menu Home chevron_right
SCIENCE

What If You Lit a Match on Jupiter?

What If | August 5, 2025



Atlas VPN 3-year offer with a 86% discount; https://atlasv.pn/WhatIf

Jupiter is the largest planet in the Solar System. It’s 300 times more massive than Earth. But it’s less dense than our home. Uh-oh. Looks like somebody left the gas running on Jupiter. Don’t do anything stupid, like lighting a humongous match. What would a match need to be made of to ignite the gas giant? How big would it have to be? And how much damage would this explosion do to our Solar System? Would phosphorous be enough to cause an explosion on Jupiter?

Transcript and sources: https://whatifshow.com/what-if-you-lit-a-match-on-jupiter/

Questions or concerns? Contact us at https://underknown.com/contact/

Get our 100 best episodes in one mind-blowing book: http://bit.ly/ytc-the-what-if-100-book

Join this channel to get access to perks:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCphTF9wHwhCt-BzIq-s4V-g/join

Check out our other shows:
How to Survive: https://bit.ly/how-to-survive-show
Your Body on: https://bit.ly/your-body-on-show
Crazy Creatures: https://bit.ly/crazy-creatures-show

Watch more what-if scenarios:
Planet Earth: http://bit.ly/YT-what-if-Earth
The Cosmos: http://bit.ly/YT-what-if-Cosmos
Technology: http://bit.ly/YT-what-if-Technology
Your Body: http://bit.ly/YT-what-if-Body
Humanity: http://bit.ly/YT-what-if-Humanity

T-shirts and merch: http://bit.ly/whatifstore
Suggest an episode: http://bit.ly/suggest-whatif
Newsletter: http://bit.ly/whatif-newsletter

What If elsewhere:
Instagram: http://bit.ly/whatif-instagram
Discord: https://discord.gg/qEJ7QnDEyC
Twitter: http://bit.ly/whatif-twitter
Facebook: http://bit.ly/facebook-whatif
What If in Spanish: http://bit.ly/YT-Spanish-what-if
What If in Mandarin: http://bit.ly/YT-Chinese-what-if
Podcast: http://bit.ly/yt-what-if-show-podcast

What If is a mini-documentary web series that takes you on an epic journey through hypothetical worlds and possibilities. Join us on an imaginary adventure through time, space and chance while we (hopefully) boil down complex subjects in a fun and entertaining way.

Produced with love by Underknown in Toronto: https://underknown.com
Contact us at https://underknown.com/contact/

#whatif #jupiter #cosmos #flammable #phosphorous

Tagged as , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , .

Written by What If

Comments

This post currently has 39 comments.

  5. @Informationdotcom6075

    August 5, 2025 at 8:21 pm

    Lighting a match on Jupiter would be impossible due to its unique environment. Here's why:

    1. No oxygen: Jupiter's atmosphere lacks oxygen, essential for combustion.
    2. Hydrogen-dominated atmosphere: Jupiter's atmosphere is mostly hydrogen (~89%) and helium (~10%).
    3. Extreme pressure and temperature: Jupiter's pressure is 1000 times Earth's, and temperatures range from -150°C to -110°C.
    4. Turbulent winds: Jupiter's winds reach up to 644 km/h (400 mph).

    If you somehow managed to ignite a match:

    1. Lack of oxygen would prevent sustained combustion.
    2. Hydrogen would not support combustion in the same way as oxygen.
    3. Extreme pressure would crush or vaporize the match.
    4. Intense winds would extinguish the flame instantly.

  13. @johndefalque5061

    August 5, 2025 at 8:21 pm

    The hell with a match, coth Jupiter and Saturn have lightning strikes that are magnitudes stronger than those on earth! Add to that we've already seen the comet Shoemaker-Levy hit Jupiter.

  17. @KingMichaelJF

    August 5, 2025 at 8:21 pm

    Planet Genders:

    Mercury – Male
    Venus – Female
    Earth – Female
    Moon – Female
    Mars – Male
    Jupiter – Male
    Saturn – Female
    Uranus – Male
    Neptune – Male
    Ceres – Female
    Eris – Female
    Pluto – Male
    Makemake – Male
    Haumea – Female

  27. @joncouncil4454

    August 5, 2025 at 8:21 pm

    Answer: (After first 10 second intro question) Nothing. Without any Oxygen, Hydrogen has nothing to oxidize with to explode under flame. Hell, the match wouldn't even light in the Jovian atmosphere.without Oxygen. If Jupiter has massive mega lightning constantly going off and the planet hasn't blown up yet, what the hell can a match do? Also, Jupiter DOES have a surface, but our sensibilities 'refuse recognize it as such…. just as we won't let Pluto be a planet anymore because of it's size. Anyhow, none of Jupiter's atmospheric gases are combustible without Oxygen, and Helium, the second largest percentage of Jupiter's atmosphere by Volume won't explode even with Oxygen. It's inert, meaning it won't react to anything without extreme conditions.

  34. @dougb6301

    August 5, 2025 at 8:21 pm

    This video is stupid.. I’m quite sure it has some form of lightning. It’s even depicted in the B roll they used. Lol
    But without oxygen you’re not doing anything. I have seen propane not ignite with a clump of burning gunpowder in the middle of it. You could set off a sparkling device inside a propane tank and have absolutely nothing happen. I’ve seen propane not ignite many many times even though there’s a purposeful ignition source placed to ignite it.. problem is they were too close to the source of the fuel where it had not mixed with air yet. It’s a problem I deal with all the time.

Comments are closed.

Related
How Additive Synthesis Works
Benn Jordan | April 18, 2026
Related
The Most Insane Megaproject You Never Heard About
Kurzgesagt – In a Nutshell | April 18, 2026
Related
All The Ghosts You Will Be
Vsauce | April 17, 2026

This area can contain widgets, menus, shortcodes and custom content. You can manage it from the Customizer, in the Second layer section.

 

 

 

Go to album
  • play_circle_filled

    92.9 : The Torch

  • play_circle_filled

    AGGRO
    'Til Deaf Do Us Part...

  • play_circle_filled

    SLACK!
    The Music That Made Gen-X

  • play_circle_filled

    KUDZU
    The Northwoods' Alt-Country & Americana

  • play_circle_filled

    BOOZHOO
    Indigenous Radio

  • play_circle_filled

    THE FLOW
    The Northwoods' Hip Hop and R&B

play_arrow skip_previous skip_next volume_down
playlist_play