(no subject)

[rain_gryphon]

I wonder how big of an atom bomb you could shoot off in the bottommost chamber of the Great Pyramid, and still have the weight of the pyramid smother the explosion? In the megaton range, undoubtedly. I have this image in my mind of the whole structure sort of jumping a bit, the light glaring out from the cracks between the blocks for just a second before it settles back into place, looking slightly disheveled.

Comments

[blither.livejournal.com]

You're so cute. *giggle*

[xolo.livejournal.com]

I'm still in that Fourth of July mindset :)

[terrycloth.livejournal.com]

Then, a hundred years from now, a hapless archaeologist wanders inside looking for mummies to molest, and dies of radiation sic -- er, the MUMMIES' CURSE!

[patch-bunny.livejournal.com]

Hmmm... I like this stuff.

I'm making some assumptions (I know, I know... but both asses and bunnies have long ears, so I'm in good company), but if we assume 71m as the shortest distance to the outside from a ground level explosion within the Great Pyramid (http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/pyramid/geometry/), this site (http://www.llnl.gov/tid/lof/documents/pdf/19093.pdf) indicated that a 5-kt explosion would punch through. You could likely do it with much less, as the destruction of the inner core would lead to a collapse of some sort. Plus, since the arrangement is stacked blocks, I'm betting that the structure would come apart more easily than their data indicates.

To completely contain the blast and all fallout, Nuc News (http://nucnews.net/nucnews/2004nn/0403nn/040306nn.htm#102) shows that you'd need a bomb with less than a kiloton yield (go to figure 4).

Still, theories are useless unless backed up by research data. I'm free Tuesday. Anyone else in? (http://www.touregypt.net/visa.htm)

[oliver-otter.livejournal.com]

If I'm not mistaken, a megaton bomb can vaporize 150 feet of rock in all directions, not counting the explosive power of that much rock turning into a gas. So the flash wouldn't get out of the pyramid, but the fireball would blow the remaining shell outwards almost instantly.