[NEWS] Japan Earthquake/Tsunami/Nuclear Crisis 2011

[DossarLX ODI]

Re: Massive 8.9-magnitude quake hits Japan

A few pages ago it's said that a "nuclear explosion" is a physical impossibility from a nuclear power plant.

I'm confused

[ichliebekase]

Re: Massive 8.9-magnitude quake hits Japan

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110314/ap_on_bi_ge/as_japan_earthquake_118

In the article: they're reporting the possibility of a second tsunami. How much more are they expected to handle? Not to sound like an ass, but seems like some greater force really wants to wipe Japan off the face of the earth

I may have missed it, but have there been any reports of evacuation yet? Already thousands of lives lost, if this continues, it could go to millions..

[~kitty~]

Re: Massive 8.9-magnitude quake hits Japan

A few pages ago it's said that a "nuclear explosion" is a physical impossibility from a nuclear power plant.

I'm confused

I was thinking the exact same thing you were.

EDIT: A greater force? I doubt that, if there were greater forces that wanted to eliminate certain nations, our nation would have experienced more than it has for its international relations problems. Also, the reason you probably feel that way is because you want a rationalization for all that is going on, and all the misfortunes happening consecutively may appear like it's unexplainable? I don't know.

[ichliebekase]

Re: Massive 8.9-magnitude quake hits Japan

Greater force meaning God or Mother Nature. Basically a figure of speech.

[dag12]

Re: Massive 8.9-magnitude quake hits Japan

Volcano now, apparently.

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/2011/03/13/2011-03-13_hundreds_flee_in_japan_after_shinmoedake_volcano_begins_spewing_ash_boulders.html

Volcanic activity, earthquakes - they all have related causes.

[LJRoX]

Re: Massive 8.9-magnitude quake hits Japan

I'm watching the news and the guy said it was a hydrogen explosion that happened.. not sure whether it was the first or the third reactor.

[dag12]

Re: Massive 8.9-magnitude quake hits Japan

It was the third, I think.
The first one is... relatively safe? Now

[MrGiggles]

Re: Massive 8.9-magnitude quake hits Japan

Well yeah, a nuclear explosion is equivalent to a nuclear bomb exploding... both are exploding and releasing two of what are really dangerous airborne: cesium and iodine (perhaps strontium, but not too sure)

I don't get how that's funny in anyway.

A few pages ago it's said that a "nuclear explosion" is a physical impossibility from a nuclear power plant.

I'm confused

The explosions are likely being caused by venting hydrogen and oxygen mixing together and being ignited, or melting fuel coming into contact with water. There's nothing nuclear about them.

[~kitty~]

Re: Massive 8.9-magnitude quake hits Japan

The explosions are likely being caused by venting hydrogen and oxygen mixing together and being ignited, or melting fuel coming into contact with water. There's nothing nuclear about them.

What about the post saying that any form of explosion wasn't really possible? Was that a not very well researched post?

[MrGiggles]

Re: Massive 8.9-magnitude quake hits Japan

What about the post saying that any form of explosion wasn't really possible? Was that a not very well researched post?

These two?

It's pretty much impossible for a nuclear plant to explode as far as I know.

You're right. It's actually a physical impossibility for the plant to explode (At least, a nuclear explosion. You could still blow the plant up or something like that, obviously lol). .

I think they were both referring to a nuclear explosion rather than a conventional explosion.

[Reach]

Re: Massive 8.9-magnitude quake hits Japan

An explosion that causes the spread of nuclear material is NOT a nuclear explosion...!

A nuclear explosion involves a nuclear reaction where typically a very critical mass of enriched uranium atoms are smashed together or compressed to cause a fission ('splitting') reaction, or hydrogen atoms are fused together.


A nuclear power plant is not capable of ever causing this specifically because it doesn't carry the specific materials necessary for the reaction, nor is the reaction ever going to undergo the appropriate conditions necessary for exponential fission/fusion required in say the atom bomb.

The difference between this reaction and a nuclear power plant exploding and spreading nuclear waste is that of energy. Obviously a nuclear explosion releases exponentially more energy than a traditional explosion, because of the exponential nature of the fission reaction.


