star wars - Can spaceships really explode in space?

Take for example the opening of Revenge of the Sith. We see spaceships fighting with other spaceships using laser canons and missiles. Then when one spaceship is destroyed, we see fire and heavy black smokes coming from it.

Does that mean in space, fire can still burn, even though there is a vacuum?

If there would really be a space war, can spaceships really be destroyed and explode?

Answer

Yes, provided there is an oxidizer. A spaceship with liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen will blow up quite well in the vacuum of space. Chemical explosives will also explode in space since they function by breaking weakly bonded chemical components; no oxygen is necessary. Nuclear explosions can of course occur in space, too. However, in space, there is no atmosphere to transmit sound from the explosion to the observer, so it would appear to be silent.

The United States military in the 60's performed a series of nuke tests in outer space, and found out what EMP can do, when they wiped out Hawaii's electrical grid for a few hours.

Comments

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