# 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:** 2
**Author:** ![smiling\_bandit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@smiling\_bandit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smiling_bandit)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2014, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nuking-the-pyramids/703950/21 "2014-11-07T15:59:05Z")
I suppose they could part with one and _still_ be feared. ---
**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2014, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nuking-the-pyramids/703950/22 "2014-11-07T16:24:53Z")
Right. I’ll start typing the grant applications, you guys book the tickets to Egypt. **Enola** , you’re on portable nuclear device procurement. ---
**Author:** ![Gray\_Ghost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c0e974/32.png) [@Gray\_Ghost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gray_Ghost)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2014, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nuking-the-pyramids/703950/23 "2014-11-07T19:31:08Z")
I think **bump** mentioned the **Nuclear Weapon Archive** in another related thread. There’s a bit there on [effects of underground nuclear explosions](http://nuclearweaponarchive.org/Library/Effects/UndergroundEffects.html), that I’d think would serve as a lower bound for the effects of our hypothetical explosion. Anyone have a clue as to how much more energy would be needed to break/melt rock, like what would happen in an underground burst, versus moving rock blocks only held together by friction forces? If I can dig up a copy of an explosives manual I have around here somewhere, I’ll see what equations/graphs it has for calculating fly rock from scree as opposed to fly rock from a bored, tamped charge. ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2014, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nuking-the-pyramids/703950/24 "2014-11-07T20:04:56Z")
I’m a coward. I’m not going to carry the bomb into the pyramid; I am, however, going to put the bomb on the side of the pyramid away from the entrance then run with my horse or camel into the pyramid as quickly as possible, preferably round a corner, but not too far from the entrance (I don’t want to be buried alive). I’ll encourage anyone nearby to join me. Thus I use the pyramid to shield us from the blast. Once things have calmed down, I ride out. Being mounted will provide a modest insurance against radioactive fallout on the ground. ---
**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2014, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nuking-the-pyramids/703950/25 "2014-11-07T20:33:47Z")
> [@Gray\_Ghost](#): > > Anyone have a clue as to how much more energy would be needed to break/melt rock, like what would happen in an underground burst, versus moving rock blocks only held together by friction forces? Yeah, as stated upthread the pyramids are made of limestone which isn’t exactly the toughest of minerals - it’s just chalk with a 'tude. The question isn’t whether a strong enough explosion will break it (it jolly well will), it’s more about “does the stone pulverize/melt \*before \*it isflung sky high ?” ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2014, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nuking-the-pyramids/703950/26 "2014-11-07T20:50:04Z")
You’re gonna see something like [this](http://hdw.eweb4.com/wallpapers/2078/). ---
**Author:** ![Inigo\_Montoya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inigo_montoya/32/124_2.png) [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2014, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nuking-the-pyramids/703950/27 "2014-11-07T21:11:19Z")
> [@Kobal2](#): > > Right. I’ll start typing the grant applications, you guys book the tickets to Egypt. **Enola** , you’re on portable nuclear device procurement. I don’t mean to nitpick an otherwise cunning plan, but shouldn’t Enola be in charge of portable nuclear device _ **delivery** _? ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2014, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nuking-the-pyramids/703950/28 "2014-11-07T22:32:25Z")
> [@Kobal2](#): > > Yeah, as stated upthread the pyramids are made of limestone which isn’t exactly the toughest of minerals - it’s just chalk with a 'tude. … 🙂 I’m thinking that similar comparisons with different materials would make for a nice thread. ---
**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2014, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nuking-the-pyramids/703950/29 "2014-11-07T22:49:04Z")
> [@Leo\_Bloom](#): > > 🙂 I’m thinking that similar comparisons with different materials would make for a nice thread. Rubber is pretty much amber, only less bourgeois and psychorigid. Food for thought. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2014, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nuking-the-pyramids/703950/30 "2014-11-07T22:52:01Z")
> [@The Great Sun Jester](#): > > I don’t mean to nitpick an otherwise cunning plan, but shouldn’t Enola be in charge of portable nuclear device _ **delivery** _? Can’t have that. PR concerns re: nepotism, you understand. ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2014, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nuking-the-pyramids/703950/31 "2014-11-07T22:56:45Z")
