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Hi all,

I'm running a Dark Heresy campaign, and a question's come up that I couldn't answer - do Meltabombs make any noise, or are they silent? Thought I'd ask the hive mind =)

Thanks!

-Ben

I imagine a noise like a hundred microwaves going off at once.

I always imagined melta weapons to make a screaming noise and a 'thump' from the rapidly expanding gasses in the affected area.

It's not something really covered in the lore, but I would imagine even it would, and even if the melta device itself didn't, any effects it had once activated certainly would be extremely audible.

If you go by the space marine game, the melta guns did indeed mak a crump sound, so possibly something like that.

"Melta Weapon usage is always accompanied by a distinctive hissing sound as the Melta beam boils away the water in the air, then a roaring blast as the beam reduces the target to charred scraps or molten slag"

Meltabombs would be more roaring blast than hiss. They are fusion bombs that rapidly heat the target area so there will also be secondary sound from the object expanding / exploding.

(the weapons themselves would likely make little noise, it's all the heat they are pumping out)

I'm sure the people being hit with them do.

Water that's in the air is already in gasuous form, it can't boil and certainly wouldn't hiss.

Much like an outdoor bonfire doesn't hiss even if it too would affect "the water in the air" that's straight above it.

Than again.

According to the 2nd ed Wargear book on Meltaguns "The Melta-gun makes no noise when fired, but the super-heating of the air produces a distinctive hiss which becomes a roaring blast as living targets are hit and their bodies' moisture vapourises explosively."

Well, here's as close to a real melta bomb as I can show you in operation today.



https://youtu.be/8a2OeWS3G-A

Not really that noisy to be honest.

The amount of heat released instantaneously would cause the air to expand enough to create a shockwave.

So you would get a bang, just not one as loud as one originating in detonating explosives.

locarno24 wrote:
The amount of heat released instantaneously would cause the air to expand enough to create a shockwave.

So you would get a bang, just not one as loud as one originating in detonating explosives.

Are you sure it would be an instant release? A melta bomb might not be meant to create a concussive explosion, it might be meant to releace tremendous heat, and might take a couple seconds to fully go off. At least that's been my headcannon all along, I'd always assumed it was more like super thermite than anything else.

for me meltabombs always sounded like an implosion(as the metal/whatever is heated so rapidly it meltas) followed by a massive release of heat(as that thermal potential from the mass suddenly has to go somewhere) and the resultant rapid expansion of the air creates a shockwave that damages squishy stuff

I'm sure if the bomb itself doesn't make any noise (doubtful, given the huge release of energy) then things around it exploding or collapsing would.
[edit]
Except in Space, of course. In Space, nobody can hear your meltabombs scream!

 JamesY wrote:
I imagine a noise like a hundred microwaves going off at once.

HUMMMMMM.... PING - *BOOM* ?

I always imagined melta weapons sounding like jet engines. That mix between a droning noise, a hiss and a roar.

Melta bombs sound like that, just faster.

Logically, a melta bomb should generate a lot of hot gas in a short time; that should create a big draft as air is pushed away from the blast (not a shockwave like a proper explosive would create, but I can't imagine it would be comfortable to stand nearby...) I suppose the noise would start pretty quiet (like a blowtorch maybe?), then grow to be between a whoosh and a howl as the bomb does its thing. Add to that the hissing/sizzling sound as stuff gets vaporized.

If you drop a bucket of water into a super hot furnace or some other really hot place, doesn't it explode as water near instantly evaporates? Sounds comparable

Wiki says this: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steam_explosion

Melta bombs must be locked in place and burn a big hole. I imagine the sound would travel through the surface it’s attached to. Some debris might fall around the hole as well, causing a bit of sound. The explosion itself has been covered well in this thread I think.

So I just realized everyone has already heard a melta bomb going off at some point. An enormous amount of energy released in an instant that will heat everything it hits to incredible temperatures? That's exactly what lightning does.

So that's my best bet to what a meltabomb would sound like: a big old thunderclap.

Meltas do not make a noise. But the superheated air hisses. As does anything it melts. (Source from 2nd edition melta description. What follows now is not from there.)

Mind you matter goes hard, liquid, gass and then plasma. So clearly meltaguns make less heat then plasma. (Best not to think about this.)

What ever you melt would proably hear hissing as things turn from hard to liqyuid, to gass. Burns are also common with heat.

Also, it is the satifying *ding* of a microwave whenever a melta bomb is finished.

