human > H-bomb explosion (energy comparison)

[insert_username 1]

When I was writing about me informations at my profile page I figured something quite fascinating

we posses A LOT of energy.

 

Here see for your self. I will list nuclear bombs yields.

 

Hiroshima bomb 0,000016 Gt of TNT

 

Tsar bomb 0,05 Gt of TNT

 

every nuclear bomb ever detonated 0,5103 Gt of TNT

 

all nuclear bombs mankind currently has 7 Gt of TNT

 

Now the energy that average human body posses 1,5036 Gt of TNT

 

This means that you posses over twice the amount of energy that every nuclear bomb ever detonated released and that if you get 4 friends you will together posses more energy than all nuclear weapons mankind has would release if detonated.

 

Of curse it's possible that I made error in my calculations and in that case I would be really grateful if someone would correct me.

 

edit:

I meant this partially like joke but  when I was telling this to some person elsewhere I realized that I should explain my calculations. I compared the energy that nuclear bombs released (energy released trough fusion and fission) with energy that human body would release if annihilated. (I thought that it was obvious to anyone who was interested in reading this.) Do not think that the energy stored in chemical bonds in human body could ever get even close to any of these numbers. (I just found quite fascinating that if you annihilated average human body it would release more energy than every nuclear bomb released so I shared it.) I should also note that in annihilation roughly 50% of energy is released in neutrinos which almost don't interact with matter. If you wanted to calculate the "explosion" you would need to divide 1,5036 Gt of TNT by 2 (=0,7518 Gt of TNT)

 

edit2:

One of the comments inspired me to write how much antimatter would be needed to damage human body so here it is.

 

Since it is quite hard to tell how much energy is needed to cause noticeable damage lets compare it with known ways to cause noticeable damage.

 

In case of using the energy to accelerate projectile we can compare it with firearms.

Muzzle energy of 9mm pistol round is 519J this is equivalent to energy acquired by annihilating 5,7746pg of matter (0,0000000057746mg)

In case of using it in fragmentation explosive.

Hand grenade at least 400kJ this is equivalent to energy acquired by annihilating 4,4506ng of matter (0,0000044506mg).

Unfortunately I was unable to find any source on how would flesh react to gamma rays so I will just write energy required to vaporize roughly 0,0157l of water at starting temperature of 36°C. It requires approximately 40kJ (this is 1 tenth of "hand grenade energy") this is equivalent to energy acquired by annihilating 445,06pg of matter (0,00000044506mg)

Those were nice numbers weren't they but I have calculated this so people who aren't good at math (or don't like doing it) can get some idea. I don't know about you but I like to convert these numbers to objects I'm familiar with (or as close to it since these numbers are to small for objects we use everyday). I will also round the numbers more so it is easier to look at.

9mm pistol was 5,8pg

vaporization was 445pg

hand grenade was 4450pg

E. coli bacterium 1pg

Human sperm cell 22pg

average human cell 1 000pg

Very fine grain of sand (0.063 mm diameter) 350000pg

One eyebrow hair 70000000pg

Source for values starting from E. coli bacterium mass was http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orders_of_magnitude_(mass) (accessed 31st May 2014)

or in another words energy acquired from one eyebrow hair would be equivalent to

12068966 9mm pistol bullets

157303 valorizations

15730 hand grenades

or you could use it to supply average person with electricity for 232 days.

note: this calculation didn't take into account that half of the energy from annihilation will be in form of neutrinos which won't interact with matter (The energy you will be able to use or that will do stuff will be half of what I wrote here) if you would want me to post the version which takes this into account rather than this one let me know.

 

I also want to ask what do you think about this topic? If I do something similar to this in future should I post it here? Do you think that post like this is out of place on this forum? Did anyone found this interesting?

Edited June 3, 2014 by insert_username

[inactive lol get mem 123]

Very interesting. Next North Korea will have giant human missile launchers. Just kidding, that is extremely interesting. I'm not that good at science so I can't really correct you if you did make a mistake.

