• Question: What is nuclear winter?

    Asked by ladysovereignezza to David, Luna, Mark, Melanie, Probash on 21 Mar 2011 in Categories: .
    • Photo: David Pyle

      David Pyle answered on 20 Mar 2011:

      This is the idea, which arose in the 1950’s to 1970’s, about the consequences for the world of a global nuclear war. The idea was that large nuclear explosions could put up some many fine particles into the atmosphere that the incoming radiation from the sun would be reduced considerably; on the Earth’s surface this would lead to global gloom (little or no sunlight), reduced photosynthesis (little sunlight) and dramatic cooling. If the cooling was strong enough, the ice-sheets would expand, switching the globe back into a ‘glacial’ state. The worst case scenario described here is probably both unlikely, and implausible (we don’t understand the feedback processes yet); but it is certainly the case that the fine particle content of the atmosphere has an important moderating influence on climate.

    • Photo: Melanie Stefan

      Melanie Stefan answered on 21 Mar 2011:

      Nuclear winter is what people think would happen after a big nuclear war. If a large number of atomic bombs were to explode in a short amount of time, that would create a lot of smoke and ash, which would blow into the atmosphere and block out the sunlight for a while. This would significantly cool down the climate on earth, in the same way that a major asteroid impact would.

    • Photo: Luna Munoz

      Luna Munoz answered on 21 Mar 2011:

      I think it describes the idea that we would experience more darkness as a result of the sun being blocked in case of a nuclear war.

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