# Nuking the Pyramids **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 7, 2014, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nuking-the-pyramids/703950 "2014-11-07T03:55:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Enola\_Straight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dec6dc/32.png) [@Enola\_Straight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enola_Straight)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2014, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nuking-the-pyramids/703950/1 "2014-11-07T03:55:20Z")
Let’s suppose you are a tourist at the ancient pyramids at Giza an behold a low yield nuclear device counting down on the ground. (for the purposes of this story, you are an electronic moron, so you can;t defuse it, but you are enormously strong, so you can pick it up and carry it :rolleyes:) You have the ability to stuff this bomb with a 20 kiloton yield into one of the chambers of the pyramid > **[Egyptian pyramids](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Egyptian_pyramids#mediaviewer/File:Great_Pyramid_Diagram.svg)** > > The Egyptian pyramids are ancient masonry structures located in Egypt. Sources cite at least 118 identified "Egyptian" pyramids. Approximately 80 pyramids were built within the Kingdom of Kush, now located in the modern country of Sudan. Of those located in modern Egypt, most were built as tombs for the country's pharaohs and their consorts during the Old and Middle Kingdom periods. > The earliest known Egyptian pyramids are found at Saqqara, northwest of Memphis, although at least one step-py... Could the bulk of the pyramid hold the detonation of a nuke? ---
**Author:** ![Charlie\_Wayne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4bbf92/32.png) [@Charlie\_Wayne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Charlie_Wayne)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2014, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nuking-the-pyramids/703950/2 "2014-11-07T04:02:35Z")
I have no idea. However, I have to wonder why you would ask about this. Could it be that you think the pyramids may have been some kind of nuclear shelter used by an ancient civilization? Or a civilization that predates our own and was obliterate many years before our civilization even began? ---
**Author:** ![Fishtar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ed655f/32.png) [@Fishtar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fishtar)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2014, 4:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nuking-the-pyramids/703950/3 "2014-11-07T04:41:53Z")
So a 20,000,000 ton pyramid vs the equivalent of 20,000 tons of TNT. Equals about 2 pounds of TNT per ton of stone. I am retarded when it comes to physics, so that is about as far as I can get. I would guess the pyramid would be more of a pile. But that it would not Blow chunks of Rock across the Universe. ---
**Author:** ![GusNSpot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gusnspot/32/436_2.png) [@GusNSpot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GusNSpot)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2014, 5:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nuking-the-pyramids/703950/4 "2014-11-07T05:43:06Z")
I think with the containment attempt on the explosion that the pressures would go way up over normal so nearby destruction of the containment vessel will go way up. I vote for a lot of flying rocks for some distance value over 10 feet. I know nothing of the difference between ground level, airborne & underground nuklar bombs results. All provide the same pressures? Or to get the same pressures, each one needs to be very different in size depending on placement? ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2014, 5:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nuking-the-pyramids/703950/5 "2014-11-07T05:46:16Z")
The timer always stops at “1”. ---
**Author:** ![Oakminster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/77aa72/32.png) [@Oakminster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oakminster)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2014, 5:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nuking-the-pyramids/703950/6 "2014-11-07T05:58:31Z")
That’s basically the same yield as the bomb dropped on Nagasaki. I vote the pyramid gets obliterated and the stones become radioactive shrapnel. ---
**Author:** ![cmyk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmyk/32/3353_2.png) [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2014, 6:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nuking-the-pyramids/703950/7 "2014-11-07T06:04:44Z")
Run that bad boy far below into ‘The Pit’ and wait. There’ll be a low “fwump” sound. The earth will shake. Small rocks will cascade down the four slopes of the pyramid. Everyone will stand silent in awe. Then the Sphinx head will pop off, rocketing into space, as the neck-hole acts like a nuclear powered steam whistle. ---
**Author:** ![Donnerwetter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b2d939/32.png) [@Donnerwetter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Donnerwetter)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2014, 6:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nuking-the-pyramids/703950/8 "2014-11-07T06:13:12Z")
> [@running\_coach](#): > > The timer always stops at “1”. But before that, you have to cut a wire. Either the blue one, or the red one. ---
**Author:** ![cmyk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmyk/32/3353_2.png) [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2014, 6:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nuking-the-pyramids/703950/9 "2014-11-07T06:25:14Z")
> [@Donnerwetter](#): > > But before that, you have to cut a wire. Either the blue one, or the red one. I thought it was the white one with green stripes… Or was it the green one with white stripes? ---
**Author:** ![md2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/73ab20/32.png) [@md2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md2000)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2014, 6:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nuking-the-pyramids/703950/10 "2014-11-07T06:32:08Z")
> [@running\_coach](#): > > The timer always stops at “1”. No, I saw a movie where it stopped at 007. ---
**Author:** ![cmyk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmyk/32/3353_2.png) [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2014, 6:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nuking-the-pyramids/703950/11 "2014-11-07T06:40:11Z")
There’s no way a 50 foot, radioactive, mummified Pharaoh isn’t coming out of this fiasco. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2014, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nuking-the-pyramids/703950/12 "2014-11-07T13:07:11Z")
> [@cmyk](#): > > There’s no way a 50 foot, radioactive, mummified Pharaoh isn’t coming out of this fiasco. I’m more worried about the carpet of scarab beetles with glowing red eyes. ---
