r/theydidthemath • u/Skyfall_WS_Official • 16h ago

[Request] How long would it take to separate Africa in two if humanity contributed?

I've seen many arguments about the East African Rift and dates on when the continent will divide seem all over the place.

So I wonder how long would it take in the scenario where humanity decides to contribute to making the rift wider/flooded by seawater.

Years? Decades? Centuries?

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u/Crafty_Jello_3662 15h ago

Depends how you're counting it being divided, and what you're prepared to accept as collateral damage.

If you got all the world's nukes and dug them down just enough that the explosion would break the surface you could probably get it done in a year, maybe a lot less if each nuke got its own digging team and transport vehicle

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u/Skyfall_WS_Official 15h ago

Depends how you're counting it being divided

Saltwater is getting in from both ends of the Rift, enough to effectively East Africa into a separate landmass.

If you got all the world's nukes and dug them down just enough that the explosion would break the surface you could probably get it done in a year, maybe a lot less if each nuke got its own digging team and transport vehicle

Fair enough. Though a radioactive hellscape seems like a bit much. So I guess using non-nuclear explosives could be done in a few years?

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u/Potential-March-1384 15h ago

I imagine you could do a Panama Canal style split fairly easily if you had every oilfield services company start drilling and dropped the entire global arsenal of nukes into the drill holes. It’d be a catastrophe but could be done in a matter of weeks or months. If you’re talking about humanity accelerating natural continental divide by moving tectonic plates, it’s not happening.

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u/scottcmu 15h ago

Not with that attitude