# Could we blow up the moon? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 7, 2012, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-we-blow-up-the-moon/634013 "2012-09-07T17:27:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Kenm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bc79bd/32.png) [@Kenm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kenm)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2012, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-we-blow-up-the-moon/634013/21 "2012-09-07T22:37:55Z")
> [@Chimera](#): > > This reminded me of something I saw 20 years ago or so where this nutjob was proposing to blow up the moon and cause the pieces to soft-land in the oceans and fill them in so that we would have more land mass to use. No word on where all that water was supposed to go, let alone how we were to accomplish ‘soft landing’ continent sized pieces. The water would go down the plug hole at the North Pole and fill the hollow Earth. Jeez. Everyone knows that. Don’t you listen to Coast to Coast AM? ---
**Author:** ![RadicalPi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/radicalpi/32/9806_2.png) [@RadicalPi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RadicalPi)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2012, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-we-blow-up-the-moon/634013/22 "2012-09-07T23:21:47Z")
See _How to Destroy the Earth_, [How to destroy the Earth @ Things Of Interest](http://qntm.org/destroy), and then just divide everything by 81. ---
**Author:** ![Michael63129](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/3da27b/32.png) [@Michael63129](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Michael63129)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2012, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-we-blow-up-the-moon/634013/23 "2012-09-08T01:00:58Z")
> [@RadicalPi](#): > > See _How to Destroy the Earth_, [How to destroy the Earth @ Things Of Interest](http://qntm.org/destroy), and then just divide everything by 81. Sounds like somebody already tried to do it four years ago: > [@](#): > > Urgent update, September 10, 2008 > > It is our duty to inform you that as of 7:35:05am UTC on September 10, 2008, the Earth has been destroyed. ---
**Author:** ![split\_p\_j](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e19b73/32.png) [@split\_p\_j](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/split_p_j)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2012, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-we-blow-up-the-moon/634013/24 "2012-09-08T01:26:19Z")
The [bad astronomer](http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2012/09/07/armageddon-had-bad-science-shocker-i-know/#more-52975) says it would take a 100 billion megaton bomb just to get the results seen in Armageddon. I’m guessing it’d be a no for the moon. ---
**Author:** ![RadicalPi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/radicalpi/32/9806_2.png) [@RadicalPi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RadicalPi)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2012, 6:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-we-blow-up-the-moon/634013/25 "2012-09-08T06:43:29Z")
> [@](#): > > Urgent update, September 10, 2008 > > It is our duty to inform you that as of 7:35:05am UTC on September 10, 2008, the Earth has been destroyed. Why am I always the last to know? ---
**Author:** ![Alka\_Seltzer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c89c15/32.png) [@Alka\_Seltzer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alka_Seltzer)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2012, 10:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-we-blow-up-the-moon/634013/26 "2012-09-08T10:00:22Z")
No-one is going to blow up the moon in an election year people. ---
**Author:** ![drewtwo99](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d07c76/32.png) [@drewtwo99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewtwo99)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2012, 10:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-we-blow-up-the-moon/634013/27 "2012-09-08T10:28:41Z")
Could we put Newt Gingrich and his followers up there first, please? Then we can talk about blowing the place up. ---
**Author:** ![Meurglys](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/258eb7/32.png) [@Meurglys](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meurglys)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2012, 12:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-we-blow-up-the-moon/634013/28 "2012-09-08T12:18:31Z")
> [@Malacandra](#): > > Hey! I don’t want your great Darsh face hanging over my garden wall! :mad: 🙂 Beat me to it! ---
**Author:** ![Bullitt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bullitt/32/5725_2.png) [@Bullitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bullitt)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2012, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-we-blow-up-the-moon/634013/29 "2012-09-08T14:18:43Z")
If you’re going to blow up the moon in an election year, please wait until after mid-October. I’m going to visit the Bay of Fundy and I want to see the big tides. After that, go ahead. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2012, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-we-blow-up-the-moon/634013/30 "2012-09-08T16:15:38Z")
> [@](#): > > Quoth **TriPolar** : > > Could we knock a piece of the moon off, accelerate it, but keep it in the moon’s orbit so it comes back around and hits the moon again? Could we break it into several pieces and create a giant Newton’s Cradle that way, sans strings and frame? Believe it or not, there already is one of those in the Solar System. Behold, [Janus and Epimetheus](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epimetheus_%28moon%29#Orbital_relationship_between_Epimetheus_and_Janus). > [@](#): > > Quoth **si\_blakely** : > > There is a sci-fi novel called Moonfall - the moon is struck by an extrasolar asteroid with a huge velocity, it breaks up. The earth gets hammered with falling rocks, but the bulk of the shattered moon stays in orbit, and could smear out into a ring or could coalesce back into a smaller body. The Moon is well above the Earth’s Roche limit, by a considerable margin, and so it would re-form in a relatively short time. You only get proper rings below the Roche limit. ---
