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Can A Metal Bowling Ball Survive Inside a Nuclear Explosion?

Scott Manley · explainer · Watch on YouTube

Military history & warfareFundamental physics

What it is

Scott Manley explains the Cold War experiments in which steel and aluminium spheres, known as Lew Allen's Balls, were placed near nuclear detonations. The spheres survived the fireball, and he walks through what the declassified results show.

Why Hacker News recommends it

Cited as a fun, well-explained account of objects surviving nuclear blasts, relevant to Orion-style and spacecraft survivability discussions.

  • 1 people recommended it
  • 1 different months
  • 0 strong recommendations
  • first 2020, last 2026

What HN commenters said

  1. “You might also be interested in the story of Lew Allen's Balls”

    Explains the steel spheres suspended near the Teapot test

    pfdietz, 2026-07 · Recommendation · in “More evidence of life on Mars but still no life”

Excerpts from Hacker News comments, linked to the originals. Summaries and labels were written by a language model from those comments.

Topics: lew allen, nuclear tests, steel spheres, scott manley, project orion

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