Nuclear bombs are harmful in proportion to their distance from you when they explode. I believe that, at short distances, the radiation (visible or not) from the bomb is so powerful and destructive that it burns things up right away before they're even hit by the shockwave. Is there a word for this destructive light?
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11Yes. You just used it! radiation. You could call it electromagnetic radiation, if you want to distinguish high-energy photons from other kinds of radiation. But it's still radiation.– Peter ShorJan 7, 2016 at 16:08
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2@PeterShor I think there is a specific word for the short-range, destructive radiation from a nuclear blast though. It may be a compound word possibly containing the word 'flash'. However, I could be wrong.– sirdankJan 7, 2016 at 16:13
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I've heard it called the blast wave, thermal blast, blast energy, and nuclear radiation– anonymousJan 7, 2016 at 16:20
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Not disagreeing with the basic premise of the question (danger decreasing according to the square of the distance) but fallout is also carried on the wind. Also, when you bury irradiated tractors and trucks, and then dig them up some years later and drive them away, the radiation spreads.– TimRJan 7, 2016 at 16:36
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The relative ranges of destruction from blast and thermal radiation are largely dependent on the size of the nuclear reaction. For very large weapons, thermal output can be lethal at ranges where blast effects may leave windows intact. See nuclearweaponsarchive.org for more information.– Eric HauensteinJan 7, 2016 at 21:57
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4 Answers
Nuclear weapons emit large amounts of thermal radiation as visible, infrared, and ultraviolet light, to which the atmosphere is largely transparent. This is known as "Flash". –Wikipedia
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1"Alright everybody it's showtime. Do not look at the flash. DO NOT look at the flash." – True Lies– MazuraJan 8, 2016 at 21:05
It depends on what exactly you're talking about. The initial explosion creates a nuclear flash. It's this flash that blinds people miles away, who are far enough to survive the blast itself. In fact, blindness resulting from a nuclear explosion is called flash blindness. The most dangerous emission from within a nuclear flash, though, is called gamma rays. It's light in this spectrum that is most lethal to all life. Long after all of the searing heat of the nuclear flash has dissipated, gamma rays are still doing immense damage.
answered Jan 7, 2016 at 17:13
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3Radiant heat from light travels at the speed of light, just like gamma rays. Jan 7, 2016 at 18:08
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7@BenjaminHarman 'Heat' itself doesn't travel at the speed of light. The gamma rays, however, do travel at the speed of light and can heat up whatever they hit (including air molecules.) Also, gamma radiation will be gone almost instantly. It's alpha particles that tend to stick around. The damage done by the gamma rays can (and likely will) persist, but the gamma rays from the blast themselves will be long gone before the blast pressure wave arrives. Radioactive fallout from the blast may continue to emit gamma particles that can cause damage much later, though.– reirabJan 7, 2016 at 21:56
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2@reirab : The heat from the sun's rays travels to earth with the light at the speed of light. It doesn't roll on in after after the fact. The heat from the sun comes from the light itself. The same is true from the intense light of a nuclear flash: There is a flash of heat that comes immediately upon witnesses. Now, the heat and the fire that the explosion creates at the blast site doesn't travel at the speed of light. It travels much more slowly. However, the heat that comes from the light of the flash itself is as instant as the flash, for the intensely bright light itself seers surfaces. Jan 7, 2016 at 22:45
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1This isn't theoretical. We've blown up nuclear bombs. People miles away have been instantly blinded and burned by the flash of light at the moment of detonation. I'm attaching a couple of sources to back this up. The Wikipedia article, next to where it discusses the initial flash, shows a picture of a man who was badly burned by the initial flash at Hiroshima. atomicarchive.com/Effects/effects2.shtml en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Effects_of_nuclear_explosions Jan 7, 2016 at 23:00
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2@BenjaminHarman I'm not suggesting it's theoretical. The problem seems to be a misunderstanding what actually constitutes 'heat.' To say that 'heat' itself travels at all is a bit awkward at best. Heat is a property of matter. No matter propagates away from a nuclear blast at the speed of light. If it did, it would have infinite energy, which it obviously doesn't. What happens with the sun and the Earth is the same as I described for with a nuclear blast. Electromagnetic radiation (gamma rays in this case) propagates away from the blast at the speed of light.– reirabJan 7, 2016 at 23:07
This is a physics question. The atmosphere is opaque to radiation of charged particles and heavy particles. 'Luminance' or 'illumination' often implies just photons, and 'flash' implies visible photons.
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Nuclear weapons emit large amounts of thermal radiation as visible, infrared, and ultraviolet light, to which the atmosphere is largely transparent. This is known as "Flash". The chief hazards are burns and eye injuries. On clear days, these injuries can occur well beyond blast ranges, depending on weapon yield. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Effects_of_nuclear_explosions Jan 7, 2016 at 23:03
Honestly it's just sunlight. ;) Try to remember the next time you enjoy the sun that you are voluntarily basking in the light of an ever ongoing nuclear explosion, the scale of which we can barely comprehend. Trust me on this.
