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Thermonuclear Spectacle

 Atom bombs would make great fireworks
  (+8, -9)
(+8, -9) 		  [vote for,
against]

I have always been impressed by the awesome grandeur of nuclear explosions, although I have only seen them on telly. Also, I greatly enjoy firework displays. Why not combine the two in a magnificent spectacle?

This could be organised annually, probably at the turn of the year, to avoid any religious problems. It would take place in some desert area no use for anything else. Khazakstan, Mongolia, Australia.. all these would be suitable venues. Seating accomodation would be erected at a proper distance from the blast, and appropriate approved eyewear should be available to spectators. Special discount rates would be available for block bookings from religious suicide cults who wished to get closer to the detonation.

I'm sure this would be a big crowd puller, and would give a much needed economic boost to those arid regions so often neglected by tourists.

—Mickey the Fish, Jul 07 2000

Nukes in space http://www.space.co...kespace_review.html
Neat link, good movie clip. [bungston, Oct 04 2004]


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Annotation:







       Why not just organize the blast somewhere other than the surface of the planet, ie space... it'd certainly still be visible, and to even more people considering that you'd be cutting out the obscurement of the curvature of the earth...
—absterge, Jul 13 2000
   

       absterge: But you wouldn't get the spectacular. mushroom cloud, which is one of the main attractions. Also, it would be a lot more difficult to make money.
—Mickey the Fish, Jul 14 2000
   

       What's more you may well cause irreperable damage to communications satellites or, worse still, the more important pizza-making ones.
—Lemon, Jul 14 2000
   

       Hmm... okay, I see your point, Mickey. Let's just use New Jersey, then! =D
—absterge, Jul 14 2000
   

       My mum gave me a New Jersey last Christmas.
—Mickey the Fish, Jul 15 2000
   

       Lucky bugger. I got a turd on a stick in a box on a string.   

       Although my first holiday was in Jersey, when I was 1.5, so that's got to count for luck.
—eehen, Jul 16 2000
   

       'Old Jersey'?
—eehen, Jul 16 2000
   

       This would have been a great spectacle for New Year's Eve. WAITAMINUTE, The REAL millenium party..... here it goes. Let's get a parrty together for the REAL milenium and go to some desert for Nuclear fireworks. Who knows, maybe we'll draw an alien life species to Earth with the mushroom and sparkles.
—TheLurch, Jul 26 2000
   

       I vote for Tehran.
—Alcin, Aug 30 2000
   

       How about burying a calculatedly small nuclear firecracker in a landfill waste site. When detonated, you can capture that cloud in the form of a thermoplastic P.E.T. sculpture. A post-modern version of sandcastle competitions, perhaps?
—thantox, Apr 04 2001
   

       Detonate it on the moon? Maybe then we could have Mickey's mushroom cloud and Absterge's view.
—Verdstein, Feb 06 2003
   

       I think you need an atmosphere for an explosion. Except, then how do underwater explosions work?
—snarfyguy, Feb 06 2003
   

       I can see the gaudy red box now:   

       Thermonuclear Galactic Firecracker   

       Instructions
Light blue touch-paper at arms length
Retire to a safe distance (50 miles)
Caution: this is a display firework only:
Never light indoors.
Do not hold when lit.		   

       Government Health Warning: Never return to a lighted firework!   

       Made in China.
—Loris, Feb 07 2003
   

       Just a matter of time before someone drops one in a school toilet.   

       Designed, built, tested and distributed by...the USA. thanks fellas! Freely availiable to...almost anyone! thanks again. i feel so safe knowing you guys are on our side.   

       Wouldn't wanna be living in South Korea at the moment, tho'.
—briandamage, Feb 08 2003
   

       Give me some Thermonuclear Spectacles! My optical prescription needs updating and they'll probably look really HOT!
—Cedar Park, Feb 28 2003
   

       I hate to quote a bumpersticker, but nuclear waste is gonna be our only gift to the future...
—Brain Fuct, Feb 28 2003
   

       They did something very similar to this in the 1950s. The "Rainbow Bombs" were high altitude nukes detonated in the Van Allen Belt, which apparently generated some nifty rainbow effects. See link.
—bungston, Mar 20 2003
   

       Oxygen has not a damn thing to do with nuclear devices. Nuclear devices are detonated by way of high explosives such as Cyclonite.   

       While I'm not a chemist, the typical "explosive" chemical (Cyclonite) contains very high-energy bonds that are also unstable...so, when they're bumped, they pop apart like a mouse trap and release energy, which in turn sets off more molecules.   

       Millions of reactions in a slice of a millesecond cause a core of weapons-grade nuclear material to be ultra-compressed, which brings it to critical mass where it can sustain fission itself...all this happens quite quickly...BOOOM...   

       As you can see, there's no oxygen involved. If there is any oxygen at all, it is in the high explosive. Bombs rarely "burn" (fast oxidation), they explode, releasing the energy contained in their chemical bonds.   

       My 2c...oh, and if you're a terrorist, you didn't see this, you yellow weasel of pitiful excuse for a worthless human being.
—DrOuD, Mar 20 2003
   


 

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