Sign up FAST! Sign Up Login

How the Starfish Prime Nuclear Bomb Worked � blowing up the radiation belts for science � The Blogs at HowStuffWorks


Stashed in: Science!, Awesome, Best Videos, Weapons!, Military!, Russia and Friends

To save this post, select a stash from drop-down menu or type in a new one:

So imagine that you are a scientist, and there are no nuclear proliferation or testing bans in place yet. What�s the next thing you would do? Perhaps you would launch a nuclear bomb into space and try blowing up the belts, just to see what would happen. That, in essence, was the Starfish Prime project, which is described in vivid detail in the following video:

Starfish Prime is, by far, my favorite nuclear shot. It's the most (maybe only) well-known instance of the entire nuclear physics community, both East and West, muttering a collective 'Oh F***' when witnessing the effects (the Russians had _several_ ships in the area taking readings).

This is Sofa King cool. Where can I learn more?

You May Also Like: