It’s hard to imagine a scenario where humanity would have a reason to drop a nuclear bomb on the Moon. Recently, there have been rumors about Elon Musk’s intentions to perform such a stunt to create habitable conditions on Mars, but that’s a different story. Suppose we want to drop a bomb on the Moon with a yield of 100 megatons of TNT, twice the Tsar Bomba’s yield, for Earth’s observation. It’s logical to think that due to the great distance between Earth and the Moon, our planet would not be affected, but the distance is not the main point; it’s far more interesting to discuss the consequences on the Moon itself.
The explosion would resemble one on Earth in the first fractions of a second. However, since the Moon lacks an atmosphere, there would be no burning within a 60 km radius from thermal radiation, as there are no combustion products or oxygen to fuel a fire on the Moon. Consequently, if a nuclear bomb of such magnitude were detonated on the Moon, the fire would not spread. However, the heat released would still kill any hypothetical “lunatics” or astronauts within a 50–60 km radius.
Another significant difference is that on Earth, the phenomenon of highly ionized gas or plasma created by a nuclear explosion is stopped by atmospheric pressure. When it reaches the surrounding atmosphere, compressed air is released…
