What would a nuclear explosion look like in space.

If they took a regular warhead and launched it into space and detonated it about the distance from the earth to moon.. What would it really look like?
From the moon to earth is quite a distance. but for a little rocket?> you couldnt see it.
I think the explosion would not be as impressive as some might come to think.
But just a quick bright light that wouldnt even go noticed if you wern't looking for it..

What do you think?

 

It would explode like normal in the sense of light creating a wave of energy and depending on where the explosion was, that wave could do some minor damage to a planet's surface. There would be no sound as there is no air in space. The temperature would most likely spike for a second but then go back to normal due to the emptiness f space... I'm not sure what else I can say except for there would be like an alpha particle flying somewhere.

something like that, anyway.

 

actualy i believe it wouldnt cause light which comes from the fireball which requires oxygen.. i think the explosion if you could call it that would be invisible just billions of tiny invisible particles spreadinjg out in all directions...with nothing for them to react with it would badsicly go unnoticed..
the em pulse however might effect some satalites much like sunspot activity does


ofcourse i have no idea just seemds to make sence to me...

the heat and light from a nuclear blast comes from particles ignitting other flamable particles as they colide with massive energy...in space theyd harmlessly just shoot straight out in all directions without coliding with anything at least till they were difused enough to blend in with normal radiation

 

Possibly... your probably right about the light part.

 

I was thinking like a firecracker too.. but didint even think of the noise.. thats sort of spooky comes down to think of it. no Sound in space. What is the temperture in space..
cause sometimes on a clear night you think it couldnt be any cooler than here on the surface, But it is.
Im thinking this continious star like burn for a minute would be cool, to watch it in slow motion.
How can we be sure the goverments of the world didnt hide this type of detionation in space behind the dark side of the moon. Earth viewers wouldnt see it. and if the burst wasnt what they thought it would be, they felt like not bragging about it? Kinda like when they fail at stuff... Hey look how impressive this ship is and it hits a iceberg, but nobodys around to see it fail...

 

Soaringeagle is correct, that there wouldn't be a secondary fireball explosion, like on Earth. There would still be, however, the initial bright "flash" as the bomb went off (just like the old films of nuclear bomb tests), as this would be photon emmision from the fission/fusion event. It would also depend on what is near the explosion, as any particle in space would would ionize and produce light and/or radiation. Tests have been done up to 335 miles verticle from the surface of the planet.


Image from Bluegill Triple Prime shot, 1962, altitude 50 km (31 mi)
This is the closest test image I could find to being in space.

 

It would look a bit similar to Earth, except more spherical as there is no ground. The light in a nuclear bomb does not come from the combustion of oxygen but from a number of sources as high energy particles loose their energy.

 

Thats very cool dude, Im glad I posted the ?. does it take on form and direction.
and would all explosions not looK the same would they? even if they were of the same type.. or would they explode differently depending on the rate of fall or excelleration?

I mean in dead space it would just be floating there and then boom...

Do you think on the surface of the moon they could detonate a nuclear boom, and you could see the puff of smoke form earth.. Would it be even worth watching?

 

Depends, on how big of a plume it would make. If it were to be around 52km, then yes, with the naked eye. What you can see there is limited by the atmosphere and a law of diffraction, that the smallest angle to resolve is theta=1.22*lambda/D, where theta is the angle, lambda is the wavelength, D is the diameter of a lens, and 1.22 is an artifact of the godawful Bessel function.

 

well arnt you the little Egghead. cool! ok What if the plume was on the north pole of the moon. the tip top which we see with the naked eye, think it would be easy to see. cause you saying there is no gravity on the moon the plume is going to move rapidly into space dont you think..
but its hard to see the explosions other than light in space cause there is no atmosphere. WOW. I wish ? I was as smart as you heartnotfarts...
thannks fer replying..

 

no one would be foolish enough to say that. There is gravity on the moon.

Acceleration due to gravity at moon's surface
162 cm sec-2 or 5.31 ft sec-2

 

Enjoy the Power of the United States with Operation Dominic. The 3 minute mark is outer atmospheric tests.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ROvoGwLerqY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KFXlrn6-ypg&feature=related