Though, as a scary little tidbit of information, the energy released from this current earthquake is somewhere around 1,000,000 times more than that of the bomb that was dropped on Hiroshima. Thankfully most of that energy dissipates into the ground, but that doesn't help much.

(For those skeptical of this claim, Japan Earthquake converted to an explosion: http://meyerweb.com/eric/tools/gmap/...00&zm=9&op=156 . Here, however, is the Hiroshima bomb: http://meyerweb.com/eric/tools/gmap/...1&zm=12&op=156 )


Anyway, it's clear that there are serious misunderstandings about nuclear plants here.


For the record, Japan's nuclear safety agency has said there is "no possibility" of a Chernobyl-style disaster at the Fukushima 1 plant, local media quotes national strategy minister Koichiro Genba as saying.

The US Seventh Fleet has moved its ships and aircraft away from the stricken Fukushima plant after discovering low-level radioactive contamination, Reuters reports. The aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan was some 160km offshore when its instruments detected the radiation in a plume of smoke and steam released from the crippled plant. But officials said the dose of radiation was about the same as one month's normal exposure to natural background radiation in the environment.


The catch being that this amount of radiation is largely irrelevant. You get just as much when you go to the dentist.

[krunkykai22]

Re: Massive 8.9-magnitude quake hits Japan

...
Though, as a scary little tidbit of information, the energy released from this current earthquake is somewhere around 1,000,000 times more than that of the bomb that was dropped on Hiroshima. Thankfully most of that energy dissipates into the ground, but that doesn't help much. ...

This whole little section just made me laugh. Seriously.

EDIT: Was looking for why it made me laugh. For the people that don't understand what Reach said in the quote I made:

Basically, this scale is exponential, so that each number is many times the strength of the number below it. An earthquake with a magnitude of 2.0 is hardly felt, while a 5.0 earthquake releases the same amount of energy as that of the Hiroshima atomic bomb. An 8.0-level earthquake is so devastating that few buildings, roads, and people will escape its effects. Originally, Charles Richter took the smallest-size earthquake he could record at the time and gave it a magnitude of 0. Because today’s instruments are so much more sensitive, scientists can detect even smaller earthquakes that are given negative magnitudes. The highest Richter earthquakes were measured at 9.0.

Link = http://library.thinkquest.org/C00360...strength.shtml

[Reach]

Re: Massive 8.9-magnitude quake hits Japan

This whole little section just made me laugh. Seriously.

EDIT: Was looking for why it made me laugh. For the people that don't understand what Reach said in the quote I made:



Link = http://library.thinkquest.org/C00360...strength.shtml

Why exactly is that funny though? >_>

Personally, it's a damn good thing the energy dissipates into the ground itself and not onto the surface. Otherwise, I mean, this Earthquake is 10 times more powerful energy wise than even the Tsar Bomba, a bomb that would instantaneously annihilate the entirety of Manhatten and all surrounding areas, and flatten everything else for about 20 miles.

(Japan Earthquake converted to an explosion: http://meyerweb.com/eric/tools/gmap/...00&zm=9&op=156)

[~kitty~]

Re: Massive 8.9-magnitude quake hits Japan

An explosion that causes the spread of nuclear material is NOT a nuclear explosion...!

I know you weren't referring to a nuclear explosion, but I thought you were saying that it wasn't possible for an explosion to happen unless someone went in and blew it up themselves, which is why I was confused. Also, I thought I saw somewhere that someone said it was physically impossible for a meltdown, but the news sources are saying they're melting down? That's all I was confused about, not necessarily about a "nuclear explosion."

As for the "funny" thing, I don't really understand what about it is funny. At first I thought it was a citation joke, but when I read it fully, it's about... the earthquake vs. the bomb???? Are you laughing at the comparison made between the earthquake and bomb? I still don't see how it's funny, personally.

[krunkykai22]

Re: Massive 8.9-magnitude quake hits Japan

It's funny because I thought it was bull to be honest, reach. But, after reading that along with countless other articles, I was amazed. You learn something new everyday.

I mean, put it into perspective, two Atomic Bombs wiped out a lot of people and towns and everything. Putting that to an earthquake to someone who doesn't research science, it would have seemed foolish. But, alas, I was wrong lol