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I just heard that we could blow up the world three times over with nukes nowadays, and we could do it eleven times over during the cold war. Are these numbers real, or made up?

Made up. Completely made up.

They probably meant "kill everything 3/11 times over", and even that takes into account vastly overrated nuclear winter effects.

During the Cold War, we could have seriously fucked ourselves over for the most part. Nuclear weapons were probably targeted only at major strategic points even if there are billions.

Cal Wright wrote:During the Cold War, we could have seriously fucked ourselves over for the most part. Nuclear weapons were probably targeted only at major strategic points even if there are billions.

The USSR was thought to have targetted every major airfield, seaport and reasonably-size small city that was not in the USSR itself.

It's currently impossible for us to actually destroy the world.

Straha wrote:I just heard that we could blow up the world three times over with nukes nowadays, and we could do it eleven times over during the cold war. Are these numbers real, or made up?

Hyperbole. Even during the height of the Cold War, the total world nuclear arsenal was measured in the thousands of megatons, whereas you need around a billion megatons to wipe out all complex life on Earth. The "dino-killer" asteroid was estimated at roughly 100 million megatons.

Of course, to actually "blow up" the entire planet, you'd need at least 50 quadrillion megatons, and you'd have to detonate all of the nukes at the core, and you'd have to achieve 100% conversion of EM to kinetic energy in the process, and you'd need to have even distribution of kinetic energy in the planet's mass. Multiply that by another million or so if you want to make it really blow up like Alderaan.

It is impossible to blow up the Earth using present technology or technology from the forseeable future.

Recently uncovered files from the Soviet Union reveal they had quite an advanced space program far beyond the capacity anyone thought them capable. Note the following file photo of a Soviet weapon approaching Earth:



Old link: http://www.alianzadelsur.org.ar/nuevo/i ... estre3.jpg

[Link changed for those people who can't seem to make it work- DW]

Link does not work.

evilcat4000 wrote:Link does not work.

Yes it does, it's a picture of the Death Star approaching Earth. Your ISP must suck.

Darth Wong wrote:

evilcat4000 wrote:Link does not work.

Yes it does, it's a picture of the Death Star approaching Earth. Your ISP must suck.

You do not have access to this document

This is the message I get.

Darth Wong wrote:

evilcat4000 wrote:Link does not work.

Yes it does, it's a picture of the Death Star approaching Earth. Your ISP must suck.

So does mine.
But I knew what it was a pic of from the context.

evilcat4000 wrote:

You do not have access to this document

This is the message I get.

Are you using Insecure Explorer?

I didn't see it the first two times, but the third time I did.

Darth Wong wrote:

evilcat4000 wrote:

You do not have access to this document

This is the message I get.

Are you using Insecure Explorer?

Unfortunately yes. I am using Internet Explorer 6.0 with XP.

I also get no picture. Opera 7ish.

Oh, for fuck's sake. OK, I edited Jay's post to point to an almost identical picture on the main StarDestroyer.Net website. If you can't see this one, it's all your fault, so small furry creatures will fly out of your keyboard and gnaw on your testicles.

Your link works fine. Interesting.

Erm, just out of interest, how much is a quadrillion? four sets of 3 0's on the end of a million?
EDIT: also, would it be possible to make enough nukes with all the material on earth? I would've thought we'd have to mine loads of it from elsewhere too.

US Quadrillion is 10^15.

Million, billion, trillion, quadrillion...

Spanky The Dolphin wrote:US Quadrillion is 10^12.

No, that's trillion.

Million = 1E6
Billion = 1E9
Trillion = 1E12
Quadrillion = 1E15

Yeah, I messed up, but then I fixed it.

Why do they not have the same counting system as we?

Straha wrote:I just heard that we could blow up the world three times over with nukes nowadays, and we could do it eleven times over during the cold war. Are these numbers real, or made up?

Apparantly the destructive capacity of the global nuclear stockpile is 60,000 MT, or 7 1/2 times the firepower needed to trigger a nuclear winter.

Rev Prez

revprez wrote:Apparantly the destructive capacity of the global nuclear stockpile is 60,000 MT, or 7 1/2 times the firepower needed to trigger a nuclear winter.

1. The total US nuclear arsenal at it's height in the 1960s was only 20GT and has been coming down ever since (mainly due to increased accuracy of delivery systems). I find it highly unlikely that the world's total arsenal is 60GT.

2. Are you referencing Sagan's TTAPS study? That one has been generally discredited.