History Main / RidiculouslyPotentExplosive

* StandStillStaySilent: Emil's would-be breaching charge, which [[http://sssscomic.com/comic.php?page=539 fits into the palm of his hand]], is filled with some sort of liquid explosive. It blows the door off its hinges... And [[http://sssscomic.com/comic.php?page=540 part of the house into the stratosphere]]. It's worth noting that Emil is typically carrying around enough of the stuff to blow up half a town -- so it's no wonder he wasn't allowed to bring his kit inside Mora at the start of the comic. It makes sense in ''some'' way for it to be this powerful though, given that the job of the Cleansers is to raze Old World buildings to the ground to clear out any [[UndeadAbomination trolls]] which might be nesting in them.

* StandStillStaySilent: Emil's would-be breaching charge, which [[http://sssscomic.com/comic.php?page=539 fits into the palm of his hand]], is filled with some sort of liquid explosive. It blows the door off its hinges... And [[http://sssscomic.com/comic.php?page=540 part of the house into the stratosphere]]. It's worth noting that Emil is typically carrying around enough of the stuff to blow up half a town -- so it's no wonder he wasn't allowed to bring his kit inside Mora at the start of the comic. It makes sense in ''some'' way for it to be this powerful though, given that the job of the Cleansers is to raze Old World buildings to the ground to clear out any trolls which might be nesting in them.

[[folder:Web Comics]]

[[quoteright:350:[[Videogame/CommandAndConquerTiberiumWars https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/liquid_tiberium_2.png]]]]

* In ''Film/SuperMarioBros'', 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 ''UsefulNotes/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]].

* The ''WesternAnimation/TomAndJerry'' cartoon "WesternAnimation/TheMissingMouse", 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.

* ''Film/{{Desperado}}'''s big money shot is of a single frag grenade (functionally just a big-ass firecracker designed to fling shrapnel) which creates a fiery explosion so massive that it sends a wall of flame shooting up past the roof that El Mariachi is standing on.

* ''Film/{{Desperado}}'''s big money shot is of a single frag grenade which creates a fiery explosion so massive that it sends a wall of flame shooting up past the roof that El Mariachi is standing on.

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. [[labelnote:*]]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 tonnes of the stuff to match the yield of a tactical nuclear weapon weighing ''less'' than one tonne.[[/labelnote]]

* ''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 and ''Film/RogueOne'' makes great emphasis in the Khyber Crystals that are used to boost the laser's power (and were originally used for lightsaber construction -- it's all but flat out stated in canon that the superlaser [[AWizardDidIt just runs on space magic]] by now).

* In ''VideoGame/XCOM2'', some missions involve blowing up alien facilities. In order to do this, the player must have one of their units plant an "X4 Charge" before clearing out. The charge is a fist sized bomb that's planted somewhere inside the building, but the ending cutscene of the missions always show the entire structure exploding in a fireball worthy of Hollywood and being levelled to the ground. WordOfGod is that this even includes an unseen underground section of the buildings.

* "Promethium-X" from the symbiote arc of ''WesternAnimation/SpiderManTheAnimatedSeries'' - a tiny chip, when sufficiently heated, produces an enormous explosion. The catch is that its half-life is measured in days, after which it becomes lead.

* In ''Literature/TheLastHero'', a barrel of Agatean Thunder Clay compact enough to fit on Mad Hamish's wheelchair is powerful enough to destroy Dunmanifestin, producing an explosion that would be visible across the Disc and an AntiMagic {{EMP}} that would wipe out the Disc's entire BackgroundMagicField. This seems to be be enhanced by its location at the Hub however, [[spoiler: when it actually detonates on the way ''down'' the mountain, the results aren't quite as impressive]].

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. Contrast the SlapOnTheWristNuke for when the explosion ''under''performs for what is producing it.

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, 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. Contrast the SlapOnTheWristNuke for when the explosion ''under''performs for what is producing it.

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

** On the other hand, the franchise frequently inverts this as well, especially when it comes to photon torpedoes. Their warheads use 1.5 kg each of matter and anti-matter, yet their explosions are often less powerful than they should be.

* ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'': In "Whom God's Destroy" Captain Garth somehow manages to create bombs which resemble tiny crystals in canister which he can easily carry. He describes them as the most powerful explosives in existence (making them greater than Photon Torpedoes and other weapons that utilise antimatter), claiming the whole canister is enough to destroy the whole planet. Whilst Garth is insane, all the evidence suggests he was right as blowing up a single crystal creates an explosion that shakes the Enterprise ''whilst it's in Orbit.''
* ''Series/StarTrekVoyager'': No matter what's in an Omega Molecule, its energy is by definition stored in chemical bonds. The notion that it could destroy whole sectors of space--let alone subspace--is ludicrous.

* In ''Film/SuperMarioBros'', 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 the short ''WesternAnimation/HaredevilHare'', Marvin the Martian's Illudium Q-36 Explosive Space Modulator looks like an ordinary stick of 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.

'''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]]\\

* ''Film/{{Desperado}}'''s big money shot is of a single frag grenade which creates a fiery explosion so massive that it sends a wall of flame shooting up past the roof that El Mariachi is standing on.
* ''Franchise/JamesBond'' showcases this in ''Film/GoldenEye'' with its signature exploding pen, taking the top half of a test dummy clean off. [[JustForFun/TropesExaminedByTheMythbusters The MythBusters]] would later show that this is an impossible feat for a pen-sized explosive to do, even with modern explosives.
* In ''Film/VanHelsing'', Carl demonstrates the effect of a single drop of "Nitroglycerin No.48" -- it blows up like a ''grenade'', scaring the bejeezus out of all the other weapons researchers in the room. Their collective anger heavily implies this is not unusual for him.
-->'''Researchers''': STOP IT, CARL!!!

* ''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''.

* 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.

* ''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.
* Creator/IsaacAsimov's "Literature/LetsGetTogether": Total Conversion, or TC, implies that 100% of some {{Unobtainium}} changes from matter into energy.

* ''VideoGame/AceCombatAssaultHorizon'' features Trinity, a weapon that is functionally identical to a tactical nuke and small enough to be launched from a multi-role combat aircraft like an SU-35 or F-15. However, it is explicitly ''not'' nuclear in nature. A small nod to realism is that Trinity is far more unstable than would normally be acceptable for a military-grade explosive, but it is still way more potent than it has any right to be.

* In the short ''WesternAnimation/HaredevilHare'', Marvin the Martian's Illudium Q-36 Explosive Space Modulator looks like an ordinary stick of 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.