[I used to be a stranger 7,989]

You have discovered the actual implications of E=mc².

 

If you wanted to convert some matter into energy, the amount of energy it would produce would be its mass (in kilograms) multiplied by the square of the speed of light (9*10^16 m²/s²). The result would be in Joules. Even a grain of sand could be transformed into enough energy to power an entire country for a decent amount of time.

(E = m * c²

E = (0.0001kg * 9*10^16)

E = 9*10^14J

or, nine hundred billion megajoules, about one tenth of the most powerful nuclear weapon ever made.

Many fields of physical and electrical science are interested in seeing this manifested in the form of generating power for devices, even if it can be done to a minute degree of efficiency. (Even if a machine could turn a grain of sand into energy with only .001% efficiency, with the other 99.999% of the grain of sand's mass being wasted, it would still be orders of magnitude more matter-efficient than the global petroleum industry.)

 

However I do not see how it would follow to apply this physical fact to the genre of Humans in Equestria fan-fictional theory.

Edited May 30, 2014 by Blue

[Treble Bolt 1,122]

Ah math, it brings instant migraines to my cranium...But it is really cool to see comparisons. But I must ask, what is the evidence backing up that fact that humans have "explosive potential"????

 

Oh, because this is bomb related...

[I used to be a stranger 7,989]

Ah math, it brings instant migraines to my cranium...But it is really cool to see comparisons. But I must ask, what is the evidence backing up that fact that humans have "explosive potential"????

 

Oh, because this is bomb related...

Explosion is just a way of describing a very fast release of energy.

It is also a necessary result of converting a human being into energy that the person would die, even if you turned that person into energy slowly.

So I think this thread is in-sum kind of ridiculous and abstract.

[insert_username 1]

Even if a machine could turn a grain of sand into energy with only .001% efficiency, with the other 99.999% of the grain of sand's mass being wasted, it would still be orders of magnitude more matter-efficient than the global petroleum industry.

 

 

I read somewhere that it is impossible to turn matter into antimatter and then annihilate it for more energy than it required. (I can't find the source so it may have been just some nonsense on some forum.)  The point is if it is practically possible and I'm pretty sure it is not. Next problem is you will get only roughly 50% of energy at best since roughly 50% is carried away by neutrinos which almost don't interact with matter. (Which doesn't mean It couldn't be used as super effective way to store energy. Chemical batteries or even nuclear power plants would be nothing compared to it. For example you could send rocket near sun and then it would return with few grams of antimatter. <= This was just first thing that crossed my mind.)

 

 

 

However I do not see how it would follow to apply this physical fact to the genre of Humans in Equestria fan-fictional theory.

 

 

Why do you think that I was trying to compare it for purpose of fanfiction. I just had crazy idea to calculate how much energy my body carries and I found fascinating that If I annihilated my self it would produce more energy than was released by all nuclear bombs. So I shared it here.

 

I hope it didn't sound like I was angry at you you. I actually appreciate your post.

 

p.s. English isn't my first language so I'm sorry if some of the sentences are awkwardly written but this is the best I can do.

I Knew E=mc² for many years I just newer compared it to nuclear bombs. (I also knew that they release less than 1% energy that annihilation does.)

 

 

 

But I must ask, what is the evidence backing up that fact that humans have "explosive potential"????

Evidence: E=mc²

No worries you wont blow up unless you encounter large mass of antimatter. Which would immediately annihilate with air anyway. (by large mass I mean more than few particles or atoms.)

(I'm currently too lazy to calculate how much would be needed to cause noticeable damage to your body. Maybe I will do that in edit later.)

 

edit2:

Read edit2 in the first post.

 

edit:

 

 

So I think this thread is in-sum kind of ridiculous and abstract.

 

 

 

I meant this partially like joke

Edited May 31, 2014 by insert_username