ZPM, how powerful are they?

[YutheGreat]

In Hot Zone Sam said a tainted half power ZPM was powerful enough to destroy the entire Solar system but in BAMSR McKay was planning to detonate several of them to make the super dense blob denser. They failed to do it but if they did wouldn't it blow up everything: the planet, the fleet, half the Pegasus Galaxy if not the entire thing?

What is your opinion?

[Mister Oragahn]

It's been adressed plenty of times. Search button please.

[umopapisdn]

To answer your question, the tainted ZPM had a far higher explosive power than a regular zpm, in progeny rodney used 3 to blow up the asuran city ship and in the one where caldwell got goa'uld'ed they were going to use 1 to blow p atlantis. They wouldn't have done it if all life within 1ly was going to be destryoed would they (I know it's an exaduration)

[JSPuddlejumper]

As powerful as anything out there.

Size=best
Power output=as good as any

Time for the earth get or make them.

[Pasankoon]

Ok in answer to your question the method rodney and the trust used to create a ZPM based explotion was using the buffer that is connected to the cities power supply. Rather than releasing all the ZPMs power at once which required the ZPM itself to be tainted the method used here used various power consuming commands to build up a charge in this buffer until the energy stored within it (The Buffer) was released at once. At that point rodney didn't have the knowledge nor the time to carry out the tainting of the ZPM and the trust didn't have the ability to carry such a task in covert. Remember its not that tainting the ZPM makes the ZPM release more energy. Rather using the buffer as a secondary release of energy releases less of the ZPMs energy.

Also The incidednt in progeny was similar except this time rodney did not have enough time to build up a charge powerful enough to destroy the planet. Obviously he did not intend to either. His intention of course was to only destroy the city. As to why he needed all 3 is to do with the asuran city using the ZPMs in series. The reason Atlantis used ZPMs in parallel is because Janus made the nessasary modifications to do so back in 'Before I sleep'. In asura disconnecting a ZPM meant loss of power and therefore Failure in explosion.