The bomb revisited

[Frustration he/him]

So previously I calculated how powerful the explosion Wayne set off was.

Now I want to calculate how powerful it would have been if Wayne hadn't done anything.

 

When Wax preformed his experiment he broke the safebox, which had withstood explosions using more than ten times that amount of Harmonium. Considering this is Scadrial I will assume he used 1/16 the maximum amount of harmonium he had, and got at least a 100 times stronger reaction.

So if we have perfect scaling the bomb the Set designed would have been 1,600 times more powerful than the one Wayne set off.

 

The minimum yield I had calculated for Wayne's blast was roughly equivalent to the Beirut explosion, which had a yield of 1.1 KT.

 

Assuming perfect scaling(Which is highly unlikely) the Set's bomb would have had a yield of 1.76 MT.

 

Honestly, I was imagining a little more, but this is within the ballpark of what I was imagining for it, so I think this works as a good baseline estimate.

[NameIess]

Actually, I’ve been listening to TLM and after the explosion goes off there’s Harmonium residue left in the safebox. Additionally, the Kandra guy (can’t remember his name atm) states that the only way such a large explosion could’ve occurred is through the conversion of a small mount of Harmonium into energy. So from that we know that 1) only a fraction of the half-gram or so that Wax used actually reacted and 2) Trellium-Harmonium explosions are similar to anti-matter explosions in scale, assuming it’s possible to make more complete reactions occur.

[Firesong she/her]

4 hours ago, Nameless* said:

Actually, I’ve been listening to TLM and after the explosion goes off there’s Harmonium residue left in the safebox. Additionally, the Kandra guy (can’t remember his name atm) states that the only way such a large explosion could’ve occurred is through the conversion of a small mount of Harmonium into energy. So from that we know that 1) only a fraction of the half-gram or so that Wax used actually reacted and 2) Trellium-Harmonium explosions are similar to anti-matter explosions in scale, assuming it’s possible to make more complete reactions occur.

I did the equations for it, of what should be required to send the safe door flying, and it would be an absurdly small amount, it was like, something in the ballpark of 0.00001% or so, iirc. Likely less. 

[therunner he/him]

20 hours ago, Nameless* said:

  Additionally, the Kandra guy (can’t remember his name atm) states that the only way such a large explosion could’ve occurred is through the conversion of a small mount of Harmonium into energy.
...
2) Trellium-Harmonium explosions are similar to anti-matter explosions in scale, assuming it’s possible to make more complete reactions occur.

This is not the case. Trellium-Harmonium reaction is far more similar to 'regular' nuclear fission, only with Invested matter.
In fission matter is also converted to energy, and in fact the interaction produces energy precisely because Harmonium is split into two different elements, 'Lerasium' and 'Atium'.

Matter - Anti-matter interactions are quite different in mechanism.

[NameIess]

1 hour ago, therunner said:

This is not the case. Trellium-Harmonium reaction is far more similar to 'regular' nuclear fission, only with Invested matter.
In fission matter is also converted to energy, and in fact the interaction produces energy precisely because Harmonium is split into two different elements, 'Lerasium' and 'Atium'.

Matter - Anti-matter interactions are quite different in mechanism.

Fission reactions are powered by the breaking down of chemical bonds, right? Mass might be converted into energy, but that mass-energy conversion isn’t the main supplier of energy.

Edited September 28, 2023 by Nameless*

[Frustration he/him]

5 hours ago, Nameless* said:

Fission reactions are powered by the breaking down of chemical bonds, right? Mass might be converted into energy, but that mass-energy conversion isn’t the main supplier of energy.

Nuclear bonds, not chemical, which is in and of itself a conversion of mass into energy.

[NameIess]

1 hour ago, Frustration said:

Nuclear bonds, not chemical, which is in and of itself a conversion of mass into energy.

I guess that could account for it. Still, I think your calculations are off given how small an amount of Harmonium actually reacted.

[therunner he/him]

1 hour ago, Nameless* said:

I guess that could account for it. Still, I think your calculations are off given how small an amount of Harmonium actually reacted.

Even in IRL nuclear explosions don't use up the entire amount of fuel. E.g. in Little Boy 64 kg of Uranium was used, but less than 1kg actually underwent fission. And that still resulted in ~15 kiloton explosion.

So a one gram of Uranium that undergoes fission is equivalent to about 15 tons of TNT (probably a bit less, but still that order of magnitude). So 1 miligram could get you about the same as 1 kg of TNT, which is quite considerable force.

Add to that the fact that Harmonium is most likely more potent (because Investiture) than any IRL isotope, and what happened in Wax's basement is quite feasible with just few miligrams of Harmonium that underwent fission.

[NameIess]

34 minutes ago, therunner said:

Even in IRL nuclear explosions don't use up the entire amount of fuel. E.g. in Little Boy 64 kg of Uranium was used, but less than 1kg actually underwent fission. And that still resulted in ~15 kiloton explosion.

So a one gram of Uranium that undergoes fission is equivalent to about 15 tons of TNT (probably a bit less, but still that order of magnitude). So 1 miligram could get you about the same as 1 kg of TNT, which is quite considerable force.

Add to that the fact that Harmonium is most likely more potent (because Investiture) than any IRL isotope, and what happened in Wax's basement is quite feasible with just few miligrams of Harmonium that underwent fission.

That's definitely possible, but I was just saying that Frustration's calculations, in which he assumed that the entirety of the Harmonium had reacted, are incorrect.

Edited September 28, 2023 by Nameless*

[therunner he/him]

17 minutes ago, Nameless* said:

That's definitely possible, but I was just saying that Frustration's calculations, in which he assumed that the entirety of the Harmonium had reacted, are incorrect.

Ah, apologies for misunderstanding you then.