> is that a very appreciable fraction of the energy liberated goes into radiant heat and light
That's exactly what I said in my previous comment:
For example nuclear bombs melting flesh is because of the extreme heat, nothing that is unique to the nuclear process.
You see exactly the same "flash burn" characteristics from other very hot weapons eg thermobaric explosives.
The unique thing about nuclear bombs is their scale and the fallout afterwards (both of which are horrific). That "melting flesh" thing is caused by the extreme heat, not by some magic "it's nuclear" thing.
Heat is not light, that is not exactly what you said. Sorry. You didn't even mention light.
Physically as well as "mechanically", I suppose, they are very different things. Heat cannot travel at the speed of light, light can. Light can impart heat, but it is a partical-wave with various properties, heat is a general statistical statement about a set of particalls. They are not the same thing at all.
Now, as for how a sunburn works, it's not about heat. The reason you wear sunblock even on a temperate day (cold, even) but with lots of sun, is because UV light, not heat, burns your skin.
So, yeah, actually, this is different from a pure thermobaric explosive, if you want to get technical.
Now I understand you want to argue about whether "melting flesh" is unique to nuclear bombs - I never said it was. The output of a nuclear weapon, or reactor, is pretty darn unique, compared to a traditional heat thermal heat source. I don't think I ever even implied that there was some magical property of nuclear weapons which makes them "melt flesh".
You claim to be anti-nuclear yourself but you seem more interested in classifying the possible things which could be flesh melting, and/or you seem to have little to no knowledge of actual physics, thus I have extreme trouble taking you at your word.
Heat is just longer wavelength electro magnetic radiation than visible light.
UV is shorter wavelength EM radiation, so same thing (not quite sure why we are talking about sunburn though).
It outputs a bunch of other EM radiation too. That's what an EMP explosion is - one desiged to maximize EM radiation in frequencies likely to destroy electronic equipment.
That's exactly what I said in my previous comment:
For example nuclear bombs melting flesh is because of the extreme heat, nothing that is unique to the nuclear process.
You see exactly the same "flash burn" characteristics from other very hot weapons eg thermobaric explosives.
The unique thing about nuclear bombs is their scale and the fallout afterwards (both of which are horrific). That "melting flesh" thing is caused by the extreme heat, not by some magic "it's nuclear" thing.