- #1
ph4tman
- 3
- 0
Hello all,
I hope I'm posting in the right sub-forum here, because I'm quite new and don't really know my way around yet. Not to mention that the topic encompasses quite a few different areas.
The subject is nukes in space.
Or more specifically, the visual effects they should produce while in space. Now, on the forums I hang out, it's quite normal to assume a nuke in space will look like a single giant blinding flash. And if you see such a nuke detonation in, say, a movie, it should look exactly like that. I very intense pulse of light. But is that really so?
I mean, the EM-radiation will of course travel at the speed of light, and the bomb detonation should take a measly amount of time (wikipedia states that the Tsar Bomba expelled all it's energy in 39 nano-seconds, for instance, but it's wiki, so take it with a grain of salt). So, why should there be a visible flash? The eye shouldn't have time to even register the light before it's all been emitted. Glowing material from the bomb? I don't think so, it should've been vaporized and thrown across the four corners of space long before your eye has a chance to catch it (never mind a videocamera with a very low frame-rate).
Can anyone explain this to me?
For your convenience, I'll give you a more specific scenario, answer what you think the effects will look like.
You're in deep space, far outside our own solar system. You have a camera with you that has a frame-rate of 35 frames per second. 10km in front of you there is a nuke that's about to be detonated (fission, fission/fusion, it does not matter). You yourself and the camera will remain unharmed for some odd reason, your eyes will not be burned out by the flash and they'll not exhibit lingering effects on it due to biological/mechanical limitations. They'll see what's there, unedit and real.)
Boom.
What did the camera see? What did you, with your eyes, see?
I hope I'm posting in the right sub-forum here, because I'm quite new and don't really know my way around yet. Not to mention that the topic encompasses quite a few different areas.
The subject is nukes in space.
Or more specifically, the visual effects they should produce while in space. Now, on the forums I hang out, it's quite normal to assume a nuke in space will look like a single giant blinding flash. And if you see such a nuke detonation in, say, a movie, it should look exactly like that. I very intense pulse of light. But is that really so?
I mean, the EM-radiation will of course travel at the speed of light, and the bomb detonation should take a measly amount of time (wikipedia states that the Tsar Bomba expelled all it's energy in 39 nano-seconds, for instance, but it's wiki, so take it with a grain of salt). So, why should there be a visible flash? The eye shouldn't have time to even register the light before it's all been emitted. Glowing material from the bomb? I don't think so, it should've been vaporized and thrown across the four corners of space long before your eye has a chance to catch it (never mind a videocamera with a very low frame-rate).
Can anyone explain this to me?
For your convenience, I'll give you a more specific scenario, answer what you think the effects will look like.
You're in deep space, far outside our own solar system. You have a camera with you that has a frame-rate of 35 frames per second. 10km in front of you there is a nuke that's about to be detonated (fission, fission/fusion, it does not matter). You yourself and the camera will remain unharmed for some odd reason, your eyes will not be burned out by the flash and they'll not exhibit lingering effects on it due to biological/mechanical limitations. They'll see what's there, unedit and real.)
Boom.
What did the camera see? What did you, with your eyes, see?