[Lewis Thomson (OP)]

Listener Neil submitted this brain blaster to The Naked Scientists to find the answer for.

"Would an explosion on the moon be more powerful than an explosion on the Earth?"

How do you think they would compare? Leave your discussions in the comments below...

[evan_au]

In the very-near vacuum of the Moon, shrapnel would travel farther (not slowed by atmosphere like on Earth, and it would not fall to ground as quickly as on Earth).

The shockwave behaviour will also be different:
- One the Moon, an explosion will produce a single outward shockwave of gas from the explosion
- On Earth, the hot gas expands, then atmospheric pressure collapses the hot bubble, which then rebounds, producing a series of in-and-out shockwaves.

Given the current density of people on the Moon, an explosion there is likely to kill fewer people than the same explosion on Earth.

[evan_au]

For explosions of the more nuclear type, the Earth's atmosphere attenuates the X-Ray, Gamma Ray and neutron radiation more than the Moon's vacuum.

[Lewis Thomson (OP)]

The answer to this QOTW is now up on the website. You can listen to it through this link:

https://www.thenakedscientists.com/podcasts/question-week/how-dangerous-explosion-moon

[Zlatagor]

Yes, an explosion on the moon would likely be more powerful than one on Earth, due to the lack of atmosphere and other factors on the moon that would dampen the explosion.