Feasibility of Warhammer 40k Weapons Part 2: Exterminatus

So the Plasma Cannon proved to be a bust, now to the next weapon, what which is commonly associated with 'Exterminatus', the Atmospheric Incineration Torpedo.

This bomb is far more powerful than a standard nuke, such that it can destroy the entire atmosphere of the planet, almost world-destroying, fitting for issuing Exterminatus.

It also operates slightly differently from standard nukes, such that while normal nukes achieve their destructiveness using internal components such as uranium and deuterium, this bomb uses the atmosphere itself to enhance its destructiveness, namely oxygen.

Description of how the weapon works:

"It will ignite a run-away thermonuclear chain reaction within the atmosphere of the target world that will rapidly consume all the free oxygen, initiating a planetary inferno that will burn the entire biosphere to ash."

As pointed out in the trivia section, the potential issue is simply how to even induce fusion in the air at all with any modern nuke technology:

"During work on the original American atomic bomb at Los Alamos, New Mexico in July 1945, the researchers were aware that there was an infinitesimal chance that the first human detonation of a nuclear device might unleash an uncontrolled fusion chain reaction in the Earth's atmosphere. This would produce the planetary inferno very similar to that created by an Atmospheric Incinerator Torpedo. Luckily, the first atomic bomb and the much more powerful thermonuclear weapons that have been detonated in tests at the Earth's surface did not actually possess enough power to cause atoms of low atomic number like oxygen and nitrogen to fuse."

And I also doubt that the chain reaction will be that intense, enough to cover the entire planet.

However, the only feasible part I ask is if it is possible to have a bomb energetic enough to cause oxygen and nitrogen fusion at all, which should already be destructive enough on its own, and is satisfying enough for me.

PS: I will continue on finding WH40k weapons to deconstruct here.

posted about 5 years ago

CYCLOPSCORE‭

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