• Question: how can cockroaches survive nuclear radiation?

    Asked by dcblackhole1999 to Anna, Jonathan, Samantha, Sam on 3 Jul 2012.
    • Photo: anon

      anon answered on 3 Jul 2012:

      Cockroaches are capable of surviving higher levels of radiation than humans for two main reasons. They have a tough exoskeleton which blocks some of the most deadly radiation and they can hide away in much smaller spaces. Rumours about the ability of a cockroach to survive a nuclear bomb are not true – this is not because of radiation but because of the heat produced by the bomb. Temperatures can rise to around 10 million celsius – not even a cockroach could survive that.

    • Photo: Sam Chilka

      Sam Chilka answered on 4 Jul 2012:

      As Michael says, no living thing can survive a nuclear blast. If you were far enough away from a nuclear bomb you could survive the blast – but the radiation would make you very sick and eventually kill you if the dose was high enough. As Michael also says, cockroaches can survive higher levels of radiation than humans.

    • Photo: Samantha Weaver

      Samantha Weaver answered on 4 Jul 2012:

      Looks like the boys have already answered this really well 🙂

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