# What would happen if I throw a grenade in space? Tags: orbital-mechanics, vacuum, physics, ballistics, explosives - Score: 10 - Views: 8195 - Answers: 2 - Answered: yes - Asked by: Rafael (203 rep) - Asked: 2014-06-26 - Edited: 2014-06-27 - Site: space ## Question What would happen if I throw a grenade in space? Would it explode? Or will it just keep floating forever? ## Answers ### Answer by TildalWave (score: 17 [ACCEPTED]) Yes, it would explode. Most hand grenades are nowadays triggered chemically, electrically or contain a fuze enclosed within the assembly, so they don't require atmospheric oxygen to ignite, are watertight and otherwise more reliably go off at a preset time since activation. You would however create a large number of dangerous debris that would float forever, if exploded in higher orbits or deep space, or at least until they impact something, i.e. transfer their momentum onto another body. In lower orbits, the smaller the fragments, the lesser their kinetic potential and would eventually decay their orbit due to still some atmospheric pressure and thus atmospheric drag slowing them down. Depending on the materials these fragments are made of, and thei