# how does a cockroach survive a nuclear detonation?? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 19, 2001, 6:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-a-cockroach-survive-a-nuclear-detonation/50830 "2001-01-19T06:58:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Joe\_Cool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ecb155/32.png) [@Joe\_Cool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joe_Cool)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2001, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-a-cockroach-survive-a-nuclear-detonation/50830/21 "2001-01-19T17:28:47Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by dantheman \* > \*\*[Making two notes. 1. AWB is a sick individual! 2. Don’t piss off AWB. :)] \*\* And most importantly: 3. Don’t infest AWB’s house. ---
**Author:** ![zub](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a6a055/32.png) [@zub](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zub)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2001, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-a-cockroach-survive-a-nuclear-detonation/50830/22 "2001-01-19T18:46:54Z")
jayshah u gotta check [http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a1\_025.html](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a1_025.html) ---
**Author:** ![frolix8](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f04885/32.png) [@frolix8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/frolix8)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2001, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-a-cockroach-survive-a-nuclear-detonation/50830/23 "2001-01-19T21:49:44Z")
The answer, as anyone alive in the '50s knows, is: they duck and cover. ---
**Author:** ![choosybeggar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8c91f0/32.png) [@choosybeggar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/choosybeggar)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2001, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-a-cockroach-survive-a-nuclear-detonation/50830/24 "2001-01-19T22:09:54Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Bob Scene \* > \*\*In a lab I used to work in we had a big plexiglass box with a lid where we’d temporarily store things like gloves and pipette tips that were contaminated with 32-P-labeled DNA and such as that. If you lifted the lid and held a Geiger counter over the box, it would go crazy. One day I found a huge roach crawling around in there, and I could see that it was actually going around licking the contents of the box, which was pretty full. I always assumed someone put the roach in there as a joke or an informal experiment, but no one would admit it. Anyway, after a couple of days it was dead, so it apparently wasn’t immune to radiation. > \*\* And you know that it was the radiation that killed it because…? ---
**Author:** ![choosybeggar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8c91f0/32.png) [@choosybeggar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/choosybeggar)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2001, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-a-cockroach-survive-a-nuclear-detonation/50830/25 "2001-01-20T17:47:46Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Bob Scene \* > \*\*In a lab I used to work in we had a big plexiglass box with a lid where we’d temporarily store things like gloves and pipette tips that were contaminated with 32-P-labeled DNA and such as that. If you lifted the lid and held a Geiger counter over the box, it would go crazy. One day I found a huge roach crawling around in there, and I could see that it was actually going around licking the contents of the box, which was pretty full. I always assumed someone put the roach in there as a joke or an informal experiment, but no one would admit it. Anyway, after a couple of days it was dead, so it apparently wasn’t immune to radiation. > \*\* And you know that it was the radiation that killed it because…? ---
**Author:** ![Agentakbar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/7cd45c/32.png) [@Agentakbar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Agentakbar)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2001, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-a-cockroach-survive-a-nuclear-detonation/50830/26 "2001-01-20T18:45:22Z")
Zub, The English language is your friend. Learn it, use it, and you will go far. Don’t learn it, don’t use it, keep being a mean-spirited boogerbrain and everyone will continue to laugh at you. Your choice. Bri ---
**Author:** ![manhattan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/manhattan/32/7_2.png) [@manhattan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/manhattan)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2001, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-a-cockroach-survive-a-nuclear-detonation/50830/27 "2001-01-20T20:30:42Z")
**Agentakbar** , your comments, while not inaccurate, are unduly harsh. We do not refer to each other as “mean-spirited boogerbrains” in General Questions. Please do not do this again. ---
**Author:** ![Ad\_Noctum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b19c9b/32.png) [@Ad\_Noctum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ad_Noctum)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2001, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-a-cockroach-survive-a-nuclear-detonation/50830/28 "2001-01-20T23:48:15Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by manhattan \* > \*\ ***Agentakbar** , your comments, while not inaccurate, are unduly harsh. We do not refer to each other as “mean-spirited boogerbrains” in General Questions. > > Please do not do this again. \*\* just wanted to say, Manhattan, YOU are the Best wit writer I have EVER read!! you are the best!!! (by the way, “The mean-spirited boogerbrains” would make an AWESOME name for a band!!!) ---
**Author:** ![barking\_frog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/96bed5/32.png) [@barking\_frog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/barking_frog)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2001, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-a-cockroach-survive-a-nuclear-detonation/50830/29 "2001-01-21T00:04:35Z")
Cockroaches are relatively small, they don’t absorb much radiation. The greater the size of the object, the greater the effects of radiation, I would imagine. Put a couple drops of water in a microwave and over a minute it probably would still be pretty cool, put a cup of water in it and after a minute its steaming hot. If you put a cockroach in an oven on the other hand… ---
**Author:** ![Bob\_Scene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e19adc/32.png) [@Bob\_Scene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bob_Scene)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2001, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-a-cockroach-survive-a-nuclear-detonation/50830/30 "2001-01-21T16:47:21Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by choosybeggar \* > And you know that it was the radiation that killed it because…? \*\* Sorry! I didn’t say what I meant to say! I meant to say that it failed to prove that they are resistant, not that it proved that they weren’t. It got mangled somehow. ---
**Author:** ![toadspittle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c0e974/32.png) [@toadspittle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/toadspittle)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2001, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-a-cockroach-survive-a-nuclear-detonation/50830/31 "2001-01-22T22:06:31Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Bob Scene \* > \*\* > > > [@](#): > > > > \*Originally posted by choosybeggar \* > > And you know that it was the radiation that killed it because…? \*\* > > Sorry! I didn’t say what I meant to say! I meant to say that it failed to prove that they are resistant, not that it proved that they weren’t. It got mangled somehow. \*\* I think it failed to prove anything. Are you sure the roach didn’t just dehydrate, starve, suffocate, or die of old age? ---
**Author:** ![MinkMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/minkman/32/19170_2.png) [@MinkMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MinkMan)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2001, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-a-cockroach-survive-a-nuclear-detonation/50830/32 "2001-01-23T01:11:27Z")
It should be noted that the radiation the aforesaid cockroaches were exposed to in the microwave is not the same as they would in a post-WWIII world. Microwaves emit non-ionizing radiation, much like cell phones do. (Though obviously at a much higher intensity). The radiation that would come from a nuclear blast, or from fallout during the nuclear-winter to follow is ionizing radiation, mostly gamma rays and beta particles from the decay of the fission products left over after the explosion. All of the effects of the microwave oven on the roach will be thermal, from the heating of the water in the roach’s body. Ionizing radiation has much more energy than microwaves. It can cause damage at a celluar level and introduce mutations to the DNA. So exposure to a microwave oven probably isn’t a very good test. Now, I know it’s not published data, but I do have second-hand knowledge of an “unauthorized” experiment performed on roaches in the reactor compartment of a US nuclear sub. The test subjects were in a container with a source of food for several weeks with the reactor at power. They survived none the worse for wear. Ambient temps were around 160F and they were probably exposed to ~50-100 Rem/hr. This most definately would have killed a person. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-a-cockroach-survive-a-nuclear-detonation/50830.md?page=1)