Godzilla’s Nuclear Steam Breath | Because Science Footnotes

Kyle discusses nuclear breath, responds to your comments, and more!

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[TheRealGuywithoutaMustache]

"Lightning never strikes the same place twice, except that it does. Those things are called lightning rods."

-Fat- - Skinny Thor

[TristanJCumpole]

Certain fungus has managed to evolve and thrive in Chernobyl through radiothropy; that is, they metabolise GAMMA RAYS into chemical energy. That is some Grade Five AWE. Someawe! Awesomuch!!

[magnathrax]

That explanation for Godzilla's atomic breath is just too good.

[senoja]

"it doesn't have to be perfect it just has to work" is a great mantra to live by 😂

[christiansebastianobaudo]

That's why I like science. It's like clickbait that makes sense.
Kyle Hill. Tuesday, June 4, 2019.

[Frankenstein]

Well, considering the atomic breath effect was done with pressurized steam/mist/smoke in the original 1954 film...

[CareerKnight]

You kind of dropped the ball on the Bumblebee point. First, as some others have pointed out, bumblebees don't fly because they flap very fast but because they flap differently than birds do (they have a sort of scooping motion which generates more lift than a standard flap) and that's where the modern myth came from. It was true until we developed better highspeed cameras that allowed us to see the full motion of the wing and once the new lift value was calculated physics had no problem with bumblebees flying. Second I think this is what some of the original comments were referring to, if Mothra flapped her wings like a bumblebee her wingspan would need to be smaller than what you initial calculated due to the added lift.

[llangad]

"Let's get technical!"
15 seconds later..
"Roughly T-Rex-mass"

[jollygoodfellow]

This is how Bees fly:
The super fast motion of their wings creates a "pocket" of low pressure within the local, roughly bee-sized area, and they "coast" or "ride" on the greater air pressure that is below them.

[notorioushkm]

That explanation of the Atomic Breath was Absolutely Genius!

[RAarMason]

Lol. Kyle I love your show and listen to it often at work as I remodel apartments. When you started reading the comment someone left about why Quetzalcoatl could fly because the atmosphere was different with less drag and blah blah blah... I physically stopped what I was doing and out loud with coworkers around, not hearing what my head phones were saying, and I loudly exclaimed, " ...NO IT WASN'T!"
All my coworkers turned to look at me, just before you said, "No. None of that's true."

Your show often awards me looks from friends and strangers of confusion as I respond so frequently without regard to my surroundings. Keep up the awesome show, subjects and info, and maybe help out Dr. Moo. Because space needs a little polishing.

[matthewlevi]

I find it interesting that the comments about the atmosphere state that a less dense atmosphere would be more apt for flight. Now, I understand that you debunked the idea of the atmosphere being any different, and I understand the drag component, but I feel like a less dense atmosphere would actually make flight tougher. I would argue that the more dense, the easier. For example, liquid flight (AKA swimming) requires less wingspan due to more material available for displacement. Maybe Kyle can do a video on this for me. I love your show Kyle, keep up the good work, and I wanna see you again on Game Knights! 😁

[nhogan]

I still really really want to know if the Mines of Moria and Khazad-Dum are possible to build through current engineering feats.

[depravedvile]

16:10 holy shit that actually makes sense, which would explain why he also has gills so the water wouldn't only be giving Godzilla oxygen while he's in water it would be giving him extra water to store somewhere in his body. Mind. Blown. You are now my favorite science YouTube channel, subscribed

[vanconojl]

(1) the first gojira did use steam on his atomic breath but many others just output pure radiation on their atomic breath.
(2) about gojira heart strength on the old movies like godzilla vs mecha godzilla (1974) you can see that gojiras blood pressure is extremely high by the way he bleeds suggesting a very strong heart.

[Rembanspellsong]

Godzilla has had at least 1 movie where he was able to fly by using his breath weapon as a rocket booster, so he has been shown to be able to fly. you would need to see how much thrust that would have to generate for him to get his titanic frame off the ground. he is shown to basically be an unaerodynamic rock that is being rocket propelled through the air.

[TheLastCletus]

So Godzilla's a walking nuclear steam engine? STEAM PUNK GODZILLA!!

[aidanrogers]

For Godzilla’s size, I would say that because he is a Titan, and feeds off radiation as we see in both recent Godzilla’s which could mean that his biology, like bone strength, would be different due to his diet of radiation. And also, his natural habitat is underwater, so that’s one reason his species has been able to grow as large.

[Artak]

I think its because Ghidorah has that weather control power, since a hurricane follows him around he probably just uses the wind to help push him around.

[scifiexplained]

People ripping how you say Ghidorah are totally wrong! Toho studios has said both "geedruh" and "ge dor uh" or both correct, and both are used throughout the films. Dman1954 has a video on this very subject. You were fine with how you said it Because Science.