In Chinese Mythology, there is a Foolish Old Man of 90 years, annoyed by the obstruction caused by the mountains and sought to dig through them with hoes and baskets.
However, he can only make one round trip between the mountain and his home in a year.
When questioned as to the seemingly impossible nature of his task, the Foolish Old Man replied that while he may not finish this task in his lifetime, through the hard work of himself, his children, and their children, and so on through the many generations, someday the mountains would be removed if he persevered.
His perseverance touched the Jade Emperor, who is the Chinese supreme god, you know like the Chinese equivalent of Zeus, so he removes the mountain for the old man using his magic power.
Luckily nowadays, if a mountain is in your way there is another option, you can possibly just blow it up, no god or perseverance required. But did we, as humans actually have done that? Or more importantly, should we? Let’s find out with PAA.
Hi, I am Shao Chieh Lo, welcome to what people also ask, where I search something seemingly obvious and share with you some of its PAA, aka People Also Ask, which is a feature telling you what other people are searching on Google that relates to your query.
Today’s query is “Can we blow up a mountain?”
Before we dive into this topic, it’s important to note that intentionally destroying natural landmarks and ecosystems is not only dangerous, but it is also unethical and should not be considered.
That being said, let’s explore the feasibility of blowing up a mountain. So let’s start with our first PAA:
Video: Can we blow up a mountain? How much power would it take to blow up a mountain?
Just play the video directly and the subtitle in your language will show up, if the subtitle is not in your language, you can go to youtube and use the subtitle function.
Can a mountain be blown up with a nuclear weapon?
The answer is theoretically yes, according to a Wikipedia entry titled Sedan_(nuclear_test), Sedan was a nuclear weapons testing project conducted by the United States on July 6, 1962, as part of Operation Plowshare, a program to investigate the use of nuclear weapons for peaceful purposes.
In this test, A shaft was drilled into the floor of the Nevada desert, approximately 200 meters, and then a roughly 100-kiloton thermonuclear device was lowered into the shaft and detonated.
The nuclear explosion produced a crater about the size of a small mountain, measuring 400 meters in diameter and 100 meters deep. The crater was created in sand-filled alluvial deposits though, not on a mountain.
If the test had been conducted in a mountain, the results may have been different, but theoretically can remove the mountain quite a bit and significantly alter the landscape and …provide a decent amount of nuclear fallout. So we probably don’t want to do it.
That being said, could we… and had we done a “lite version” of it, the one that does not blow up the whole mountain but just part of it? The answer is yes, that is called Mountaintop Removal. But should we do it? Let’s talk about our next PAA:
What is Mountaintop removal mining? And why we shouldn’t do it?
This question can be answered by Wikipedia’s Mountaintop removal mining entry and an article titled WHAT IS MOUNTAINTOP REMOVAL MINING? Published by Earthjustice, which is a nonprofit public interest organization based in the United States dedicated to litigating environmental issues. Headquartered in San Francisco.
According to these two articles, Mountaintop removal mining is a type of surface mining that involves removing the top of a mountain in order to extract coal that is located near the surface.
The land is first deforested prior to mining operations and the resulting lumber is either sold or burned.Once the area is cleared, miners use explosives to blast away the overburden, the rock and subsoil, to expose coal seams beneath.
In the United States, this method of coal mining is conducted in the Appalachian Mountains in the eastern United States.
Explosives are used to remove up to 400 vertical feet (120 m) of the mountain to expose underlying coal seams.
While this process is considered to be safer compared to underground mining because the coal seams are accessed from above instead of underground, it has significant environmental impacts, including the destruction of natural habitats and the displacement of wildlife, as well as the release of pollutants into the air and water.
Additionally, mountaintop removal mining can have negative impacts on the health of nearby communities, as it can lead to increased rates of respiratory illness and other health problems.
Due to these negative impacts, many people believe that mountaintop removal mining should be phased out and replaced with more sustainable forms of mining.
In conclusion, while it may be theoretically possible to blow up a mountain using a nuclear weapon, it’s generally not a good idea. But hey, if you’re really set on getting rid of that pesky mountain blocking your view, why not just dig through it with a hoe and a basket like the Foolish Old Man?
Sure, it may take a few generations, but at least you won’t have to worry about nuclear fallout or deforestation. Oh wait, maybe deforestation is still a problem, but you get the point.
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