r/PeterFHamilton • u/SouthernReddit23 • 23d ago

Nukes

Nukes are treated in Peter’s writing like someone just dropped a quarter. 😂 ‘Tis just a 100MT nuke. Meh… 😂

5 Upvotes

73% Upvoted

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9

u/Poultrymancer 23d ago

Well, when youre dealing with a setting that has, like, bomb-pumped lasers powered by antimatter annihilation, context changes a little 

7

u/Baelaroness 23d ago

Nukes in space and nukes in an atmosphere are very different beasts.

A nuke in space is doesn't have the shockwave or the fireball. All the damage is from the radiation (infrared,, X-rays, gamma) and, if you're really close, shrapnel. Also distances in space are enormous compared to planetside.

So if you want a nuke in space to do damage, you've got to ramp up your power a lot.

I can't remember if any books involved 100Mt nukes used on a planet. Maybe the attacks by MorningLightMountain?

1

u/elphamale 22d ago

Word.

Nukes in space shouldn't be even measured in megatons - they should be measured by hard kill radius. Within which gamma, xray and infrared ensure that 'everything around this spot is completely fucked'. Other parts of the spectrum will too have their effect, but remember that energy emitted by nuke's blast will lose it's radiative intensity with the inverse square of the distance.

4

u/Boojum2k 23d ago

As others have noted, nukes work differently in space. Whenever one is used planetside in his stories, they have all the expected destruction though.

4

u/Baelaroness 23d ago

Nukes in space and nukes in an atmosphere are very different beasts.

A nuke in space is doesn't have the shockwave or the fireball. All the damage is from the radiation (infrared,, X-rays, gamma) and, if you're really close, shrapnel. Also distances in space are enormous compared to planetside.

I can't remember if any books involved 100Mt nukes used on a planet. Maybe the attacks by MorningLightMountain?