Why don't ki blasts destroy the planet when they hit the ground?

[TheUltimateNinja]

There's several instances in the show where the characters say stuff like, "Don't fire it from up there!", "Don't aim at the planet," etc. like it's a big deal, yet when the blasts actually hit the ground nothing happens?

[Tectorman]

I treat instances where a stray ki blast does hit a planet as more thorough destruction of a small area amped up from less thorough destruction of a small area, as opposed to less thorough destruction of a large area amped up from less thorough destruction of a small area.

When, for example, Nappa hits the ground with a stray blast, it pulverizes that area into, let's say, fine sand. Going up from that is either a larger explosion or more pulverized remains. So, say, Frieza could do the same thing, and if his stray blast reduces the same area of ground to its component atoms, then it's a more powerful stray blast, even if the area being destroyed didn't get bigger. And of course, a stray blast from Kid Buu that would only leave quarks would be more powerful still, even with the blast radius staying the same.

After all, what's more difficult? Splitting an apple or splitting an atom?

[Perfectionist-Cell]

I'm going to have to agree. Buutenks was going to destroy earth Goku kiezans him his blast falls to the side in the background and destroys a mountain. There is no denying what happened in this scene it just completely makes no sense.

[nickzambuto]

Did the Daizenshuu make mention of characters condensing their ki into small areas of effect?

[precita]

It never made sense in DBZ, it certainly doesn't make sense in Super.

Zamasu fired several huge blasts to the ground, so did Goku and Vegeta.

[buutenks]

I'm going to have to agree. Buutenks was going to destroy earth Goku kiezans him his blast falls to the side in the background and destroys a mountain. There is no denying what happened in this scene it just completely makes no sense.

As defense to that, in the manga, it flew up in the sky, it never hit the ground.

Either way, kid buu easily blew up earth, so obviously Buutenks wasnt bluffing.

As for why not, obviously, there would be no show if that happened.

Dont think on it to much, it is fiction. Its a action heavy anime, where the characters can also blow up planets to show how strong they are.

Tho if u want to think of it using logic(lol), the ki blasts dont destroy simply because they dont become so big that they engulf the entire planet. But their potency remains the same. In latest episode of super(ep 65), after Zamasu attacks with his pink lightning, Vegeta says: What energy. That attack had more energy behind it than the strongest attack in DBZ, yet it barely affected the ground.

The attacks have potency to them, they are concentrated in a small area.

[apex_pretador]

Zamasu and Black are weaker than Namek freeza

In the Manga, I do not remember any high powered stray ki blast (post semi-cell level) to directly hit the ground. This makes sense, as even in cell vs goku battle, earth eas threatened by every ki blast which was seriously charged or at full power.

[Angelus]

Well Mecha Frieza's full power Ki ball could have destroyed the Earth too but when Future Trunks lifted it up, Frieza shot a smaller ki ball at it to blow it up. The explosion of the full power Ki ball didn't blow up the Earth though. Although all that is needed to blow up the Earth is someone as powerful as Saiyan Saga Vegeta

[dragonballer]

Zamasu and Black are weaker than Namek freeza

In the Manga, I do not remember any high powered stray ki blast (post semi-cell level) to directly hit the ground. This makes sense, as even in cell vs goku battle, earth eas threatened by every ki blast which was seriously charged or at full power.

ssj3 gotenks did it...with lot of blasts...

[Neo-Makaiōshin]

Plot reasons.

[Lord Beerus]

Because if the Earth were to actually blow up, the plot would end. At this stage characters could easly destroy the planet by just powering up.

[Bullza]

Yeah it's for the convenience of the plot. That's where the series and it's characters reside, do you have any idea how immensely repetitive it would be if Earth got destroyed every time they fought and a blast hit the planet?

I suppose they just control it somehow. A weakened Frieza, not even in Golden form, destroyed Earth just by using a Kiai.

It might also be something to do with intent, Cell never wanted to destroy the planet until the end when he was stopped. Buu initially didn't want to destroy the planet until he became Kid Buu at which point he did destroy Earth. Beerus could have destroyed it if he really wanted but he was both overpowered and just chose to spare it. Frieza didn't want to destroy the planet until the end when he did. Black and Zamasu seemingly don't want to destroy Earth because they keep mentioning about rebuilding it.

[Perfectionist-Cell]

Because if the Earth were to actually blow up, the plot would end. At this stage characters could easly destroy the planet by just powering up.

Learn to survive in space. If they learned this they wouldn't have to fight on earth.

[Perfectionist-Cell]

I'm going to have to agree. Buutenks was going to destroy earth Goku kiezans him his blast falls to the side in the background and destroys a mountain. There is no denying what happened in this scene it just completely makes no sense.

As defense to that, in the manga, it flew up in the sky, it never hit the ground.

Either way, kid buu easily blew up earth, so obviously Buutenks wasnt bluffing.

As for why not, obviously, there would be no show if that happened.

Dont think on it to much, it is fiction. Its a action heavy anime, where the characters can also blow up planets to show how strong they are.

Tho if u want to think of it using logic(lol), the ki blasts dont destroy simply because they dont become so big that they engulf the entire planet. But their potency remains the same. In latest episode of super(ep 65), after Zamasu attacks with his pink lightning, Vegeta says: What energy. That attack had more energy behind it than the strongest attack in DBZ, yet it barely affected the ground.

The attacks have potency to them, they are concentrated in a small area.

