Okay, heres a Biggy. - Writers Forum

Dookie · 08-09-2005, 11:16 AM

How do you survive a nuclear bomb? Need fast responses as I'm writing at the moment.

journyman161 · 08-09-2005, 11:18 AM

Depends on the situation. How close?

Dookie · 08-09-2005, 11:22 AM

Right on you. And its an air blast so its even more destructive. Before anybody says there is no way to survive I will say you are wrong. 2% of people survive a direct hit, the other 98% get fried. Litte help on how these folks would survive though? I dont want the usual "underground, or in a basement stuff". Too used. I was wondering if there are any other ways to survive. I once heard that a man survived the Hiroshimo bombing behind a brick wall. Stuff like that.

journyman161 · 08-09-2005, 11:31 AM

Anything that will stop the flash/bang will protect from instant destruction. (flash/bang is how the survivors of hiroshima described it) Being behind a small cliff or something strong enough to withstand the supersonic winds that occur will help.

Other things to overcome are the lack of breathing air & the massive radiation blast. The air rushes out from the epicentre then back in to fill the vacuum.

If they're expecting the blast, you could have them in a faraday cage & so protected from the radiation, or inside a metal container perhaps behind a building.
The building protects from the blast & the metal from the radiation - but they'd have to leave the container pretty quickly as I think it would pick up secondary ratiation fairly quickly. (not positive about that; it's been a long time since I looked at nuclear stuff.

So basically, you need them protected from the initial blast & also able to breathe clean air during the shock waves out & in.

then, depending on the type of bomb, they have to get out of there pretty damn quick.

EDIT: Just thought of a way. Have them scuba diving. Provided the water surface isn't exposed to the immediate blast front, & they were deep enough, there would be only minor pressure effects & none of the breathing problems. If the water is protected, say in the shadow of a land form, they'd be OK. I'd imagine they would see the flash, even under water. The blast will travel in straight lines away from the epicentre.

Dookie · 08-09-2005, 11:37 AM

mmhmm yeah. well there is only one way out. In my story anyway. I just got a...an idea. Wootoot. Thanks a lot.

Nimbus1944 · 08-09-2005, 12:16 PM

-be well sheltered to escape the explosive impact

- waiting til the dust settles could take a while; any long-term shelter should be sufficiently shielded against penetrating radiation in the blast. Sorry you don't like "the usual 'underground, or in a basement stuff'." (A brick wall???)

- carry a radio for information; two-way (ham) ability would be even better. Got batteries? Potassium iodide (KI) tablets?

- take a KI whenver suggested on the radio; keeps your thyroid from absorbing hazardous doses

-if possible, wear a full suit of protective clothing when escaping

- travel toward the wind; it's blowing the residual dust the other way. Despite "Independence Day", vehicles aren't going to move in a city, because the roads will be yards deep in random rubble

-don't eat or drink until you're well away from it.

-find a evacuation center; they'll be able to check you over inch by inch, wash you down and supply fresh clothing (a paper suit, perhaps, but enough to get you on the move again).

-move again.

journyman161 · 08-09-2005, 12:22 PM

one point. Anything electronic will be dead. EMP (electro-magnetic pulse) will wipe everything not hardened. Modern military stuff is supposed to be hardened against EMP, but civilian stuff isn't.

ie. the radio is dead.

(for those worried by the threat of nukes, an EMP over major population areas, (in the US, one each over both east & west coast) would devastate a modern nation without much loss of life.)

Savant Deviance · 08-09-2005, 03:58 PM

Two children survived one of the bombs in Japan by being submerged in a pond. Ummm, it wasn't directly over them, though. But still, very close...

journyman161 · 08-09-2005, 10:07 PM

Quote:

Wear sun screen with a rating of 1 million?

playstation60 · 08-10-2005, 11:41 AM

The way I understand nuclear weapons, you have to be protected somehow. If the blast is directly above the character, you would be hard pressed to find a realistic way of surviving. I do not have a good grasp of physics, but wouldn't the airborn explosion of the device cause the blast to radiate in all directions? If that is so then the person would most certainly have to be below ground someone...whether it be underwater, or in some sort of fall out shelter.

Dookie · 08-10-2005, 11:46 AM

Yeah I figured that one out this morning, in the end I had him hiding in an alcove which was underground, in a train tunnel. Thanks anyway.

Hodge · 08-10-2005, 11:10 PM

I had to do some research a while back for a story of mine involving nukes.

Make sure you take into account the strong EMP effects of a nuke—the bomb dropped on Hiroshima knocked out electronics within a 50 mile radius, and today's nukes are much more powerful.

Wani · 08-21-2005, 11:38 PM

Interesting fact. The Ukraine is the only place on earth known to have sustained a naturally occuring nuclear reaction - equivalent to a modern power stations reaction occuring in mid-air. Yes, nukes are natural.

Moral of the story - don't go there. It is still the most radio-active place on earth. If you don't believe me, go find a map of the radio-active hot-spots shot from space. The country is just one big black dot.

Unpretty Girl · 08-21-2005, 11:45 PM

well, I herd somewhere that Twinkies can uh, "survive" neuclear war. So Maybe you could cover your self with Twinkies. But I don't know if that's true or not...

journyman161 · 08-22-2005, 12:26 AM

Quote:

Interesting fact. The Ukraine is the only place on earth known to have sustained a naturally occuring nuclear reaction - equivalent to a modern power stations reaction occuring in mid-air. Yes, nukes are natural.

Could you post some sources for this? Ukraine is radioactive because of chernobyl, which definitely wasn't a natural nuke at all, nor even a nuclear explosion. I have been unable to find any web reference to anything other than chernobyl effects in the ukraine.

Also, if you have a reference for 'natural nukes' I'd be interested also. It's actually rather difficult to get things like uranium ore to explode, which is why Iran for example, can't just grab some ore & make nukes.