Thermal nuclear bombs or Hydrogen bombs are the most powerful explosive things ever made by humans. An H-bomb of more than 50 Megatons of TNT has been detonated by humans which is also the most powerful explosion by a man-made thing. Now the question is what would happen if we detonate the most powerful Hydrogen bomb on Jupiter. Will, it set Jupiter on fire?
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But before that let's have a look at our target Jupiter. Because knowing your enemy will help you to prepare better.
Jupiter is named after the King of the GODs and it is the largest planet in our Solar System. Jupiter does not have a solid surface, in other words, it is a gas giant. Jupiter has 318 times the mass of our Earth. Astronomers call it a failed star. Jupiter is composed of mainly Hydrogen and Helium like a star. Our sun also burns by diffusing hydrogen to make helium by releasing energy. So one can think that Jupiter is also rich in hydrogen and helium so it can also burn like our sun.
Why do we want to Nuke Jupiter?
Humanity can not stay forever on Earth due to limited resources and increasing population. So we have to find a new home. There are two possible candidates ( except Mars ). One is Jupiter's Moon Europa and the other is Saturn's moon Titan. But the problem is, both have very low temperatures as heat from the Sun can not reach them. So, the only possible way to make them warm is to artificially create a source of heat and Jupiter is the best planet for this as it is mainly made up of hydrogen.
Nuking Jupiter
Now let's get back to our question. What would happen if we nuked Jupiter? Will it become the second Sun of our solar system? The simple answer to this question is NO. Many of you must be thinking that Jupiter and the sun are composed of the same inflammable gas and our sun also burns through hydrogen-powered nuclear fusion, then Why can Jupiter not do the same. Because Jupiter's mass is too small to sustain a nuclear fusion reaction it is only 1% of the mass needed to support a fusion reaction.
If Jupiter can not sustain a fusion reaction by itself then let's initiate a nuclear reaction artificially by nuking it. A Hydrogen bomb can set the hydrogen to fire which can start a chain reaction on the planet. But that is not that easy because Jupiter is massive in size and has immense gravitational force and pressure. So, delivering a nuke is not an easy task but that's not the main problem.
The main problem is the number of nukes we need. You'd need about 10 quintillion nukes which is roughly 4 times the mass of our Moon. The binding energy of Jupiter is 2 x 10^36 Joules its mass is about 2 X 10^27 kilogram and has a radius of 70000 kilometers. The strongest bomb ever detonated is Tsar Bomba which released 2 X 10^17 Joules of energy. Hence, we would need about 10^19 of these bombs which is a huge number.
And the second problem is the cost of the mission. We would need a huge amount only for nukes. If we consider one Tsar Bomba costs only one US penny then we would be able to buy the only 1/1000th the number of nukes we need with the money we have here on earth in cash and not to mention the cost for sending the nukes to Jupiter. Also, keep in mind that the Tsar Bomb has a mass of 27 tons, so 10^19 nukes would have a mass of 2 x 10^23 kilograms which is 4 times the mass of the Moon.
So, Nuking a Jupiter is not an option for us with current capabilities. But wait for a second, what if we smash an asteroid into Jupiter instead of a bomb. Because an asteroid can release energy far greater than a nuke and we may only need a couple of asteroids to get the job done.
Smashing an Asteroid into Jupiter
Well, we are too late for this because on a daily basis thousands of asteroids strike Jupiter. Due to its gravitational pull, a large number of meteorites and asteroids hit the planet with much greater force than nukes.
Back when comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 was about to slam into Jupiter, there were rumors that it would blow up the planet. Each fragment of SL-9 Comet released energy larger than all the weapons on Earth and yet Jupiter is there.
One thing more, some of you may also think that oxygen is needed to burn hydrogen gas which is true here on earth but that is not the case on Jupiter. Because as I mentioned stars burned by the means of Nuclear Fusion Reaction.