How dense would the atmosphere need to be to result in a cataclysmic chain reaction during a nuclear explosion? (lemm.ee)

submitted 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago) by becausechemistry@lemm.ee to c/askscience@lemmy.world

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Famously, Oppenheimer and co worked out how close a nuclear bomb test would be to causing a chain reaction of nitrogen fusion in the atmosphere. They made a lot of worst-case-scenario assumptions and still came to the conclusion that no, a nuclear bomb test wouldn’t scour the surface of the world.

But let’s say the atmosphere was twice as dense as it is. Or ten times as dense. At what point would that calculation turn very, very scary?

Obligatory xkcd

Edit: man, seriously, most of the people ‘answering’ this question didn’t even read it.

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[-] lurch@sh.itjust.works 4 points 6 months ago

i think the idea is that the part that already fused creates a blast wave that could create the conditions, including preassure required for more fusion. i have no idea if it's possible though.

this post was submitted on 09 Jun 2024

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