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+--- Thread: Trump wants to nuke a hurricane (/showthread.php?tid=231698)
Trump wants to nuke a hurricane - Dennis S - 08-26-2019
https://www.axios.com/trump-nuclear-bombs-hurricanes-97231f38-2394-4120-a3fa-8c9cf0e3f51c.html
Genius idea.
Re: Trump wants to nuke a hurricane - $tevie - 08-26-2019
To be fair, the article states:
The big picture: Trump didn't invent this idea. The notion that detonating a nuclear bomb over the eye of a hurricane could be used to counteract convection currents dates to the Eisenhower era, when it was floated by a government scientist.
The idea keeps resurfacing in the public even though scientists agree it won't work. The myth has been so persistent that the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the U.S. government agency that predicts changes in weather and the oceans, published an online fact sheet for the public under the heading "Tropical Cyclone Myths Page."
The page states: "Apart from the fact that this might not even alter the storm, this approach neglects the problem that the released radioactive fallout would fairly quickly move with the tradewinds to affect land areas and cause devastating environmental problems. Needless to say, this is not a good idea.
So, Trump is stupid but he's not the first stupid person to suggest this.
Re: Trump wants to nuke a hurricane - pdq - 08-26-2019
Fission bombs make persistently radioactive fallout. Back in the bad old days of above-ground tests (before they were banned for this reason), this environmental danger was mitigated by exploding them in remote areas (like South Pacific atolls).
Let’s load up a US-bound hurricane (with it’s immense updraft) with the same radioactive fallout. Even if it weakens the hurricane (which is questionable), the path of the possibly-weakened storm brings that radioactive fallout to the US in an unpredictable distribution.
But then, red gulf-state voters don’t believe in things like radioactivity, right? So really, what’s the problem? What good are nukes if we can’t use them? Can you say “Flo-radia”?
Re: Trump wants to nuke a hurricane - wave rider - 08-26-2019
Nuke a hurricane?! Next he will want nuclear powered rockets.
Oh, wait… :RollingEyesSmiley5:
Re: Trump wants to nuke a hurricane - cbelt3 - 08-26-2019
Even back of the envelope calculations showed this was a useless idea. The energy in a hurricane is quantum levels above that of a nuke.
Re: Trump wants to nuke a hurricane - Filliam H. Muffman - 08-26-2019
It would need to be done over land to light fires and spread ash into the atmosphere. Maybe he thinks bombing a location like Puerto Rico would be a 2-for-1, defuse a hurricane and get rid of brown people at the same time...
Re: Trump wants to nuke a hurricane - Sarcany - 08-26-2019
$tevie wrote:
To be fair, the article states:
The big picture: Trump didn't invent this idea. The notion that detonating a nuclear bomb over the eye of a hurricane could be used to counteract convection currents dates to the Eisenhower era, when it was floated by a government scientist...
When the U.S. first started making nukes, the government explored a lot of ideas for them, mostly ignoring the problem of radioactivity. They thought that they might use small nukes for mountain-excavation, seismology and widening waterways. Somebody even tried to harness nukes for oil and natural gas extraction, but when the public found out that it would poison their water and irradiate their cars and stoves, that fell out of favor.
Anything to promote nuclear proliferation.
We're supposedly in a more enlightened age now.
Re: Trump wants to nuke a hurricane - mikebw - 08-26-2019
Sarcany wrote:
We're supposedly in a more enlightened age now.
Times change.
Re: Trump wants to nuke a hurricane - SteveG - 08-26-2019
History is filled with societies backsliding into tyranny and chaos. The time to stop it here in the U.S. is now.