Question: if nuclear weapons were detonated on each of the polar ice caps what would be the result?

[Roman Rapper]

Just something I wondered.

[vizi]

A big explosion would happen.

[Roman Rapper]

Actually there would be two big explosions. But beyond that, could significantly powerful nuclear blasts melt a part of the ice caps? Could it cause worldwide flooding?

[Ragabash]

I very mouch doubt it would have any affect globally. The ice caps are huge, and these explosions could at best cause tiny, local melting. Their affect would be like trying to melt ice with lighter in a rink.

[justicar5]

lots of radioactive steam, thats about it probably.

[Sidmen]

Negligible effect.

However, depending on the bomb's location and the area's makeup - it could crack off a huge hunk of ice that would drift out to sea and melt.

[Markas]

SPECTRE would kick themselves for not getting there first.

[Roman Rapper]

Yo Markas, Martin N's prediction has not come to pass. You can get rid of his from your sig and just focus on mine.

[Markas]

Yo Markas, Martin N's prediction has not come to pass. You can get rid of his from your sig and just focus on mine.

I'm waiting until he gets back. Don't worry, your quote won't be obscured forever.

[Caelius]

This is what happens when Hollywood myth meets reality.

Props to the people who used common sense in their answers.

[Sphere]

Well lets do some math, this is a science forum after all.

A typical thermo-nuclear bomb produces a 10 megaton explosion, or 418,400,000,000 Joules. The specific heat of ice is 2.06 Joule/gC. To melt ice on the poles you would need to raise the temperature what, 20C?

Crunch the numbers and if you could convert all of the energy of a hydrogen bomb towards heating the ice (which you cannot), you could melt roughly 10,000 cubic kilometers of ice. The antarctic ice sheet is 30 million cubic kilometers of ice. We are not in the same ballpark here.

[BunnyPoopCereal]

It could trigger a new ice age

[BritPatriot1815]

The scientific equation for this is;

Nuclear explosion+Polar Icecaps = We're ed

[Phoenixx]

I'd like to think the earth would consume itself and we'd all be transported to a lesbian dimension.

[Osceola]

I'd like to think the earth would consume itself and we'd all be transported to a lesbian dimension.

So you won't us all to be transported to a dimension full of women who don't want to have sex with you?

:hmmm:

[eisenkopf]

So you won't us all to be transported to a dimension full of women who don't want to have sex with you?

:hmmm:

It's called "going to hell".

[justicar5]

It's called "going to hell".

or being a geek

[DAVIDE]

something close to "waterworld" the movie

[Phoenixx]

something close to "waterworld" the movie

That and everyone becomes dolphins.

[pwf224]

It would spew radiation everywhere in the pole. If that stuff does melt soon then it would contaminate the oceans around it too. It MIGHT TEMPORARILY (as in maybe 1/10000000th of a sec) throw off the magnetic field since nukes give out a large elctro-magnetic pulse milliseconds before the actual blast reaches you (think Oceans 11 with the "pinch), but that is pure speculation. In reality, you would have some localized melting on the icecaps, some radiation that would get thrown over the icecaps, but it would probably all just refreeze together anyways be be quite harmless to any sential being.

In short NOTHING