Not quite sure that part about a tungsten rod being equivalent to a nuclear weapon is correct.
Earth orbital velocity is 7.8km/s. so if all the mass in a starship launch went into one tungsten rod then that rod would have an energy of 0.5 * 100000 * 7800^2 = 3 terajoules, or 3⁄4 of a kiloton of TNT. Nuclear weapons are tens of kilotons at a minimum and single digit megatons often, so I don’t think this is a fair comparison.
This actually makes a great deal of sense if you think about it for a little bit. The energy that the tungsten rod has is given to it by the fuel in the starship. So if a nuclear bomb can have a yield in tons of TNT that is much greater than the mass of the starship, then you should be suspicious of claims that it can impart more energy than it has fuel.
I would argue further that a tungsten rod might just disappear into the ground unlike a nuclear airburst, but that’s just conjecture on my part.
While there are nuclear weapons with megatons, the bomb in Hiroshima had 15 kilotons which is on the same order of TNT equivalents of the propellent of a starship. See my other comment.
Not quite sure that part about a tungsten rod being equivalent to a nuclear weapon is correct.
Earth orbital velocity is 7.8km/s. so if all the mass in a starship launch went into one tungsten rod then that rod would have an energy of 0.5 * 100000 * 7800^2 = 3 terajoules, or 3⁄4 of a kiloton of TNT. Nuclear weapons are tens of kilotons at a minimum and single digit megatons often, so I don’t think this is a fair comparison.
This actually makes a great deal of sense if you think about it for a little bit. The energy that the tungsten rod has is given to it by the fuel in the starship. So if a nuclear bomb can have a yield in tons of TNT that is much greater than the mass of the starship, then you should be suspicious of claims that it can impart more energy than it has fuel.
I would argue further that a tungsten rod might just disappear into the ground unlike a nuclear airburst, but that’s just conjecture on my part.
While there are nuclear weapons with megatons, the bomb in Hiroshima had 15 kilotons which is on the same order of TNT equivalents of the propellent of a starship. See my other comment.
Sounds like you’re thinking along the same lines as I was.