So, as rule written could you technically split atoms with prestidigitation? To warm it to increase temperature. So, in theory could you warm a single atom to fission causing well BIG BOOM?
You chill, warm, or flavor up to 1 cubic foot of nonliving material for 1 hour.
Yeah, the supposition that there are any effects that aren't direct effects of a spell is a game mis-expectation. Causal physics is limited to the effects in the description.
So what happens when you warm a single atom (or even an entire cubic foot of material) to whatever temp? Nothing more than the spell describes. It's warm, but not warm enough to cause damage or set fires. So no fusion or fission.
So, as rule written could you technically split atoms with prestidigitation? To warm it to increase temperature. So, in theory could you warm a single atom to fission causing well BIG BOOM?
You chill, warm, or flavor up to 1 cubic foot of nonliving material for 1 hour.
In addition to what's already been said about how things work in the game, that's not how the real-world physics works. If you warm an atom, it just moves around faster. It's no different from warming a whole bunch of atoms at once.
And splitting a single atom doesn't release a lot of energy.
Umm no. Heat is a by-product of a fission reaction not the cause of it. Fusion is a "heat" driven process because the atoms of hydrogen involved need sufficient kinetic energy to overcome the coulomb repulsion of the nuclei.
However, neither of those is relevant. A "big boom" only results from the simultaneous release of energy from an immense number of particles undergoing fission or fusion. You wouldn't even notice the energy released from a single event.
Prestidigitation warms something - it doesn't heat it to 100,000,000 C or 180,000,000 F - the "temperatures" required for fusion. For reference, water boils at 100 C, 212 F and prestdigitation doesn't even make things that hot. It warms not boils.
So, no. Even assuming the physics of a magical world are anything close to our own, it wouldn't work. Although, since it is a magical world, in the end the decision is up to the DM.
In addition to all the ways already listed that this doesn't work, how would you go about targeting a single atom with a spell? Would you, if you were a DM, allow someone to try to disintegrate a single atom? (Actually, that comparison doesn't quite work, since it has to be an object or creature for disintegrate... but you get my point.)
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Paladin main who spends most of his D&D time worldbuilding or DMing, not Paladin-ing.
Right, but still it does not specify hot you can make said object
Sure, but it also does no damage or produces no other effect, no matter how hot the spell makes the substance. Your imagination is the limit on how hot it can be. But the spell's text is the limit on what that means mechanically.
Right, but still it does not specify hot you can make said object
Which means it's up to your DM, so you'd need to find a DM willing to let you speedrun the heat death of the universe via a cantrip. I wouldn't hold your breath.
So, as rule written could you technically split atoms with prestidigitation? To warm it to increase temperature. So, in theory could you warm a single atom to fission causing well BIG BOOM?
You chill, warm, or flavor up to 1 cubic foot of nonliving material for 1 hour.
In addition to what's already been said about how things work in the game, that's not how the real-world physics works. If you warm an atom, it just moves around faster. It's no different from warming a whole bunch of atoms at once.
And splitting a single atom doesn't release a lot of energy.
It's actually even weirder than that because while there is a 1-1 relationship between temperature and kinetic energy in monatomic ideal gasses that isn't true for all substances so this explanation is basically a simplification similar to how newtons laws are a simplification of more modern motion equations . The more modern answer is to do with things like free energy and entropy so for reasons to do with that a single atom can't actually have a temperature. Essentially something with a higher temperature has more entropy and one manifestation of higher entropy can be faster motion but can also be things like occupying different energy states, rotation and quantum phenomenon ect...
I'm probably not explaining it well because I'm not a physicist but basically you can't increase the temperature of a single atom and what exactly increasing the temperature of a substance means in terms of movement ect... depends on the substance which is why different substances take different amounts of energy to increase in temperature a property known has heat capacity.
Look at it this way. “Cold” is cold, “cool” is warmer than cold but not as warm as room temperature, “warm” is warmer than room temperature but not as hot as hot, and “hot” is hot. Prestidigitation says it can make something “warm,” which is less hot than “hot.” Compare that to the heat metal spell, which does make things “hot.” It makes them very very hot in fact which is eaten hotter than “hot.” That spell does not cause any thermonuclear reactions. Since warm is cooler than hot and very hot is hotter than hot and doesn’t cause atoms to explode, then how could prestidigitation ever do that?
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So, as rule written could you technically split atoms with prestidigitation? To warm it to increase temperature. So, in theory could you warm a single atom to fission causing well BIG BOOM?
