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ph4tman

As of recently i've been coming in touch with topics that involve physics quite often. The problem is, i never was much of physics or math person. So the following question might be considered 'dumb' by most of you.

What i would like to know is what visual effects would be produced by an explosion occuring in a liquid (not neccercarily water). How does depth, liquid density and any other relevant factor affect what's actually seen on the surface?

Take surface waves for example, can you calculate their speed from a formula taking liquid density and deapth into consideration?

Oh, and don't feel shy to post any online information sources on the subject. If you know of any that is. I've already checked wiki and done a brief search on google, but so far i've found nothing that's been more then skin-deep.
kjw
this forum could offer you lots more, but the key is to ask specifics eg what is the explosive, what is the liquid, how deep is the explosion, where are you in relation to the explosion (next to it or 6km away above water).

if you want a specific answer you have to give a specific question biggrin.gif

ph4tman
QUOTE (kjw+Nov 1 2006, 10:47 PM)
this forum could offer you lots more, but the key is to ask specifics eg what is the explosive, what is the liquid, how deep is the explosion, where are you in relation to the explosion (next to it or 6km away above water).

if you want a specific answer you have to give a specific question biggrin.gif


But that's the problem. I don't really want to a specific answer, i'd like to change depths, mediums and explosive yield. So it would be better if i understood the physics behind it.

But ok, here goes. A specific question. Let's say we have one heck-of-a-bomb at our disposal. Such a bomb in fact that nobody's yet to invent it and probably never will.

It has a rough yield of 10 Teratons and it is detonated at such a depth level and in such a medium that the pressure is able to contain it. What would the visible effects on the surface of the liquid be if this happened? Let's say you have a viewpoint from space, which would allow you to see the entire scope of the thing.
kjw
well...

i dont know what to compare it to but 10 teratons = 63,000,000 Hiroshima's.

the following link shows the damage caused by the Hiroshima bomb. take these effects and multiply by 63,000,000 times.

http://www.csi.ad.jp/ABOMB/data.html

if there was enough chemicals to react, to complete the conversion of the explosive, i think the earth would shatter.
ph4tman
QUOTE (kjw+Nov 2 2006, 12:03 AM)
well...

i dont know what to compare it to but 10 teratons = 63,000,000 Hiroshima's.

the following link shows the damage caused by the Hiroshima bomb. take these effects and multiply by 63,000,000 times.

http://www.csi.ad.jp/ABOMB/data.html

if there was enough chemicals to react, to complete the conversion of the explosive, i think the earth would shatter.


No, no. This would happen entirely in a body of water. No contact with the ground whatsoever.
kjw
what i'm saying is that the explosion would be that big, an explosion of this size any where on the earth (possibly even near it) would be fatal.

do you mean the explosion would occur in a ball, made out of 100% water, that is floating in space ? if so what is the size of this ball of water ?
ph4tman
QUOTE (kjw+Nov 2 2006, 01:28 AM)
what i'm saying is that the explosion would be that big, an explosion of this size any where on the earth (possibly even near it) would be fatal.

do you mean the explosion would occur in a ball, made out of 100% water, that is floating in space ? if so what is the size of this ball of water ?


Yep, this does not to have to be Earth. And the size of the ball? Big enough so that the explosion only affects 1/4th of the entire sphere.
kaneda
To go back to the original question, the appearance of an explosion depends on the medium it explodes in. A conventional explosion in a vacuum has no resistance so will spread out unhindered at maybe 5,000 feet per second. Because of lack of resistance, an explosion near a rocket in space could waste a lot of it's force by pushing the rocket away and so absorbing part of the blast force.

In air, the same explosion will meet some resistance from air which will slow down the explosion a little but create pressure waves which can do damage. Energy will be lost through heating of the air too.

In water, a much denser medium, the explosion will be muffled to a fair extent by the water which will reflect some of the force back on itself because it cannot move out of the way fast enough, and is not compressible (within reasonable limits), and the water will absorb large amounts of heat converting it into steam. Also, water is extremely heavy (1 tonne per cubic metre). Much of the damage from underwater explosions is caused by pressure waves from the explosion which can be felt huge distances away (ie: Krakatoa on the other side of the world, when it exploded in 1883 caused waves on the River Thames). Generally, a WWII depth charge had to explode within 30 feet of a submarine to do damage, which meant setting the depth at which it would explode accurately.

The problem with working out an equation would be that there are so many variables, notably depth, temperature of water, water currents, pollutants, amount of explosive and whether in "open water" or near underwater scenery which could "shape" an explosion.
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