What would happen if you dropped an H Bomb in a volcanoe?

Whappers

Whappers

Whappers

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What would happen if you dropped an H Bomb in a volcanoe?

This is something that I have thought about posting before but never got round to doing. Sensible answers please ;)

edit: Wrong forum! Could a mod please move it to GD please? Thanks!
 
A big ******* mess. Probably involving earthquakes and stuff.

If it detonated before the trigger mechanism melted that is.

Random forum...
 
If the volcano was live surely it would play havoc with the massive pressures involved inside the volcano and cause a huge magma explosion/firestorm within a considerable radius? I say "surely" in terms of "I haven't a clue i'm just guessing". :D
 
Do you think there might be a chance that other volcanoes around the world might erupt due to the disruption in pressure and stability?
 
Err - H bombs don't normally make contact with anything. The military quickly worked out that it's better (in terms of blast efficiency and reduction of fallout) to trigger the detonation above the surface.

The effect of the energy release could, if the volcano was dormant, trigger an eruption. If the volcano was extinct (that is the plate had shifted cutting the supply of magma off) then not much but a large crater in the volcano cone. Possibly causing a large fallout from the cone debris.
 
The plutonium core requires an incredible compression to create the necessary nuclear reaction. If the bomb were dropped in the volcano, the surrounding explosive probably wouldn't detonate evenly, causing just in minor boom.

If the bomb were detonated just prior to entering the lava, though, bye-bye California. :D
 
if you got it in side the crater of an active one you'd probbably collapse the cone and maybe start an eruption.


What would be good is to fire one in during an eruption :D

Although if you got a ICBM warhead and fired it from a very fast missile into the lava the heat sheilding should get it down a fair depth, (and the massive speed, if its a bunker buster) then that would be good :D
 
not much more then just a nuclear explosion, infact it will be less effective, unless youve spent years measuring exactly where, when and what power

you dont drop nukes into the ground, its better to detonate them around 2miles in the air (depending on the yield)
 
platinum87 said:
not much more then just a nuclear explosion, infact it will be less effective, unless youve spent years measuring exactly where, when and what power

you dont drop nukes into the ground, its better to detonate them around 2miles in the air (depending on the yield)
Click to expand...

You should tell that to the Americans they've spent billions making ground penetrating nukes...
 
Your friendly neighborhood geologist here. I know quite a bit about volcanoes and not a lot about nuclear bombs.

If you dropped one into lava I guess it would just melt. Would be more intresting to stick it down a borehole in a felsic or intermediate volcano (the types that results in pyroclastic flows etc).

Actually - that's a really cunning idea. If done right you could evacuate an area if a volcano was threatening to blow. Set off a nuclear device in a stragegically placed borehole to initiate an eruption and then let bring the people back in.

Would be gutted if it didn't work though.

Maybe I'll suggest it to my old lecturer that works on the monserrat observatory...
 
No doubt someone would make a 'religion' around it, and then dupe countless gormless celebrities into donating millions and millions into the coffers.
 
Whappers said:
What would happen if you dropped an H Bomb in a volcanoe?

This is something that I have thought about posting before but never got round to doing. Sensible answers please ;)

edit: Wrong forum! Could a mod please move it to GD please? Thanks!
Click to expand...

this is one of the best questions i have ever read..... hats off to your free thinking mind
 
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