Dr. Robert (Bob) Novella

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1,941 appearances 6 recordings 1 series first heard May 2026 last heard 19 Sep

Dr. Robert (Bob) Novella’s voice in public audio — every appearance, attributed to the second.

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Recordings per month over the last 12 months — 6 in all, peaking in Aug 2026 with 3.

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The Skeptics' Guide to the Universe · The Skeptics Guide #827 - May 15 2021 podcast

Explosion, detonation. matched

But there's actually critical differences. matched

Bottom line, a detonation is an explosion, but not all explosions are detonations, right? matched

So explosion is an easy one. matched

It's a general term. matched

Essentially, it's an accelerated release of energy with intense temperatures and pressures, and it releases gases in an expanding volume. matched

Right? matched

Easy. matched

A detonation is kind of the same thing, except it expands faster than the speed of sound. matched

761 miles per hour, 1,200 kilometers per hour. matched

Very simplistic, obviously. matched

So now I try to think of a good way to describe this visually. matched

Okay. matched

So imagine one of those big plastic jugs filled with water, right? matched

Fill it with a flammable gas instead of expensive water. matched

So it's got this gas in it. matched

Now ignite the gas at the nozzle, all right? matched

Just put your lighter right next to the nozzles. matched

Now then you can imagine a wave of burning gas, right, that travels down the opening and then down. matched

slowly to the bottom of the big bottle, right? matched

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