**Author:** ![Kenm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bc79bd/32.png) [@Kenm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kenm)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2012, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-we-blow-up-the-moon/634013/31 "2012-09-08T17:04:34Z")
“Earthlings — every galaxy has 'em, or something like 'em, I suppose,” Clax 972 thought. “They see a moon and their only curiosity is how to blow it up.” Clax 972 reached out with a left tentacle and pushed a lever. A wide beam of dark red light shot from the insecticide cruiser’s bow. It shot past the system’s sun then the red planet, and a few seconds later boiled the Atlantic moments before Earth disintigrated into particles no larger than grains of sand on his home planet. Already they were nearly invisible as they dispersed through space. Clax 972 glanced up at his work schedule. Only one more infestation to eradicate. Well, this tour wasn’t so bad; Andromeda was relatively close, and after that he could set the cruiser for home. Self-satisfaction slowly turned Clax 972 cyan, for there was no higher honour than making the universe safe for civilization. The cruiser turned to head for a system in the nearby galaxy. As it gathered way, Clax 972 slept. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2012, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-we-blow-up-the-moon/634013/32 "2012-09-08T17:21:07Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Believe it or not, there already is one of those in the Solar System. Behold, [Janus and Epimetheus](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epimetheus_%28moon%29#Orbital_relationship_between_Epimetheus_and_Janus). That is way cool. And more argument in favor of the Moon being a planet. And then through attenuated logic showing that Pluto is still a planet after all. Shove it up your asses anti-Plutists. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2012, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-we-blow-up-the-moon/634013/33 "2012-09-08T18:35:35Z")
> [@drewtwo99](#): > > Could we put Newt Gingrich and his followers up there first, please? Then we can talk about blowing the place up. [Moderator Note] **drewtwo99** , political jabs are not permitted in GQ. No warning issued, but don’t do this again. Colibri General Questions Moderator ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2012, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-we-blow-up-the-moon/634013/34 "2012-09-08T18:37:52Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > Shove it up your asses anti-Plutists. I can’t believe you passed up the chance to say “Shove it up Uranus.”😃 ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2012, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-we-blow-up-the-moon/634013/35 "2012-09-08T18:38:23Z")
> [@Dr.Strangelove](#): > > No. > > Blowing up the moon would require accelerating all of its mass to the escape velocity of the moon. The escape velocity is 2400 m/s and the mass 7.3477e22 kg; this comes to 2.1161e29 joules. This is quite a lot of energy; the sun for instance produces 3.846e26 W, so blowing up the moon would require over 9 minutes of the sun’s total energy output. A few years ago, I calculated the energy to dissect the moon (to give all the mass in the moon escape velocity - I took into account the fact that after the outer surface is taken away, the escape velocity decreases) and got 1.24 \* 10^29 joules - pretty close to your approximation. We’re both neglecting the non-gravitational binding energy of the moon’s material, but that’s going to be pretty small compared to the gravitational binding. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2012, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-we-blow-up-the-moon/634013/36 "2012-09-08T18:45:40Z")
> [@Incubus](#): > > What would it take to blow up the moon, realistically? An Illudium Q-36 Explosive Space Modulator? ---
**Author:** ![Michael63129](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/3da27b/32.png) [@Michael63129](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Michael63129)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2012, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-we-blow-up-the-moon/634013/37 "2012-09-08T19:19:13Z")
> [@Andy\_L](#): > > A few years ago, I calculated the energy to dissect the moon (to give all the mass in the moon escape velocity - I took into account the fact that after the outer surface is taken away, the escape velocity decreases) and got 1.24 \* 10^29 joules - pretty close to your approximation. We’re both neglecting the non-gravitational binding energy of the moon’s material, but that’s going to be pretty small compared to the gravitational binding. To put that into perspective, even if all fossil fuels and uranium reserves were put together into one big bomb, they would fall far short of the required energy; according to [Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orders_of_magnitude_%28energy%29), fossil fuel reserves contain 3.9×10^22 joules and uranium reserves 2.2×10^23 joules, for a total of 2.59 x 10^23 joules, only around a millionth of the required energy (also only about half the energy in the dinosaur-killing asteroid impact, and [far larger impacts](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Pole%E2%80%93Aitken_basin) have occurred on the Moon). ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2012, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-we-blow-up-the-moon/634013/38 "2012-09-08T20:09:57Z")
> [@Michael63129](#): > > To put that into perspective, even if all fossil fuels and uranium reserves were put together into one big bomb, they would fall far short of the required energy; according to [Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orders_of_magnitude_%28energy%29), fossil fuel reserves contain 3.9×10^22 joules and uranium reserves 2.2×10^23 joules, for a total of 2.59 x 10^23 joules, only around a millionth of the required energy (also only about half the energy in the dinosaur-killing asteroid impact, and [far larger impacts](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Pole%E2%80%93Aitken_basin) have occurred on the Moon). Yeah; I figured out it would take the kinetic energy of Ceres (the largest asteroid) moving at 50 km/sec or Halley’s comet at 35,000 km/sec to approach that amount of energy. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2012, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-we-blow-up-the-moon/634013/39 "2012-09-08T21:17:58Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > I can’t believe you passed up the chance to say “Shove it up Uranus.”😃 Damn! You’re right. I missed an opening there. ---
**Author:** ![bardos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bardos/32/1069_2.png) [@bardos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bardos)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2012, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-we-blow-up-the-moon/634013/40 "2012-09-08T21:21:07Z")
> [@ftg](#): > > This is a recurring topic here. Why in God’s name would this be a recurring topic, blowing up the moon? People have too much free time on their hands or what? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-we-blow-up-the-moon/634013.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-we-blow-up-the-moon/634013.md?page=3)