So the TV show Heroes was a cool show, and ended with a pretty good cliffhanger. While there are questions that everyone is waiting to hear answered, the main thing is that the science is off. E=mc2 explains that the explosion of whats his face would have been much more devastating.
Using Einstein’s theory (which is pretty much universally accepted) we can determine the size of the explosion that would occur when a man goes from solid mass into pure energy. Energy equals mass times the speed of light squared. So we take his mass, and times it by the speed of light squared. 186,000 miles per second, times 186,000 miles per second, times his mass, figure the average man is between 175-200 pounds, that equals a shitload of energy.
Keep in mind that the Atomic bomb is an example of this equation put into action. The bomb that was dropped on Hiroshima was about on ounce of material that was converted into energy. The effect of that explosion was so destructive that everything within a mile of ground zero was vaporized. Ten miles away glass was still rattling on buildings.
Take 16 ounces in a pound, one pound of material would have been 16 times more destructive. Which is closer to what modern nuclear weapons will do. In the late 80’s ground zero for a bomb we would launch as first strike would be 10 miles. So everything within ten miles would be vaporized instantly. Thirty miles from the center windows would still be rattling.
One hundred pounds would be 1,600 times more powerful than Hiroshima, two hundred pounds would be 3,200 times more powerful. For the sake of easy math let’s say the guy is under 200 pounds so that converting his mass into energy would be 3,000 times Hiroshima. New York would be gone in an instant, so would everything within 3,000 miles. That is 3,000 miles RADIUS!!
An explosion of that magnitude would pretty much vaporize the United States and Canada. All the wild life in the Atlantic would be flash fried. The Western Seaboard of Europe would be melted, and if it didn’t evaporate the water, the force from the explosion would make Moscow beachfront property. The polar ice caps would melt and the resulting tsunami would put Australia and China underwater from the water of the Pacific ocean.
Now in the show his brother grabs him and takes him into the air so that he can harmlessly explode in the atmosphere. Which is a good idea, except that by taking him up, the destructive force of the explosion would punch down and potentially do vast more damage to the Earth’s crust. An explosion will take the path of least resistance, wich means it would travel mostly along a two dimensional plane if it happened at ground level, however give it some time to build up momentum and the it would crush the ground below, maybe penetrating the crust. So now you have red hot magma spewing out, not that there would be any survivors to witness the lava wasteland.
Keep in mind that you can only go so far up before you start to go outside our atmosphere and are heading into space. I don’t care how expensive that suit is, it isn’t going to help you breath in a vacuum. If they did get out into space, I wonder what effect that would have on the gravitional forces of the moon?
So that is my thoughts on the science behind what would have happened. The only survivors would be central Russia, the Sahara would have water to go with that sand so it would be like Maui, and certain parts of the Middle East might skip annihilation. Yes, I know it is a show and is made up, but I thought it was interesting to think about. Let’s hear your thoughts.
