Originally posted by DuceizBack
Why do people think nukes can destroy the planet?
You're giving nukes too much credit.
A water gallon filled with anti matter could do more damage than a "nuke".
It may mess up the environment, but the species will learn to adapt to it.
And it isnt like too developed countries would nuke each other.. just a first world country vs a developing country... the usa has technology to shoot
nukes downs.
edit on 29-5-2011 by DuceizBack because: (no reason given)
So far we've only been able to produce only a few thousand atoms-worth of anti-matter (no matter what Hollywood would have you believe), And none of
it lasted for more than a few moments.
True, nuclear weapons are not as "world-ending" as some would believe, but they are sigularly terrible, each in their own right.
The detonation of just a single, moderataly-sized nuke over a typical city would kill thousands out-right, over-load every trauma center in the
country (no matter what country gets hit), completely overwhelm every burn trauma center in the world, leave thousands facing slow death by radiation,
and cause potentially billions of dollars in damage and disruption.
And as for the USA having the ability "to shoot nukes down"...
Well, maybe.
But that's only if an enemy chose to launch a nuclear attack against the US by airplane or missile.
If I were to weld a nuke into a water-tight container attached to the under-side of a "friendly"-flagged container ship, I could sail it into any
port city in the country...And destroy it.
Or, if I had access to a smaller, more sophisticated nuclear warhead, say from a missile, I could attach it to a large weather balloon (they can loft
payloads of up to a ton or more) and fly it over a selected target city at 90-100,000 FT; dropping the nuke by radio command once the GPS device
attached to the weapon tells me I'm in range over the target city.
A slow moving object, at that extremely high altitude, is beyond the capability of most defensive weapons system to detect and or attack. And
that is assuming the "Suprise" is even identified as as threat. More likely it'll be lost amoung all the other air-borne "clutter" picked
up on the nation's radar.
"If you go hunting for tigers, don't be suprised if you get trampled by zebras!"