Answers to Everyday Questions : What size nuclear explosion would a human body make if instantly converted to pure energy?

What size nuclear explosion would a human body make if instantly converted to pure energy?

8 Responses to “What size nuclear explosion would a human body make if instantly converted to pure energy?”

1. avondrow said :
   September 13th, 2010 at 11:14 am

   Work it out E=MC^2

   M is the mass of the body, C is the speed of light in a vacuum!
2. Breeze said :
   September 13th, 2010 at 11:33 am

   Precisely 14.378 Mj per Milisphere at a distance of 34 cm.
3. Alex DB said :
   September 13th, 2010 at 12:26 pm

   why wld it be nuclear?
   anyway enough to reck my bedroom more than it already is.
4. sbt_seabuckthorn_international said :
   September 13th, 2010 at 12:26 pm

   I’m assuming you mean fusion, which can only take place with atoms no larger than carbon. So, if Einstein is right (E=MC²), then if you can find out the mass of all the atoms carbon or lighter, it should be easy to calculate.

   Also, you need to decide whether you want to calculate gross or net energy, because it will cost a considerable amount of energy to create the reaction.
5. charcinders said :
   September 13th, 2010 at 1:22 pm

   Assuming a 65Kg person, E = 65 x c squared

   = 5.85 x 10^18 Joules

   or 70,000 Hiroshima bombs
6. dcno02 said :
   September 13th, 2010 at 1:33 pm

   Any time energy is generated, the process can be evaluated from an E = mc2 perspective. For instance, the “Gadget”-style bomb used in the Trinity test and the bombing of Nagasaki had an explosive yield equivalent to 21 kt of TNT. About 1 kg of the approximately 6.15 kg of plutonium in each of these bombs fissioned into lighter elements totaling almost exactly one gram less, after cooling [The heat, light, and electromagnetic radiation released in this explosion carried the missing one gram of mass.][6] This occurs because nuclear binding energy is released whenever elements with more than 62 nucleons fission.
   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E_%3D_mc2#Practical_examples

   So, one gram of matter converted to energy produces an explosion the size of the one that destroyed Nagasaki. A 150-pound person has 68,000 grams. One person contains enough energy to destroy every city of any size on Earth.
7. David said :
   September 13th, 2010 at 1:42 pm

   Using Einstein’s famous equation: –

   E = mc²

   In a 80 kg adult male there would be, an approximate energy of: –

   E = 80 x (3 x 10^8)

   E = 7.2 x 10^18 J

   According to Wikipedia (see source below), a kiloton of TNT is

   4.184×10^12 J

   Thus, if all of the mass within this male could be converted to pure energy, the equivalent nuclear weapon kiloton yield would be: –

   Y = 4.184×10^12/4.184×10^12

   Y = 1.72 x 10^6 kilotons

   Or

   1720 megatons of TNT explosive power.

   However, according to Professor Brian Cox on last night’s Horizon program (9.00 pm UK BBC 2 17/02/09), about nuclear fusion machines, a hydrogen bomb converts the mass of an American dollar bill into pure energy during its detonation. Thus, for a mass of 80 kg of nuclear fuel only a few grams would actually be converted into pure energy.
8. audio technica ath ad 700 said :
   December 12th, 2011 at 6:47 am

   Ridiculous story there. What occurred after? Take care!