The anime added that part to it because it makes sense, where else would Buutenks blast go? He wasn't even that high from the ground so it is obvious his blast hit somewhere on the earth.

[RandomGuy96]

There's several instances in the show where the characters say stuff like, "Don't fire it from up there!", "Don't aim at the planet," etc. like it's a big deal, yet when the blasts actually hit the ground nothing happens?

It's explained in the Daizenshuu guidebooks that they can condense their energy to only affect a specific area.

Big Bang Attack: A ki wave which Vegeta fired at Artificial Human No. 19. This technique, which easily destroyed Artificial Human No. 19, could be called Super Saiyan Vegeta's version of the Gyarik-ho. However, the differences between it and the Gyarik-ho are the ki's shape and firing method. First, he sticks one hand out in front, then emits a ki blast from the palm of that hand. This ki is condensed down into one big lump and can deal heavy damage inside a specific range. This is in contrast with the Gyarik-ho, which attacks a wide range. After the Big Bang Attack was fired, the ground around where Artificial Human No. 19 stood was completely wiped out, as if it had been dug away. Such effectiveness made it Vegeta's strongest attack at the time.

Additionally, it is explicitly stated in Daizenshuu 2 that an attack that barely cratered the ground had more than enough energy to destroy the Moon:

Super Kamehameha: An extra-strength version of the Kamehameha, which shatters even the moon.

See also how a Europe-sized explosion of several hundred teratons does literally nothing to Nappa's spaceship, yet someone weaker than Raditz could make that same ship explode with one physical blow:

[TheUltimateNinja]

There's several instances in the show where the characters say stuff like, "Don't fire it from up there!", "Don't aim at the planet," etc. like it's a big deal, yet when the blasts actually hit the ground nothing happens?

It's explained in the Daizenshuu guidebooks that they can condense their energy to only affect a specific area.

Big Bang Attack: A ki wave which Vegeta fired at Artificial Human No. 19. This technique, which easily destroyed Artificial Human No. 19, could be called Super Saiyan Vegeta's version of the Gyarik-ho. However, the differences between it and the Gyarik-ho are the ki's shape and firing method. First, he sticks one hand out in front, then emits a ki blast from the palm of that hand. This ki is condensed down into one big lump and can deal heavy damage inside a specific range. This is in contrast with the Gyarik-ho, which attacks a wide range. After the Big Bang Attack was fired, the ground around where Artificial Human No. 19 stood was completely wiped out, as if it had been dug away. Such effectiveness made it Vegeta's strongest attack at the time.

Additionally, it is explicitly stated in Daizenshuu 2 that an attack that barely cratered the ground had more than enough energy to destroy the Moon:

Super Kamehameha: An extra-strength version of the Kamehameha, which shatters even the moon.

See also how a Europe-sized explosion of several hundred teratons does literally nothing to Nappa's spaceship, yet someone weaker than Raditz could make that same ship explode with one physical blow:
http://i.imgur.com/4frgL49.png

If this is the case, then why are they concerned about blasts hitting the ground? Surely there's nothing to worry about if the damage is minimal.

[Awesome_Gotenks]

The reason is very simple, my dear friend. The planet only explodes when the plot wants them to. It's why Fat Boo could destroy only 1/10 of the planet when he was toying around with SSjin3 Goku.

[Tsufuru]

actualy they were worried only when some1 intended to destroy earth.

[Speedster]

Some ki attacks are of explosive nature. In such attacks the user can choose the area of effect, although how much you can control the area of effect depends on the energy of the attack in comparison to your power level. In any case the energy will be consumed only in that particular area and incinerate everything within it but nothing more. The smaller area of effect (AoE) the higher the energy density so the higher the durability of your opponent should be. It is a way of not wasting energy in destructing anything else but your opponent.

Other ki attacks are ki waves. Ki waves don't have the issue of explosive ki blasts as they are directly targeted towards the opponent. Ki waves like the Kamehameha can be visualised as “moving ki mass” with great kinetic energy possessing momentum, the change of which over time upon impact is translated into striking force. Essentially a ki wave behaves like a controllable moving object - a weak Kamehameha would be equivalent to a moving car, a stronger one to a moving comet, a stronger to a moving moon, a moving planet and so on. To keep the volume the same but still increase the “ki mass” and hence momentum, you need to increase the “ki density”. Now the more powerful you are the bigger the control you have in stopping this “moving object” from damaging whatever it hits accidentally. It is like a car with better brakes. In the Cell arc they were charging up ki waves that they could hardly control and therefore couldn’t stop when gone wrong. By the Buu arc they could fire the same attacks but they could stop them.

[Polyphase Avatron]

The reason is very simple, my dear friend. The planet only explodes when the plot wants them to. It's why Fat Boo could destroy only 1/10 of the planet when he was toying around with SSjin3 Goku.

This, pretty much.

Sometimes they fire off attacks that everyone is worried are going to destroy the planet, but they end up going into space and everyone breathes a sigh of relief. Sometimes they fire off attacks that are supposedly more powerful than that and no one is worried, and they hit the planet with no real damage.

Probably the worst example was Vegeta's suicide - if he was releasing all of his ki at once, that would be more than enough to destroy the Earth, and you can't make up any excuses about 'controlling' it or whatever, since you can't exactly do that when you're dead. Yet it didn't do anything other than create a crater.

Basically it's one of the things you have to apply Bellisario's Maxim to.