particularly stupid question, but the more I think about it, the less trivial I find it. Worldbuilding possess the most appropriate tags. It does not fit in physics-network ...
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3answers
20k views

Let’s say a 1 ton (US) sphere of tungsten moving at 99.99% the speed of light hits earth, what happens? As specific as possible

What kind of destruction would it cause? I’m assuming it’d be rather significant, could it shatter a tectonic plate? The crust? How would the oceans fare? Would the planet be able to catch the ...
11
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2answers
2k views

How much hydrogen and oxygen can I add to an atmosphere before it explodes?

Hydrogen and oxygen gases can be combined to form water and a lot of heat. As with many exothermic reactions, the heat from this process can provide activation energy to the reaction of more H2 with ...
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2answers
220 views

Can a planet with chaotic rotation have more than one ring rotating in differents axis? [duplicate]

Let's say that planet earth have a big explosion . An explosion generated in earth big enough to change the planet shape. Making earth having a chaotic rotation like Hyperion leaving water and rocks ...
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2answers
131 views

How would a colossal explosion affect an ocean-based planet?

In my book series, a space station called the T-Ray that is capable of causing explosions the size of the Chixculub impact explosion just fired at a planet that is completely covered by a massive ...
11
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10answers
5k views

Could a super high pressure canister act as a bomb?

Imagine a metal canister capable of holding massive amounts of air or some other compressible substance. If it were filled with enormous amounts of said fluid and dropped from a plane, how destructive ...
7
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4answers
1k views

Would an explosion or energy discharge permeate to other spatial dimensions?

Let's assume there are more than 3 spatial dimension, for example 4 (the 4th not beeing time, but spatial) Would a common energy discharge, explosion etc. affect the 4th dimension? I am not sure if ...
6
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2answers
155 views

Explosive jellyfish

Could a creature like this exist? Jellyfish or cephalopod-like creatures that live in 'swarms' underwater. They float aimlessly around in a net formation. When one member detects prey below the ...
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7answers
7k views

How would skeptics know that a single-engine plane could not destroy a falling meteor?

So I'm writing a story and decided to use Hida Furukawa as the location. It has a high school with a field of 650 ft that theoretically could be used for a small aircraft to be use to take off. In the ...
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1answer
145 views

Reason to stay on a doomed spaceship [closed]

For plot reasons, the captain must stay on the ship while his crew (including his wife) get in escape pods and leave. Unfortunately we haven't found a satisfying reason for this yet. What engine or ...
6
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4answers
576 views

Are there size constraints to Time Bubbles?

I'm creating various artificial Time Bubbles in my universe where time flows faster or slower inside a specified area, typically depicted as a semi-transparent bubble. Before developing any more ...
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2answers
99 views

Accuracy of a timed fuse manufactured by a stone-age tribe

So, having discovered gunpowder, my stone-age tribe needs some timed fuses for their explosive arrows and landmines. However, I am unsure of how accurate their fuses would be. The quality of their ...
27
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11answers
6k views

How to create stone-age landmines?

So, an island-dwelling stone-age tribe has discovered gunpowder and invaded several neighboring islands using their explosive arrows. However, a coalition of enemy tribes has formed in response to ...
42
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12answers
8k views

How to trigger explosive arrows?

So, I have a small tribe of island people with stone-age technology who have discovered how to make gunpowder. However, they want to make war on the neighboring islands, and they need a delivery ...
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2answers
153 views

Thermobaric weapons in dense atmospheres

Would thermobaric weapons be more or less effective in a denser atmosphere of another planet? On one hand the shockwaves would be harder because of the more tightly compressed air. On the other hand ...
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4answers
170 views

If the world were blown to pieces, what would remain?

My question involves the earth being blown up using theoretical dark energy. In this scenario, the crust and mantle are destroyed by precisely placed weapons so that all that remains is the core. ...
2
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2answers
285 views

Power Armoring the Marines against blasts

The scenario: Near future robotics technology has an energy storage breakthrough, and one of the many implications is battery operated powered suits of armor become a viable technology for soldiers ...
6
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2answers
181 views

How could gunpowder be inventable/refinable, but not percussion cap primers, with the least collateral damage to the world?

While gunpowder has been rightly characterized as one of the greatest leaps forward in the lethality of weapons, guns required some companion inventions to become the dominant small arms weapon system ...
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3answers
290 views

Could intelligent life live on the remains of an exploded planet?

If an Earthlike planet were fragmented into thousands of fragments (ranging in size from many small city sized rocks up to a dozens of small country sized rocks and a few Australia sized rocks) via a ...
5
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1answer
376 views

How hard is it to shatter the moon?

After seeing this question, I wondered what weapon of choice (and, logically, the grand scale of energy amount) is needed to shatter the moon. Let's take our moon, the Moon, the natural satellite of ...
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14answers
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What are the risks with massive banks of batteries/capacitors?

In redesigning a large number of my ships, I've decided that having larger ships generate enough power for FTL was too convenient and made balancing the factions varied FTL methods difficult (both for ...
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5answers
390 views

Can a planet's axial tilt be changed by carefully planned and set high-energy explosions?

