Why It's So Difficult to Build a Ballistic Missile

If you ever get nervous about missile attacks, they're actually a lot harder to make than you might think. To hopefully put your mind more at ease, Hank is here to talk about the work that goes into designing and building ICBMs in this new episode of SciShow!

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[SciShow]

We had a distracting glitch in our last upload, so this is a re-upload from a few minutes ago. Thank you so much to those of you who pointed it out!

[allanrichardson]

The easiest ICBM to build: a rock thrown across the Bosporus in Istanbul. It’s a missile, it’s ballistic, and it crosses a boundary between continents!

[fearlessleader]

Thank you for this very important information!

[TheLittlekuribohfan]

Hank was definitely put on a watchlist while he was researching this.

[Evghenios]

You have just accelerated N Korea's missile program by 5 years!

[PaleGhost]

Why are icbms so hard? I think it has something to do with their shape.

[anmesh]

Does it need to be pointy? Cause it looks scary.!

[RHDI]

I mean, if I can do it in KSP, it can't be that hard, right?

[mineman]

Im going to also point out that nukes and H bombs are generally detonated quite far above the ground. If you go for a large depleted uranium slug instead of a bomb then it can cause similar damage without the radiation fallout of a nuke, the difference being that it needs to go faster, it needs more mass, and it actually has to hit the ground and not break apart during reentry.

[listenherejack]

"I'm not going to go into specifics, for obvious reasons."

Kim Jong Un: "Damn!"

[jmsyoxj]

Pretty crazy how they made an ICBM in the 1950's and 1960's with the technology they had back then

[lanceawatt]

These ICBM''s sound great! Hope to see every country can use these in abundance on one another.

[jho]

Please post a blueprint with all the specs for an ICBM. I would like to build one during my breaks from work.

[larry]

Instructions unclear. ICBM stuck in North Korea :(

[DigGil]

It was cool when the Black Mesa East people renovated that ICBM and launched it into the Citadel.

[sellers]

Building ICMBs are easy. I learned how to do it over the weekend using Skillshare

[rizwanmsuya]

Serious question: Can the nukes destroy the white walkers plus the night king?

[JonatasAdoM]

"Some even farther" Yes one of them got us to the moon.

[ethelwaldo]

Love it! As an Air Defender in the US Army, your video is very good. Don't freak out it is harder than it seems...

[jecplays]

It's reassuring knowing that Hank knows more about ICBMs than North Korean scientists