Would one of you scientist-types PLEASE debunk this?

[Jasper]

An engineering friend of mine had an idea like this when he was still in middle school.  The idea was to use a gigantic nuclear bomb to cause a tidal wave of superheated water to wash over a coastal town.  Later, upon learning more about physics, he decided it wouldn't work so well.

Shame about the world not ending though, eh?

[Nephew Twiddleton]

An engineering friend of mine had an idea like this when he was still in middle school.  The idea was to use a gigantic nuclear bomb to cause a tidal wave of superheated water to wash over a coastal town.  Later, upon learning more about physics, he decided it wouldn't work so well.

Shame about the world not ending though, eh?

As long as it isn't Boston or Galway. 

[GIGGLES]

I wondered about when the article described the resulting tsunami as "supersonic"--is that even possible? A wave of water moving faster than the speed of sound?

IF SOMETHING STRUCK THE WATER WITH SUFFICIENT FORCE IT IS POSSIBLE BUT THE WATER WOULD MOST LIKELY BE VAPORIZED BY THE HEAT CAUSED BY THE SHEER KINETIC FORCE BUT THIS IS ALL IGNORING THE FACT THAT IF SOMETHING STRUCK WITH WATER WITH SUCH FORCE WE WOULD HAVE MUCH BIGGER PROBLEMS THAN A TSUNAMI.

...I MEAN, LOLDONGS! SCIENCE IS FOR HOMOS!

[Doktor Howl]

Shame about the world not ending though, eh?

I hate you guys.

[East Coast Hustle]

http://www.helium.com/items/1882339-doomsday-how-bp-gulf-disaster-may-have-triggered-a-world-killing-event

The article assumes we actually know how the Permian extinction event happened, and that it was caused by a giant methane bubble explosion. Except we don't know how it happened, only that 96% of species present in the fossil record went extinct at the end of the Permian, leaving a 4 million year geologic dead space with few fossils. The methane hypothesis is yet unsupported. So the premise that the entire article is based upon isn't supported.

There, debunked.

fair enough, but I'm more interested in why this can't happen now, not whether or not it happened millions of years ago.

I'm not concerned that the entire world will die or anything like that, but I am concerned about the whole "mega-tsunami" thing given that I'm going to be spending most of my time in close proximity to that part of the world.

http://io9.com/5585294/methane-bubble-doomsday-story-debunked

sweet. Thanks Kai!

[East Coast Hustle]

An engineering friend of mine had an idea like this when he was still in middle school.  The idea was to use a gigantic nuclear bomb to cause a tidal wave of superheated water to wash over a coastal town.  Later, upon learning more about physics, he decided it wouldn't work so well.

Shame about the world not ending though, eh?

why wouldn't he just detonate the giant nuclear bomb in the town square?

also, Boston deserves this, if only to rid the world of Red Sox fans.

[LMNO]

The entire team is on the DL.  Isn't that enough?

[Jasper]

An engineering friend of mine had an idea like this when he was still in middle school.  The idea was to use a gigantic nuclear bomb to cause a tidal wave of superheated water to wash over a coastal town.  Later, upon learning more about physics, he decided it wouldn't work so well.

Shame about the world not ending though, eh?

why wouldn't he just detonate the giant nuclear bomb in the town square?

also, Boston deserves this, if only to rid the world of Red Sox fans.

One thing I've picked up from his 'nuke phase' was that, although the fireball is impressive, the most devastating use of nukes is when you detonate them high up in the air, and not on the ground or underwater.

[Nephew Twiddleton]

An engineering friend of mine had an idea like this when he was still in middle school.  The idea was to use a gigantic nuclear bomb to cause a tidal wave of superheated water to wash over a coastal town.  Later, upon learning more about physics, he decided it wouldn't work so well.

Shame about the world not ending though, eh?

why wouldn't he just detonate the giant nuclear bomb in the town square?

also, Boston deserves this, if only to rid the world of Red Sox fans.

One thing I've picked up from his 'nuke phase' was that, although the fireball is impressive, the most devastating use of nukes is when you detonate them high up in the air, and not on the ground or underwater.

Apparently detonating them in orbit causes widespread EMP damage on Earth.