History Main / RidiculouslyPotentExplosive

Subtrope of ArtisticLicenseExplosives, often a case of SciFiWritersHaveNoSenseOfScale in [[SciFiWritersHave/NoSenseOfEnergy terms of energy]], or it might occur because WritersCannotDoMath. May be used to create {{Earth Shattering Kaboom}}s. Compare MadeOfExplodium, for things which really shouldn't be exploding in the first place. Compare and contrast the SlapOnTheWristNuke for when the explosion ''under''performs for what is producing it, and the BigBulkyBomb, another similar (but reversed) misconception where a huge-looking bomb may have a bigger yield compared to a smaller one (disregarding the bomb's active elements). Examples might be subjected to ScienceMarchesOn should we manage to create more potent explosives of the same category in the future. Compare with EverythingMakesAMushroom, where the mushroom cloud itself is usually PlayedForLaughs.

* In ''Film/TheMouseThatRoared'' the MacGuffin that is central to the plot (and provides the Duchy of Grand Fezziwig with the victory it ''[[SpringtimeForHitler doesn't]]'' want) is the "Q-Bomb", an experimental nuclear device with the capacity to take out an entire continent that just also happens to be so compact that it's shaped, has the same weight, is as easy to carry as (and is portrayed by) an American football.

* ''Film/EagleEye'' has the Hex crystal, a crystal small enough to be disguised as jewelry that is said to be able to take out a football field.

'''[[NoRealLife/ImpossibleInRealLife No Real Life Examples, Please]]!''' This trope is about those explosives [[ArtisticLicenseExplosives whose explosive portrayal would be impossible to replicate with real world equivalents]], ''not'' merely really powerful explosives. [[labelnote:*]]Even nuclear and antimatter-matter annihilation, while very explosively potent, [[ShapedLikeItself are still not any more potent than nuclear and antimatter-matter annihilation]], respectively.[[/labelnote]]\\

* In ''Film/TheMouseThatRoared'' the MacGuffin that is central to the plot (and provides the Duchy of Grand Fezziwig with the victory it ''[[SpringtimeForHitler doesn't]]'' wants) is the "Q-Bomb", an experimental nuclear device with the capacity to take out an entire continent that just also happens to be so compact that it's shaped, has the same weight, is as easy to carry as (and is portrayed by) an American football.

* In ''Manga/RurouniKenshin'', the bomblets [[ChekhovsGun Sanosuke obtains before heading for Kyoto]] are small enough to fit in a palm. Yet, when he throws them at the Rengoku, Shishio's personal armored battleship, the explosion it's powerful enough to critically damage the ship, which then inevitably sinks.

* ''Manga/HunterxHunter'': An example whose disproportionate potency is actively PlayedForDrama - the Chimera Ant arc introduces a FantasticNuke called the Poor Man's Rose, so named for the gigantic rose-shaped mushroom cloud it produces. If the massive explosion doesn't kill you, the radiation it spreads out for ''miles'' certainly will, and the bomb itself is cheap, easily-produced, and [[DeadMansSwitch compact enough to store inside a person's heart.]] In keeping with the [[HumansAreBastards Chimera Ant]] [[HumansAreTheRealMonsters arc's themes,]] the fact that something so destructive and cruel could ''also'' be made so portable and accessible is treated as a testament to humanity's capacity for evil.

* ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'': in "Marjorine", the bomb that the kids use to destroy the fortune-teller (which is a piece of paper) consists of several cans of gasoline poured onto the thing before being wired to a detonator. The resulting explosion is so massive that it levels the whole forest and ''could be seen from space''.

* ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'': in "Marjorine", the bomb that the kids use to destroy the fortune-teller (which is a piece of paper) consists of several cans of gasoline poured onto the thing and is wired to a detonator. The resulting explosion is so massive that it levels the whole forest and ''could be seen from space''.

Just one problem; the explosion you're now displaying is far too big to be caused by the explosive you say is causing it -- or, in the case of fictional explosives, too big for any known real-world explosive of equivalent size and type; it's literally providing too much bang for its buck. To create the explosion from that small a package would require a [[TitleDrop Ridiculously Potent Explosive]].

* ''Franchise/DoctorWhoExpandedUniverse'': The Virgin New Adventures saw Ace develop Nitro-9 ''in candy form.'' Ten times more powerful and easier to carry than the original, it's fortunate that human stomach acid neutralizes it.

* The ''VideoGame/{{Halo}}'' novel ''Ghosts of Onyx'' combines this with ChekhovsGun when a human superbomb known as a NOVA bomb is discovered by the Covenant and brought to a planet. The NOVA Bomb, as (quite proudly) described by one of the admirals that oversaw its construction, is nine nuclear fusion warheads encased in futuristic armor. When detonated, it compresses the force of the explosion to the density of a ''neutron star'', which boosts its yield a hundredfold. When detonated in a planet's ''orbit'', it scorches a fourth of the planet, [[DetonationMoon blows up the planet's moon]], and causes massive storms across the rest of the world, wrecking it. When actually detonated on a planet, EarthShatteringKaboom results. Fittingly, the bomb was designed to be snuck aboard the Covenant's home base, High Charity, and detonated there, so the UNSC wasn't taking any chances.

* In the ''Literature/{{Lensmen}}'' series the standard go-to explosive is "duodec" ("duodecaplylatomate"). Large stores can crack the crust of a planet, and "small" pellets are used to destroy a mansion (and outbuildings) without damaging nearby residences. However duodec does quickly become obsolete for anti-spaceship work as the setting ''is'' the TropeNamer for the LensmanArmsRace trope.
* Creator/IsaacAsimov's "Literature/LetsGetTogether": Total Conversion, or TC, implies that 100% of some {{Unobtainium}} changes from matter into energy.

* ''TableTopGame/Warhammer40000'':
** Justified at the end of the ''Literature/CiaphasCain'' novel "Caves of Ice". While the bombs planted were only intended to create a crater in the ice to trap an enemy vehicle, they blow up in a gigantic fireball because [[spoiler: the caves below were flooded with fuel, effectively creating a giant fuel/air bomb, to the delight of the resident MadBomber chief sapper.]] The resulting explosion is so large that ''a ship in space is hit by the shockwave.''
** ''Literature/DarkHeresy's'' take on promethium (an all-purpose chemical fuel used in everything from flamethrowers to tanks to Titans) is that 500 million liters of the stuff (the carrying capacity of between 1 and 2 modern supertankers) results in an explosion more than ten times the size of the ''Sun''.

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