Calc Zeus's Master Bolt (PJO)

Just something I remembered after seeing a kid and his dad playing with firecrackers across the street. Don't take this too seriously (unless you want to ).

The first installment in the PJO series, titled The Lightning Thief, quite obviously centers around the theft of a lightning bolt. More specifically, Zeus's Master Bolt. Cue Olympian-scale bitchfest. Chiron explains this to Percy in the following quote.

The Lightning Thief said:
"Do not take this lightly," Chiron warned. "I'm not talking about some tinfoil-covered zigzag you'd see in a second-grade play. I'm talking about a two-foot-long cylinder of high-grade celestial bronze, capped on both ends with god-level explosives."

"Oh."

"Zeus's master bolt," Chiron said, getting worked up now. "The symbol of his power, from which all other lightning bolts are patterned. The first weapon made by the cyclopes for the war against the Titans, the bolt sheered the top off Mount Etna and hurled Kronos from his throne; the master bolt, which packs enough power to make mortal hydrogen bombs look like firecrackers."

Click to expand...

http://www.si.edu/Content/consortia/Zimbelman_presentation.pdf

Apparently, Chinese firecrackers yield 30J.

The Tsar Bomba hydrogen bomb is, according to Wikipedia, 210PJ in yield.

Well damn

So 30 joules is to 210 quadrillion joules as 210 quadrillion joules is to the Master Bolt.

Thus, the proportion would be...

(210e15/30)210e15=1.47e33J

or about 351 zettatons.

d