National Geographic: 20 million tons of TNT cannot

The idea of ​​mastering the power of nature is always attractive to people, especially to scientists around the world. Every year, every season in the storm, people are "reminded" of the destructive power of nature, and that urges people to find solutions.

In 2017, the United States is constantly suffering from record super typhoons like . Now they are facing with tremendous destruction. Half way around the world, it's also raging in Asia.

More than 60 years ago, meteorologist Jack W. Reed made a plan to use nuclear bombs to kill storms.(Source: Storm Shield App).

With the fear that the storms will cause heavy damage to life and property, many people around the world have urged their government to take "preemptive" measures to storm. National Geographic has published an article about the unsuccessful "kill storm" idea in the scientific world.

Proposal "using nuclear bombs to kill storms" of the US scientist

In the United States, more than 60 years ago, meteorologist Jack W. Reed made a plan to use nuclear bombs to "hit" the storms directly , but his ideas had never been applied.

According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), it is "a bad idea". However, because many people still question Mr. Reed's proposal today, NOAA maintains a separate website to explain this issue.

Of course in Mr. Reed's era, government agencies and scientists have also seriously considered nuclear solutions.

In a speech at the National Press Club on October 11, 1961, Francis W. Riechelderfer, the head of the US Meteorological Agency, said the agency also considered using nuclear bombs to destroy the offshore storm. .

That same year, Texas residents also wondered about the idea of "bombing the storm" after the state suffered a Category 5 storm, causing more than $ 2 billion in damage.

The article in Longview Daily News (Texas) asked the question: "Can Typhoon Carla be defeated, change its strength, or change direction with a nuclear bomb?"

At that time, the US successfully built H bomb with the power to destroy 1,000 times the nuclear bomb that destroyed Hiroshima, Japan. Therefore, many people have questioned whether that great destructive power could be used to destroy big storms.

Meteorologist Jack Reed came up with the idea when studying atmospheric effects after the first US bomb test. This explosion created a gas column over 32km high in the atmosphere.

Mr. Reed had the opportunity to present his research at several forums such as the 1959 symposium on the Plowshare Program - a government initiative aimed at promoting the use of "peaceful" nuclear weapons. in areas such as science and industry.

In the report, Reed said a submarine could be used to determine the eye of the storm, and then one or more nuclear missiles would be fired at the center of the storm.

Because the eye is 10 degrees warmer than the outer edge, Reed said that the nuclear explosion at the center of the storm would entail a large amount of hot air from the center of the storm into the stratosphere.

Furthermore, the heat generated from the explosion will cause the gas in the center of the storm to rise with the hot air in the eye of the storm. Then cold air on the outer edge will spill inside and potentially reduce weakening or even stop the storm.

According to Mr. Reed's calculations, an explosion equivalent to 20 million tons of TNT has the potential to cause a storm with a winds of over 185km / h to slow down to about 90km / h, but cannot yet completely eliminate the storm.

A nuclear bomb explosion in 1971. (Source: Supplied).

Impossible idea

However, Mr. Reed's idea did not receive a response from government agencies. The first reason is that this study will be very costly - each test of nuclear weapons can cost a few million dollars from the government.

In addition, many US government officials also expressed concern that these "hurricane-bombing" trials will not be consistent with the policy of ending government nuclear tests.

As for nuclear weapons experts, this is a "crazy" idea . According to NOAA, radioactive dust from nuclear explosions in the atmosphere will have serious long-term environmental consequences.

One thing is quite certain, according to NOAA, Mr. Reed's proposal will not work . The biggest obstacle is the amount of energy needed to influence a storm.

Moreover, according to data published by NASA in 2006, a medium-level storm can produce energy equivalent to 10,000 US nuclear bombs dropped on Hiroshima.

Thus, in order to weaken a Category 5 storm into a Category 2 storm, people would need to throw enough bombs to create a mass of 500 million tons of air in the center of the storm zone with the road about 40km. That's impossible, according to NOAA.

Today, Reed's idea is even more distant when international law only allows the use of up to 150,000 tons of explosives for non-military purposes.