Originally Posted by robt Originally Posted by

Yes, but when something implodes, it sends a shockwave outwards, which for all intents and purposes is the same as an explosion (since a wave by definition has both positive and negative components). It's the shockwave that causes the damage to nearby things. In air, an explosion is usually the worse of the two because there's no upper bound on the amount of extra pressure pushed outwards, but there is a fairly low upper bound for an implosion at 1 bar. For example, a building collapsing will make a loud noise, but that's about it.



In water, there isn't a lot of difference between the two, as the amount of energy involved will depend on the water pressure and the failure time (specifically, how much fluid is displaced, how quickly). That energy will be transferred much more efficiently than it would through air as well, making it a lot more dangerous.