What If Earth's Core Gets Nuked? | Unveiled

<h4>

What Would Happen If Earth’s Core Was Nuked?</h4>

History has seen humankind set off its ever-growing arsenal of massive weapons across a wide range of different environments. On the ground, in the sea, in space… nuclear bombs have been detonated, all (dubiously) in the name of research. We have before seen them set off underground, too, just to see what would happen. But what if we were to ever go deeper? What if we were to go the deepest it’s possible to go on this planet?

This is Unveiled, and today we’re answering the extraordinary question; what would happen if Earth’s core was nuked?

At the very center of the Earth, at the heart of our world, there’s the core… a dramatic, mysterious place that, actually, no one has ever set eyes upon. If, however, you were to somehow cut our planet down the middle, then you would bear witness to it. The outermost layer of the Earth is the crust, split into continental and oceanic types; then comes the mantle, a realm of molten material circulated by convection currents; then it’s the outer core, and lastly the inner core - today’s final destination. The inner core is about 760 miles wide; it’s around seventy percent the size of the moon; and it’s thought to be made up primarily of an iron-nickel alloy. The pressure is massive down here, though, and the core is dense. It’s also immensely hot, with an estimated temperature of around 5,400 degrees Celsius (or 9,800 degrees Fahrenheit) which is about the same as you’d find on the surface of the sun.

Clearly then, this is already a place of extremes. No human has ever been there because it would be physically impossible for us to make the trip, let alone survive the location itself. It’s highly doubtful whether even life’s hardiest species - like the tardigrades - would manage not to die down there. But still, the fact that the core is there is vital to how the Earth works, and therefore to how we live our lives. It’s crucial in the generation of Earth’s magnetic field, rotating and interacting with the outer core to produce an effective blanket that curls around the Earth and out into space… protecting us all from frying to death under the constant, unfiltered glare of the sun. It’s also, of course, important to the structural integrity of Earth; if the inner core were to be somehow magicked away, then our world would suddenly be partly hollow. This might make for a good science fiction storyline, but it wouldn’t be great for a real world planet.

Really, we would never have any need to detonate anything in the core. Not to mention that, in reality, we don’t have any means to do so, anyway. But, that is only by today’s standards and technology. Things can change, and perhaps one day we will be able to ferry nuclear warheads into the deepest depths for some unknown reason. What happens when, above ground, someone presses the button? What would happen if we nuked the core?

The somewhat anticlimactic answer is… nothing much. If we were to send just one weapon down there, even our most powerful weapon, then the incredible force it would generate would still pale in comparison to what lies at the literal center of a planet. That there is cosmological power, on a whole new level to any bomb we could muster. There might be slight ripples sent through the Earth and detected on the surface, but probably nothing that anyone would notice unless they were actively looking for them. Really, a single bomb in the middle of the inner core would likely be exploded and over in the blink of an eye; smothered in an instant by the pressure that not even it can break through.

Unfortunately, though, we don’t just have one nuclear warhead in existence; we have multiple thousands of them, not even counting the probable ones that the official figures either don’t count or don’t know about. So, let’s expand. What would happen if the citizens of Earth were to one day unite in the ultimate of harebrained ideas, to facilitate the deployment of our entire, collective nuclear motherlode into the inner core. Now, the situation has changed… but still, the results probably wouldn’t be much different. There are upwards of 12,000 nukes on Earth right now, which for sure is a lot of destructive power… but probably not enough to actually destroy the world, or anything quite so dramatic.

The 2004 Indian Ocean Earthquake, which triggered a massive tsunami and one of the most catastrophic natural disasters in recent times, reportedly generated between 23,000 and 40,000 Hiroshima nuclear bombs’ worth of energy. Around double (or more) of the nukes we currently have. The Chicxulub Impactor, the asteroid that killed the dinosaurs, carried an estimated ten billion times the Hiroshima bomb. Clearly, the circumstances are key in shaping how any event of such a magnitude plays out, but neither of those massive happenings managed to hugely alter Earth itself. Our planet was able to absorb the energy created and released, and carry on revolving around the sun unchanged. It would be exactly the same with nukes in the core. 

A key difference, however, is that earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, asteroid strikes all play out on the surface, or at least within the crust. The energy is released into the air, the atmosphere, through the ground, which is why we can all see the devastation that’s caused. Similarly, when nuclear bombs are detonated on the ground, their incredible power spreads and spreads. The mushroom cloud, nuclear fallout, and if enough bombs are dropped then the potential nuclear winter and (predicted by some) a blocking out of the sun. But, in the inner core it’s obviously different. None (or few) of those effects would unfold. Again, even with 12,000 plus nuclear warheads, the iron-nickel ball that is the inner core would most likely absorb the yield. The pressure down there is just too much, even for our most powerful weapons. Even for modern day nukes, which have grown in energy potential since 1945.

If all nuclear bombs were detonated down there at the same time, then we would be more likely to at least feel tremors on the surface. At plate boundaries and at volcanic hotspots, there might be some telltale signs of the bizarre situation that was happening. After all, any energy that wasn’t absorbed on its way up would have to go somewhere. But the damage caused would most likely be negligible. The middle of the inner core is about 4,000 miles below the surface we stand on so, again, even the most massive explosion would seriously struggle to break through. The core is so much stronger, so much more solid than the crust is, that we’re really imagining the effects of a nuke in a whole new world to the one we know… despite that world being at the actual center of our own. It may not feel like it, but Earth’s surface - its crust - is brittle by comparison, and liable to break apart. The inner core just isn’t.

All of that said, it’s probably still for the best that this is a hypothetical scenario only. All science and logic says that a core detonation shouldn’t create that many problems, but perhaps it would still be unwise to give it a try. For one, even if the journey down to the core were possible (which it isn’t) then it would be fraught with incredible danger. An accidental explosion close to the surface, and a catastrophic chain reaction of explosions to follow, and we really would be in trouble. 

If nothing else, though, this question serves to highlight the tremendous weight and power that Earth holds within itself. Our planet is an incredible object, but it’s perhaps even more amazing that the conditions on (and in) it should align in just the right way to make life aboard it possible. The inner core is something that we’ve never seen and are never likely to see in the future, and yet we should be thankful that it’s just the way it is. An immovable, impenetrable, all-but indestructible realm, it’ll keep on spinning no matter what happens.

What’s your verdict on this scenario? Can you imagine a time when it might ever come to pass? Let us know your thoughts in the comments. But, for now, that’s what would happen if Earth’s core was nuked.