History Main / RidiculouslyPotentExplosive

* One ''WesternAnimation/TomAndJerry'' short revolves around an escaped lab mouse that had swallowed some experimental high-powered liquid explosive -- powerful enough that the amount that fills the stomach of a mouse maybe two inches tall at the most turns a very large house and significant chunk of its surrounding (very large) garden into a very deep crater.

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 Ridiculously Potent Explosive.

* Repeatedly defied in ''Series/MythBusters''. They've tested many, many explosive myths, and the real-life blast is almost ''never'' as impressive as the original myth states. The dairy creamer ''may'' qualify in that most would barely consider it an explosive, yet the creamer cannon belched out a fireball big enough to make a mushroom cloud and sent the build team running for the hills.

-->-- Breach grenade description, Videogame/HeatSignature

* Repeatedly defied in ''Series/MythBusters''. They've tested many, many explosive myths, and the real-life blast is almost ''never'' as impressive as the original myth states.

* In ''Videogame/HeatSignature'', Arconite is the explosive used to make breach grenades, which, despite being small enough be thrown by hand or launched out of a standard grenade launcher, have the same destructive power as a ship to ship-missile, capable of not just [[ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill killing absolutely anything]], but also completely destroying the section of spaceship they're used in, causing nearby enemies to be sucked into space and giving you an instant escape route. Their in game description is this page's quote.

* In ''Film/SuperMarioBrothers'', the Bob-Omb is a teeny-tiny wind-up bomb roughly the size of a cherry bomb and which, realistically, should explode with just as much force. When Mario pulls it out, all passerby on the other side of a street run away in terror and when it goes off, it tosses Koopa (who is halfway into devolving into a ''TyrannosaurusRex'' and either still weighs as much as Creator/DennisHopper, or halfway between that and the total weight of a ''Rex'') [[BlownAcrossTheRoom about a dozen feet straight into the air]].

* In ''Videogame/CommandAndConquerTiberiumWars'', Liquid [[MinovskyParticle Tiberium]] is made out to be enormously explosive, with a warhead sized bomb said to provide a yield '10 times greater than a 200 megaton thermonuke', on top of chain reactions if detonated correctly - and [[NotHyperbole it does live up to that claim]] InUniverse by creating an explosive cloud stretching more than a thousand kilometers into space[[note]]That's further up than the atmosphere, meaning that blast didn't climb to that height because of the heat like mushroom clouds do; it ''exploded'' crust-material that far into space.[[/note]] while the chain reactions set off a quarter-WorldWreckingWave. It also provides the page image.

* In the short ''WesternAnimation/HaredevilHare'', Marvin the Martian's Illudium Q-36 Explosive Space Modulator looks like an ordinary stick up dynamite but is powerful enough to blow up most of the Moon, and Bugs Bunny's rocket is propelled by what looks like an ordinary firecracker.

When a real-life explosive emerges that breaks the laws of physics, ''then'' it can be added.. [[Videogame/Portal2 and may God help us]].

* ''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.

'''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 nuclear and antimatter-matter annihilation]], respectively.[[/labelnote]]\\

'''No Real Life Examples, Please!''' This trope is about those explosives [[ArtisticLicenseExplosives whose explosive portrayal would be impossible to replicate with real world equivalents]].[[labelnote:*]]Even antimatter-matter annihilation, the most energetic reaction we know of to date, [[ShapedLikeItself is still not more powerful than antimatter-matter annihilation]].[[/labelnote]]\\

'''No Real Life Examples, Please!''' This trope is about those explosives [[ArtisticLicenseExplosives whose explosive portrayal would be impossible to replicate with real world equivalents]].[[labelnote:*]]Even antimatter-matter annihilation, the most energetic reaction we know of to date, [[ShapedLikeItself is still not more powerful than antimatter-matter annihilation]].[[/labelnote]] When a real-life explosive emerges that breaks the laws of physics, ''then'' it can be added.. [[Videogame/Portal2 and may God help us]].

Some authors realize this and create their explosives out of {{Unobtainium}}, [[FantasticNuke Magic]], or their local GreenRocks or MinovskyParticle in an attempt to justify the explosive power, but even that is not a guarantee that you won't end up with creating an unjustified Ridiculously Potent Explosive if, for instance, your explosion is chemical yet rivals nuclear, or {{antimatter}}, devices in potency.

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 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 in the future. Compare with EverythingMakesAMushroom, where the mushroom cloud itself is usually PlayedForLaughs.

[[folder:RealLife]]
* To put this in perspective, cubic gauche nitrogen, a solid form of nitrogen similar to diamond, has the highest energy density of any known nonnuclear substance. It would still take around twelve thousand metric tons of the stuff to match the yield of a tactical nuclear weapon.
[[/folder]]

* To put this in perspective, cubic gauche nitrogen, a solid form of nitrogen similar to diamond, has the highest energy density of any known nonnuclear substance. It would still around twelve thousand metric tons of the stuff to match the yield of a tactical nuclear weapon.

* To put this in perspective, cubic gauche nitrogen, a solid form of nitrogen similar to diamond, has the highest energy density of any nonnuclear substance. It would still around twelve thousand metric tons of the stuff to match the yield of a tactical nuclear weapon.

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Subtrope of ArtisticLicensePhysics, 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 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 in the future. Compare with EverythingMakesAMushroom, where the mushroom cloud itself is usually PlayedForLaughs.

* ''Film/ANewHope'': By the numbers, the EarthShatteringKaboom that wipes out the planet Alderaan would require more energy than the sun produces in two years and is definitely more than the relatively puny laser shown should be capable of outputting. [[AllThereInTheManual Supplemental materials]] HandWave this by explaining that the Death Star's "hypermatter reactor" uses exotic particles from [[SubspaceOrHyperspace hyperspace]] to cheat the laws of physics.