How powerful would a series of explosions have to be to significantly change a planet's axial tilt? In my universe they have highly energy efficient crystals, not only do they store energy but they ...
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13answers
8k views

How can I create explosions without using oxygen?

TL,DR: Kinetic weapons are great at taking down shields, but can't take out the hull. I need an explosive that works in a vacuum to take out the hull. Nukes are out, since they'll hit the atmosphere ...
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2answers
126 views

What is the best way to exploit gunpowder in medieval tech without killing anyone? [closed]

The story: you are a random medieval fake druid (there is no real magic, only fakes like you) but by accident you stumble upon gunpowder. What is the best way for you to exploit your new invention ...
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1answer
137 views

How to blow up an alien skyscraper? [closed]

In the story a group of people needs to bring down a huge alien skyscraper (I have intended it to be around two (2) miles high but I can modify this based on the answers). Note that the alien ...
3
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1answer
205 views

what are the chances of a ring surviving in an explosion [closed]

There is a magic ring which was given to Sifar (a prince). Later there was an battle on his castle and when he was running for shelter he got killed in a magic explosion which landed 12 feet away (on ...
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6answers
479 views

How to stop an asteroid from hitting Earth without nukes?

You are in charge of the world, with technology about the same as we have now, except that a while back the leaders of the world decided that nukes are too powerful, so they destroyed them all and ...
3
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2answers
357 views

How many thermonuclear bombs needed to make a hole from the surface to the Mantle of a planet that is the same size as planet Earth?

Background info: The explosion is a simultaneous detonation only. Assume starting level is ~500 feet above sea level. By Mantle, I mean the outer edge. The explosion doesn't necessarily need to ...
5
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2answers
361 views

Can underwater Atlanteans make explosives without coming onto dry land?

Is it possible for under water Atlanteans to make explosives? These Atlanteans have no magic but do have gills. They look like normal people other than the gills and webbed hands and feet. They ...
42
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7answers
10k views

What's the largest body in the solar system that you could destroy without endangering humanity?

You're an alien that really likes pyrotechnics. Nothing that goes boom on your home planet (in a safe and responsible manner) satisfies you any more. Why not blow up a planet and see what that's ...
0
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6answers
436 views

Would it be possible to fire an explosive cannonball, similar to an artillery shell, using stone age technology?

Ignoring how the stone age people acquired gunpowder (see this question), and manufactured cannons, (see this question) would it be possible for them to produce and fire effective shells made of stone ...
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4answers
201 views

Is a long lasting volatile compound that ignites/explodes on contact realistic?

So the desired result is a compound that can be left in relatively isolated area, isolated such that weather has no direct affect on the area, and that will ignite/explode when touched, even after ...
38
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20answers
12k views

How would someone destroy a dam in a world without explosives?

I'm considering the mechanics of a "shock and awe" scene in my novel which could see an old dam being brought down. The era is equivalent to that of the middle Roman empire, so introducing explosives ...
17
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8answers
2k views

What explosives could a small stone-age island nation feasibly discover?

I am building a world with a small island nation trying to defend themselves against a large continent with medieval (1200-1300) level technology. They lack metal and use obsidian and stone for ...
3
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2answers
444 views

What's strongest non-nuclear explosive I can make with nanotechnology?

Can I use nanotechnology to make the strongest possible non-nuclear explosive (when compared to the equal amounts of other explosives) or are we already at the peak-level of what can be achieved with ...
1
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3answers
228 views

D&D Campaign - Closing off a Mountain Pass with Explosives

I am writing my second D&D 5e home-brewed campaign. As with most D&D campaigns, this is set in medieval (like) times. In this adventure, the party is sent to aid a new settlement from a ...
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2answers
239 views

Will modern grenade explode if it strapped into a remote detonated explosive of same size or larger?

Imagine you are give the power to create/summon explosive munitions of any type (with detonators of course) however you are limited on how much you can summon at any moment (1 per 5 seconds and a ...
0
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1answer
412 views

How realistic is the sun screen communication tactic in the Dark Forest, Three Body Problem?

This question is about a phenomenon in the Dark Forest, part of the Three Body Problem science-fiction trilogy often considered 'hard science'. Be warned: there are major spoilers below for those who ...
24
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6answers
8k views

How realistic are explosive collars?

They are relatively rare in fiction but there are a few interesting examples, in fact I even remember reading about one in real life. I would like mine to be small and light (say less than 0.9 kg and ...
7
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1answer
544 views

How big would a balloon have to be for the shockwave to kill you? [closed]

I'm writing a tragedy in which my main character runs away using a giant balloon. Just as he realizes his folly, and decides it's time to return from whence he came, the balloon pops. I want him to ...
51
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10answers
13k views

Are endothermic bombs possible?

Explosives as we know them are exothermic: they produce heat and light, or, in other words, energy is expelled. Let's consider endothermic bombs: weapons that, upon detonation, consume heat and / or ...

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