 Tiennos wrote:
So I just realized everyone has already heard a melta bomb going off at some point. An enormous amount of energy released in an instant that will heat everything it hits to incredible temperatures? That's exactly what lightning does.

So that's my best bet to what a meltabomb would sound like: a big old thunderclap.

This was my thinking too, but I think there are some key differences:
A) Lightning establishes a channel from point A to B, and then plasma travels along the entire, very narrow length rapidly, heating a tiny column of air a few miles long in an instant; a meltagun/bomb projects heat from point A, but presumably radiates out as it goes and is much shorter in reach. That both spreads the heat out across a greater area and gives a shorter column to generate a shockwave.
B) The actual shockwave is generated by the incredibly rapid heating of the air along the entire length. Lightning gets up to 50,000c in a fraction of a fraction of a second, and flickers as it cools/heats a few a times before stopping; the description for the meltagun just says "tens of thousands of degrees centigrade," so I'm assuming it's a somewhat lower heat, and a more consistent heating process.

I think a better example might be nuclear weapons. The heat of a nuke travels well ahead of the shockwave (and sound). Imagine concentrating this power down to a much narrower width - https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/8581149/atomic-bomb-tests-new-footage-nukes-nevada/.

But that much heat still wouldn't go quietly. I'm guessing there would still be a dull whump as the air immediately in front of the weapon is superheated and creates a small shockwave.

 Niiai wrote:
Meltas do not make a noise. But the superheated air hisses. As does anything it melts. (Source from 2nd edition melta description. What follows now is not from there.)

Mind you matter goes hard, liquid, gass and then plasma. So clearly meltaguns make less heat then plasma. (Best not to think about this.)

What ever you melt would proably hear hissing as things turn from hard to liqyuid, to gass. Burns are also common with heat.

Also, it is the satifying *ding* of a microwave whenever a melta bomb is finished.

Huh, guess it depends on your aim then

Hey, does a melta bomb, the cup device, "explodes" or how does it melt things ? Does it just heat super hard and melts what touches it ?

From wiki:

"A Melta Bomb works by inducing a minute, uncontrolled, sub-molecular reaction within a highly-pressurised pyrum-petrol fuel mix located within an metallic casing, which rapidly reaches a critical stage and unleashes a blast of incredible heat."

So, it's an explosion, but one of extreme heat energy as opposed to the traditional kinetic shockwave / shrapnel you might expect from a conventional grenade.

 Forgotmytea wrote:
Hi all,

I'm running a Dark Heresy campaign, and a question's come up that I couldn't answer - do Meltabombs make any noise, or are they silent? Thought I'd ask the hive mind =)

Thanks!

-Ben

Yes, it's a shaped charge explosive that's stuck to the side of a tank. It presumably makes a very loud explosion noise.

 Super Ready wrote:
From wiki:

"A Melta Bomb works by inducing a minute, uncontrolled, sub-molecular reaction within a highly-pressurised pyrum-petrol fuel mix located within an metallic casing, which rapidly reaches a critical stage and unleashes a blast of incredible heat."

So, it's an explosion, but one of extreme heat energy as opposed to the traditional kinetic shockwave / shrapnel you might expect from a conventional grenade.

Damn, I always thought it was some kind of microwave gun.

 Mr Nobody wrote:

 Super Ready wrote:
From wiki:

"A Melta Bomb works by inducing a minute, uncontrolled, sub-molecular reaction within a highly-pressurised pyrum-petrol fuel mix located within an metallic casing, which rapidly reaches a critical stage and unleashes a blast of incredible heat."

So, it's an explosion, but one of extreme heat energy as opposed to the traditional kinetic shockwave / shrapnel you might expect from a conventional grenade.

Damn, I always thought it was some kind of microwave gun.

That would be the Melta GUN (and by extension Multi-meltas and Inferno Pistols), rather than the Melta BOMB. So, it's there.

Id say anything heating the air up enough to melt the side of a tank will probably make a noise. If not the air or water vapor in it the tank Armour sublimating will.

 Tiennos wrote:
Logically, a melta bomb should generate a lot of hot gas in a short time; that should create a big draft as air is pushed away from the blast (not a shockwave like a proper explosive would create, but I can't imagine it would be comfortable to stand nearby...).

That sounds just like some people I know a few hours after eating at taco bell. Especially the bit about not being comfortable to stand near them when they do it.