History Main / AtmosphereAbuse

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* ''The Science of {{Discworld}}''. Paraphrased:

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* ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}'' has this as the end stage of separate methods of Exterminatus. Cyclonic torpedoes ignite the atmosphere as well as most things on the surface. In the case of virus bombing, the gasses released by the virus reducing most of the planet's biomass into inflammable mulch, resulting in a planet-wide firestorm. Technically it doesn't burn the atmosphere, just the flammable gasses released there, but close enough. Cyclonic torpedoes play this completely

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*** There is no real concern when it comes to igniting the atmosphere with a nuclear weapon due to the atmosphere's ingredients. N2 (roughly 78%) and O2 (roughly 21%) combining with each other makes for an endothermic reaction, meaning it takes more energy to get going then it gives out in the end--its like to try using a non-profitable organization to make more money. Once the calculations were done, it was quickly realized that the atmosphere cannot be so easily set aflame. A more realistic concern is detonating a thermonuclear device in the ocean and sparking a chain fusion reaction with all the hydrogen, though it too has proved unfounded.

* John Christopher's ''TheTripods'' series.

* ''StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'' episodes.

* Averted in ''StarTrekTheNextGeneration'' episode "A Matter of Time", where the Enterprise fires an ionizing phaser blast into the upper atmosphere of a planet to clear away some volcanic dust. If the blast was imperfect, it would burn away the atmosphere. Needless to say, the Enterprise saved the day.

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* ''{{Warhammer 40000}}'' has this as the end stage of separate methods of Exterminatus. Cyclonic torpedoes ignite the atmosphere as well as most things on the surface. In the case of virus bombing, the gasses released by the virus reducing most of the planet's biomass into inflammable mulch, resulting in a planet-wide firestorm. Technically it doesn't burn the atmosphere, just the flammable gasses released there, but close enough. Cyclonic torpedoes play this completely

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* ''DungeonsAndDragons'' adventure [=OA7=] ''[[http://www.wizards.com/dnd/files/tsr9258.zip Test of the Samurai]]''. An evil magician named Za-Jikku is trying to change the planet's atmosphere. He kills people and turns them into evil butterflies, which breathe in normal air (t'ien ch'i) and change it to a deadly gas (yun ch'i). If he succeeds, he'll be able to breathe the yun ch'i and live forever but every other living creature will die.
* ''{{Traveller}}'' Adventure 4 ''Leviathan''. In the backstory, a series of nuclear explosions caused the planet Ganulf to lose its atmosphere, killing all of the inhabitants.
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* It rains acid in ''{{Iji}}''. The protagonist is protected, but trails clouds of smoke. The question of whether the Earth's atmosphere is irreparably damaged brought up a few times.

* ''{{Spaceballs}}''. Planet Spaceball is out to steal planet Druidia's atmosphere.

* [[spoiler: Weather Report's Stand]] ability in the Part 6 of ''JoJosBizarreAdventure'' can actually manipulate the ozone layer of Earth itself which is the reason why [[spoiler: Enrico Pucci used his White Snake to take Weather Report's memory disc. If he had remembered his past trauma, the unconscious (and possibly apocalyptic) Heavy Weather ability of his Stand would be activated again.]] ''ItGotWorse''.

* John Christopher's ''Tripods'' series.

* In ''{{Animorphs}}'' #28, the team is trying to figure out the latest Yeerk plot. On guessing that the latest agenda might be to poison a food supply and kill humans, Ax disagrees with very specific reasoning...

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* The EverythingTwo story ''[[http://everything2.com/title/Valuable+Humans+In+Transit Valuable Humans in Transit]]''.

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* In ''{{Gargoyles}}'', the titular 'goyles had a problem with a curse that would not end "Until the skies burned." Earlier, they had been bound in stone until their castle rose above the clouds, and David Xanatos had arranged that... so it comes as no surprise that he's got a solution this time, too. Figuring that they only need a very localized phenomenon, he helps them distribute a flammable gas above New York and sets it on fire, causing the heavens to burn (briefly and harmlessly), breaking the curse.

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* Since the ozone layer is part of the atmosphere, it's probably relevant that one of the alien criminals in ''MenInBlack 2'' was convicted of stealing some of it to sell on the black market.

* ''DoctorWho'': The two-parter "The Sontaran Stratagem/The Poison Sky," in which devices fitted to engine exhausts turned out to be atmospheric converters. The gas they give off is deadly to humans and manna to Sontaran young.

* ''Warhammer40000'' has this as the end stage of separate methods of Exterminatus. Cyclonic torpedoes ignite the atmosphere as well as most things on the surface. In the case of virus bombing, the gasses released by the virus reducing most of the planet's biomass into inflammable mulch, resulting in a planet-wide firestorm. Technically it doesn't burn the atmosphere, just the flammable gasses released there, but close enough. Cyclonic torpedoes play this completely

The discerning overlord works smarter, not harder. When the need arises to kill everyone, why [[EarthShatteringKaboom tear a world into its constituent particles]]? Everyone on the planet is equally in its atmosphere: that fragile, wispy shell that can be blown away like seeds from a dandelion, or reconstituted creatively. This takes a fraction of the time and effort, and need not deplete precious stores of AppliedPhlebotinum at all, yet in skilled hands produces all the [[ApocalypseWow spectacle and excitement]] of antimatter bombs.

* ''DoctorWho'': The recent two-parter in which devices fitted to engine exhausts turned out to be atmospheric converters. The gas they give off is deadly to humans and manna to Sontaran young.

* During the creation of the atomic bomb and the lead up to the first tests, some scientists had expressed concern that detonating an atomic bomb may cause the atmosphere to ignite. [[TooDumbToLive They detonated it anyway]].

* In ''{{Gargoyles}}'', the titular 'goyles had a problem with a curse that would not end "Untill the skies burned." Earlier, they had been bound in stone untill their castle rose above the clouds, and David Xanatos had arranged that... so it comes as no surprise that he's got a solution this time, too. Figuring that they only need a very localized phenomenon, he helps them distribute a flamable gas above New York and sets it on fire, causing the heavens to burn (briefly and harmlessly), breaking the curse.

* ''{{Traveller}}'' Adventure 4 ''Leviathan''. In the backstory, a series of nuclear explosions caused the planet Ganulf to lose its atmosphere, killing all aboard.

* ''StarTrekTheOriginalSeries''
** Episode "Return to Tomorrow''. The Enterprise finds a planet whose atmosphere was ripped away by a cataclysm half a million years earlier.
** Episode "Obsession". At the end of the episode, a matter/antimatter explosion rips away half of a planet's atmosphere.

* ''TheTripods''.