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Why doesn’t a nuclear bomb create a chain reaction that destroys the entire planet?

  Because real life is not Hollywood plus 4 reasons. Fission vs. Fusion : Nuclear bombs work on the principle of nuclear fission – splitting heavy atoms like uranium or plutonium. This releases energy, sure, but to destroy the entire planet? Not enough oomph. What you'd need is a fusion reaction, the kind that fuels stars. That involves lighter atoms like hydrogen fusing, and it's way more powerful. Think of fission as a firecracker, fusion as the sun. We're nowhere near making a fusion bomb as big as our planet. The Limits of Chain Reactions : Even in a fission bomb, the chain reaction doesn't run wild forever. The explosion itself scatters the nuclear fuel, disrupting the critical mass needed to sustain the reaction. It's like trying to keep a bonfire going by throwing the logs across the field. Dissipation of Energy : The colossal energy released by a nuke mostly disperses as heat, light, and a shockwave. Earth is just way too big to absorb all that and go kabloo...
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If we believe Light Speed is the threshold velocity anything can traverse space-time, then why does Cherenkov radiation move faster, as we understand it?

 Aaaahhhh, yes. Excellent question.

Unfortunately, it demonstrates a very common misunderstanding of the “speed of light.”

If you watch the Discovery Channel enough, (Ok, ok, science-related YouTube content. I’m fully aware it’s not 1998 anymore) you’ll have seen plenty of smart-sounding people tell you that “nothing can travel faster than light speed,” or “the universal speed limit is C.” Not only do these people sound smart, they are, in fact, telling you the truth.

Now, obviously, you’ve seen somewhere that Cherenkov radiation is caused by particles moving faster that the speed of light. That is also true!

Wait a minute

Did I just tell you that nothing can go faster than light, and that things go faster than light in two consecutive sentences??? Yes I did. No, that isn’t a contradiction. You see, that “universal speed limit” you heard about isn’t the speed of light. The actual speed limit is the speed of light in a vacuum.

The speed of light (when not in a vacuum) is actually quite variable. Once light is travelling through a transparent medium, such as air, water, glass, or the average dress on Oscar night, it can slow down considerably. This is what makes refraction possible, and therefore makes rainbows multi-colored, spectrometers a thing, and my glasses effective in allowing me to read what I’m typing. This is where Cherenkov radiation comes into play.

When fast-moving particles are released in one of these “slowed light” media, they can travel faster than light would (in that medium), and cause some interesting effects.

Above is a picture of a nuclear reactor in water. Since the speed of light in water is only 75% of the speed of light in a vacuum, any fast electrons, or other charged particles could be moving considerably faster, giving rise to the Cherenkov glow. If you were to place this reactor in space, there would be no glow, as the particles would no longer be moving faster than the local speed of light. (Let’s forget about the fact that the reactor would melt down immediately, as it would no longer have any cooling, but whatever - at least it wouldn’t be glowing blue!)
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