How do you know that Atoms exist in D&D worlds? How would your character know? Do atoms exist in a magical world?
Warming is raising the temperature by a few degrees, not to a superheated temperature.
Yeah, the supposition that there are any effects that aren't direct effects of a spell is a game mis-expectation. Causal physics is limited to the effects in the description.
So what happens when you warm a single atom (or even an entire cubic foot of material) to whatever temp? Nothing more than the spell describes. It's warm, but not warm enough to cause damage or set fires. So no fusion or fission.
In addition to what's already been said about how things work in the game, that's not how the real-world physics works. If you warm an atom, it just moves around faster. It's no different from warming a whole bunch of atoms at once.
And splitting a single atom doesn't release a lot of energy.
Umm no. Heat is a by-product of a fission reaction not the cause of it. Fusion is a "heat" driven process because the atoms of hydrogen involved need sufficient kinetic energy to overcome the coulomb repulsion of the nuclei.
However, neither of those is relevant. A "big boom" only results from the simultaneous release of energy from an immense number of particles undergoing fission or fusion. You wouldn't even notice the energy released from a single event.
Prestidigitation warms something - it doesn't heat it to 100,000,000 C or 180,000,000 F - the "temperatures" required for fusion. For reference, water boils at 100 C, 212 F and prestdigitation doesn't even make things that hot. It warms not boils.
So, no. Even assuming the physics of a magical world are anything close to our own, it wouldn't work. Although, since it is a magical world, in the end the decision is up to the DM.
In addition to all the ways already listed that this doesn't work, how would you go about targeting a single atom with a spell? Would you, if you were a DM, allow someone to try to disintegrate a single atom? (Actually, that comparison doesn't quite work, since it has to be an object or creature for disintegrate... but you get my point.)
Paladin main who spends most of his D&D time worldbuilding or DMing, not Paladin-ing.
No.
[REDACTED]
Others have already explained why this does work from both spell effect and physics reasons. I don't have anything to add, they are right.
the entire universe would be plasma if fission were that easy
Gotcha! Thank you all for the explanations! I do really appreciate it!
Right, but still it does not specify hot you can make said object
The spell just says it warms something up and keeps it at that temp for an hour.
It does not say it boils water of makes metal glow eventually.
The spell is basically a way to make your food warm and your beer cold.
You could use it to heat up a bunch of water skins to act like hot water bottles and keep your feet warm.
Basically, the cantrip gives a description and examples. None of those can deal damage. Thus, the cantrip isn't powerful enough for mass destruction.
Sure, but it also does no damage or produces no other effect, no matter how hot the spell makes the substance. Your imagination is the limit on how hot it can be. But the spell's text is the limit on what that means mechanically.
Which means it's up to your DM, so you'd need to find a DM willing to let you speedrun the heat death of the universe via a cantrip. I wouldn't hold your breath.
It's actually even weirder than that because while there is a 1-1 relationship between temperature and kinetic energy in monatomic ideal gasses that isn't true for all substances so this explanation is basically a simplification similar to how newtons laws are a simplification of more modern motion equations . The more modern answer is to do with things like free energy and entropy so for reasons to do with that a single atom can't actually have a temperature. Essentially something with a higher temperature has more entropy and one manifestation of higher entropy can be faster motion but can also be things like occupying different energy states, rotation and quantum phenomenon ect...
I'm probably not explaining it well because I'm not a physicist but basically you can't increase the temperature of a single atom and what exactly increasing the temperature of a substance means in terms of movement ect... depends on the substance which is why different substances take different amounts of energy to increase in temperature a property known has heat capacity.
Well ok sure. Go ahead. What was the range on that spell again?
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Besides the fact that heat doesn't cause fission, it causes fusion, one atom under the effect of fission does a whole lot of nothing.
[A paper drops out of a flash of light and drifts to the ground at your feet] -(extended sig)-
Two things:
1) You have NO IDEA how a nuclear bomb works.
2) Spells that do not list damage should never do more damage than a spell of the same level that lists damage.
Look at it this way. “Cold” is cold, “cool” is warmer than cold but not as warm as room temperature, “warm” is warmer than room temperature but not as hot as hot, and “hot” is hot. Prestidigitation says it can make something “warm,” which is less hot than “hot.” Compare that to the heat metal spell, which does make things “hot.” It makes them very very hot in fact which is eaten hotter than “hot.” That spell does not cause any thermonuclear reactions. Since warm is cooler than hot and very hot is hotter than hot and doesn’t cause atoms to explode, then how could prestidigitation ever do that?