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  • .

  • Every year, about half a dozen hurricanes

  • reach the United States.

  • With effects

  • ranging from heavy winds and some flooding

  • to the complete decimation of communities,

  • destroying homes and taking lives.

  • Instead of bracing for impact

  • with our sandbags and survival kits,

  • what if hurricanes never hit land at all?

  • What if we could stop these hurricanes

  • by nuking them?

  • But first, what exactly are hurricanes?

  • They're massive storms

  • that form over warm ocean water

  • near the equator.

  • Hurricanes are tropical storms,

  • the water they form over

  • needs to be above 26°C (79°F) for them to work.

  • This warm water creates humid air,

  • which then gets thrust upwards by tropical winds

  • to create storm clouds.

  • Lighter winds outside the clouds

  • steer them and help them grow.

  • This cycle keeps happening

  • until the storm has winds of at least 119 km/h (74 mph).

  • At that point, it's called a hurricane.

  • They're usually about 160 km (100 miles) in diameter

  • and can be nearly as large as the state of Texas.

  • Oh yeah, and did we mention these things can last for days?

  • You definitely don't want this coming to your home, so

  • let's nuke it!

  • Believe it or not,

  • the idea of nuking hurricanes isn't new.

  • It's been proposed for decades,

  • dating back to the 1950s.

  • A submarine would travel underwater

  • to the below of the eye of the storm.

  • Once there,

  • the sub would launch the nuclear bomb,

  • creating an explosion intended to blast out all the hot air

  • and bring in cold air, which is denser.

  • The cold air would slow down the wind and stop the hurricane.

  • Okay.

  • We have our nuke and are ready to launch it.

  • There it goes!

  • And--

  • well, nothing happened.

  • The hurricane is still there.

  • That can't be good.

  • The reason nothing would happen

  • is because of the amount of energy a hurricane produces.

  • According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration,

  • the heat released from a hurricane

  • is equal to a 10-megaton nuclear bomb

  • exploding every 20 minutes.

  • In 1990,

  • all of humanity used 20% less energy than a single hurricane produces.

  • So, the average bombs of today would hardly make a dent on a hurricane.

  • Not only that,

  • the hurricane would carry all that radiation,

  • plutonium and

  • other civilization-destroying materials

  • from the air down to the land.

  • As if a regular hurricane wasn't bad enough,

  • we'd now have a radioactive one.

  • As it moved across America,

  • it would destroy cities with its wind and water,

  • while also dumping radiation on them.

  • Okay, let's try this again.

  • This time we'll use an even bigger bomb.

  • And we mean really big.

  • To have enough energy and force to stop a hurricane,

  • you'd need more than 100 atomic bombs.

  • But to keep it simple, let's pack all that power into one giant bomb.

  • If we released such a massive bomb,

  • it would surely stop the most epic of hurricanes.

  • But once the dust settles,

  • you'd quickly realize

  • that you destroyed most of the Earth in the process

  • So whichever way you attempt it,

  • nuking a hurricane is not a good idea.

  • And unfortunately, the number of hurricanes continues to increase.

  • Researchers say that the warming of the oceans, due to climate change,

  • is a reason why hurricanes are getting stronger and more frequent.

  • And no, we can't nuke that problem either.

  • So fine, nuking a hurricane isn't a good idea.

  • In addition to hurricanes

  • people have talked about nuking asteroids

  • and oil spills to stop them from spreading.

  • Man, what's with humans and nuking stuff?

  • Let's save those stories for another WHAT IF.

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