Are you kidding? You think they’d allow the word _gay_ on the airplane? ---
**Author:** ![Habeed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a587f6/32.png) [@Habeed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Habeed)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2014, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nuking-the-pyramids/703950/32 "2014-11-08T04:33:54Z")
Wouldn’t the best move be to not waste any time trying to move the device, but instead start running in the direction that will put the bulk of the pyramid between you and the bomb? If you get running right away you’ll be a lot farther away when the device goes off. Maybe shout out to whoever is nearby that they ought to be running too…but you might wanna conserve your breath, since you’re gonna need it. If you can get a mile away and the pyramid is between you and the blast, and you get in the prone when you see the flash…(before the shockwave arrives) I think you have a chance. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Q](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/898d66/32.png) [@Johnny\_Q](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Q)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2014, 11:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nuking-the-pyramids/703950/33 "2014-11-08T11:21:55Z")
> [@cmyk](#): > > I thought it was the white one with green stripes… Or was it the green one with white stripes? They all look gray to me… ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2014, 11:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nuking-the-pyramids/703950/34 "2014-11-08T11:26:18Z")
[Nukema](http://nuclearsecrecy.com/nukemap/)p has the ability to test this theoretically. A 20 KT burst groundburst at the Giza Necropolis means 14,210 fatalities and 55,540 injuries in the suburbs of Cairo. Needless to say, you are superfucked if you are anywhere nearby, ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2014, 12:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nuking-the-pyramids/703950/35 "2014-11-08T12:40:47Z")
> [@AK84](#): > > Needless to say, you are superfucked if you are anywhere nearby, Having 100+m of rock between me and the blast should help a bit. At least for lower-end nukes; I doubt it will help much if the nuke is a Tsar Bomba. ---
**Author:** ![Fishtar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ed655f/32.png) [@Fishtar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fishtar)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2014, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nuking-the-pyramids/703950/36 "2014-11-08T13:39:35Z")
> [@Quartz](#): > > Having 100+m of rock between me and the blast should help a bit. At least for lower-end nukes; I doubt it will help much if the nuke is a Tsar Bomba. I would avoid the north side. Due to the giant death ray that would come shooting out that door. ---
**Author:** ![Digital\_is\_the\_new\_Analog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a88e4f/32.png) [@Digital\_is\_the\_new\_Analog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Digital_is_the_new_Analog)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2014, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nuking-the-pyramids/703950/37 "2014-11-08T14:41:37Z")
> [@cmyk](#): > > I thought it was the white one with green stripes… Or was it the green one with white stripes? **cmyk** , I’d have expected you to be able to keep track of colors. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2014, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nuking-the-pyramids/703950/38 "2014-11-08T15:12:28Z")
My experience with visiting Giza is that no matter what happens with the bomb, the guy driving the tour wagon will try to steal a pencil from you. ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2014, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nuking-the-pyramids/703950/39 "2014-11-08T16:10:56Z")
> [@AK84](#): > > A 20 KT burst groundburst at the Giza Necropolis means 14,210 fatalities and 55,540 injuries in the suburbs of Cairo. Reminds me of that famous newspaper headline. _Nuke Rips Through Necropolis, Thousands Feared Dead_ ---
**Author:** ![Martin\_Hyde](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/47e85d/32.png) [@Martin\_Hyde](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martin_Hyde)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2014, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nuking-the-pyramids/703950/40 "2014-11-08T16:36:59Z")
> [@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). Well note that fallout is the result of earth and other debris from the nuclear impact crater being ejected into the high atmosphere and then falling back down. Nuclear blasts detonated significantly above ground (like Tsar Bomba, the largest ever) produce virtually no fallout. So too would be the fate of a nuclear blast that was “smothered” by being detonated deep under the Earth. So if a Hiroshima size bomb being set off in the deepest “bit” of the pyramid was akin to an underground detonation there would be no fallout. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nuking-the-pyramids/703950.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nuking-the-pyramids/703950.md?page=3)