MovieChat Forums > The Peacemaker (1997) Discussion > One Serious Problem I Have

One Serious Problem I Have

posted 16 years ago by Swill_Merchant
3 replies | jump to latest

The heroes save the day by preventing a nuclear explosion. But in the process a smaller explosion blows plutonium to bits in midtown New York City. I remember from high school physics that plutonium is the most lethal inorganic material known, and that a softball-sized sphere, properly distributed, could kill everyone on earth. Granted that the sphere in the movie was only baseball-sized, George Clooney and Nicole Kidman should have been in the last throes of radiation poisoning at the end of the movie.

[–] tbeller80 16 years ago

Reread your high school physics books on how long it takes someone to die of radiation poisoning.

[–] ksjazzguitar 13 years ago

I think the point was that they took it into the chapel and that held in a lot of the blast. The two heroes were immediately gotten by hazmat, stripped and hosed down (presumably.) Maybe they will have long term health effects.

Additionally, I seem to remember that at least some of these types of bombs have an extra layer between the implosive charges and the fissionable material - perhaps this gave them some extra protection. (At least until the explosion.)

But they may have long-term health effects and there would be a hot-zone around the church that would take some cleaning. Depending on the weather, it may have gotten pretty big.

[–] melinda2001 10 years ago

Outside the health effects to the main characters (they wouldn't live long), it's the hot-zone idea that causes the real damage. People would move away from the area, and possibly from the entire city, just to feel safe. The economic damage would be enormous.