**Author:** ![yellowjacketcoder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/4bbf92/32.png) [@yellowjacketcoder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yellowjacketcoder)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2014, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nuking-the-pyramids/703950/13 "2014-11-07T13:21:22Z")
Jokes, aside, the Great Pyramind at Giza is [139m tall and 230m wide at the base.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Pyramid_of_Giza). The trinity test left [a crater 5 feet deep and thirty feet wide](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trinity_(nuclear_test)#Reaction), but it was also on [a tower that was 100 feet tall](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trinity_(nuclear_test)#The_Gadget). That doesn’t give a lot to go on - my suspicion is that the pyramid itself would be rubble, but the nearby city of Giza would not suffer blast effects (fallout is another story). ---
**Author:** ![Bozuit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/edb3f5/32.png) [@Bozuit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bozuit)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2014, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nuking-the-pyramids/703950/14 "2014-11-07T13:31:48Z")
Egypt has lots of pyramids, right? They should be able to spare _one_ for science. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2014, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nuking-the-pyramids/703950/15 "2014-11-07T14:29:44Z")
> [@yellowjacketcoder](#): > > Jokes, aside, the Great Pyramind at Giza is [139m tall and 230m wide at the base.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Pyramid_of_Giza). The trinity test left [a crater 5 feet deep and thirty feet wide](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trinity_(nuclear_test)#Reaction), but it was also on [a tower that was 100 feet tall](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trinity_(nuclear_test)#The_Gadget). > > That doesn’t give a lot to go on - my suspicion is that the pyramid itself would be rubble, but the nearby city of Giza would not suffer blast effects (fallout is another story). Depending on exactly where the nuke was placed, it might just go “WHUMP!” and then sort of collapse in on itself. [This test (Sedan)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sedan_(nuclear_test)) displaced about 11 million tons with a 104kt bomb, so a 20kt bomb wouldn’t displace that much, and someone already postulated that the pyramid would weigh 20 million tons. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Hamster\_King](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8edcca/32.png) [@The\_Hamster\_King](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Hamster_King)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2014, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nuking-the-pyramids/703950/16 "2014-11-07T14:31:46Z")
We can use [underground nuclear tests](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Underground_nuclear_testing) as comparisons. The blast from even small devices in the 1-2 kiloton range could reach the surface from a depth of 100m. They had to bury them deeper then that to contain the blast. So even if you put the device in a chamber at the center of the base of the pyramid, it’s not going to contain it. For a small device you’ll muffle the blast but it will still turn the pyramid into rubble. I doubt a pyramid could contain the fireball of a 20 kiloton shot. ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2014, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nuking-the-pyramids/703950/17 "2014-11-07T14:34:01Z")
The Pyramid would be gone. Look what a mere 30 tons did: > **[Lochnagar mine](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lochnagar_mine)** > > Associated articles > 1915 > 1916 ---
**Author:** ![gnoitall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bb73d2/32.png) [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2014, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nuking-the-pyramids/703950/18 "2014-11-07T14:36:52Z")
Operation [Plumbob, shot Pascal-B](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Plumbbob#Propulsion_of_steel_plate_cap): An underground test of a 0.3 kiloton device in a deep shaft, capped with a one-ton armor steel plate cap (like a manhole cover on growth hormones). At detonation, the cap seemed to disappear. Review of high-speed camera footage showed the cap leaving the top of the test shaft. Only one frame. The cap had already flown out of view by the very next frame. Estimated departure speed, based on the distance flown in that one frame interval: 22 miles per second. :eek: For the record, that’s approximately 3 times Earth’s escape velocity. And that measured speed is actually a lower bound estimate. Expert opinion is that the plate probably vaporized from compression heating trying to push through thick atmosphere at triple escape velocity, but if it survived intact, it may be in an eccentric solar orbit now. Object lesson? A contained nuclear detonation makes a hell of a propulsion charge. The pyramid is supervelocity shrapnel, except what vaporizes. Even pulverizing the rock to dust wouldn’t help much; sand moving at those speeds would obliterate everything until the particles shed enough energy. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2014, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nuking-the-pyramids/703950/19 "2014-11-07T14:40:02Z")
As noted above, there’s plenty of energy to do in the pyramid. And the pyramid is constructed on limestone blocks weighing about 2 1/2 tons each, held together by gravity alone. Pretty likely the Pyramid above the blast will be torn apart, and a crater carved into the ones below. Limestone is Calcium Carbonate, and melts at 800-12200 C. A lot of it is going to get melted, irradiated, activated, then recondensed in the atmosphere and rain down as radioactive fallout, just as happened with the coral atolls in the Pacific. By the way, as John Allen Paulos stated in _Innumeracy_, a pound of TNT is enough to destroy a standard car. Even if you broke the explosion down into a block-by-block basis, the Pyramid is history. Even more than it is now. ---
**Author:** ![cmyk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmyk/32/3353_2.png) [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2014, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nuking-the-pyramids/703950/20 "2014-11-07T14:45:12Z")
> [@gnoitall](#): > > Operation [Plumbob, shot Pascal-B](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Plumbbob#Propulsion_of_steel_plate_cap): An underground test of a 0.3 kiloton device in a deep shaft, capped with a one-ton armor steel plate cap (like a manhole cover on growth hormones). > > At detonation, the cap seemed to disappear. Review of high-speed camera footage showed the cap leaving the top of the test shaft. Only one frame. The cap had already flown out of view by the very next frame. > > Estimated departure speed, based on the distance flown in that one frame interval: 22 miles per second. :eek: > > For the record, that’s approximately 3 times Earth’s escape velocity. And that measured speed is actually a lower bound estimate. Expert opinion is that the plate probably vaporized from compression heating trying to push through thick atmosphere at triple escape velocity, but if it survived intact, it may be in an eccentric solar orbit now. > > Object lesson? A contained nuclear detonation makes a hell of a propulsion charge. The pyramid is supervelocity shrapnel, except what vaporizes. Even pulverizing the rock to dust wouldn’t help much; sand moving at those speeds would obliterate everything until the particles shed enough energy. A-HA! So I was right about Sphinxy’s head! [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nuking-the-pyramids/703950.md?page=2)