Can someone explain how these "bombs" are supposed to work.

[Miku Fan]

Well, let us also not forget that in the Sharknado universe that things that need to manipulate the air in order to fly (that is, everything that flies) can do so perfectly fine in a tornado.

Also that sharks are apparently able to "steer" in the air.

And they are more accurate than the smartest smart weapon!

Maybe Tornado Kid was like McGyver..He made a terribly complex weapon from common household items.  He WAS smart enough to hit on hot chick. 

[John Bradley]

Getting back to the original question... some types of smoke detectors go off when there's sufficient water vapor in the air, like whenever my wife takes one of her needlessly-long showers. Ask me how I know. I'd imagine that throwing such a detector in a tornado/hurricane/waterspout/spinny-wind-and-rain-thingy would trigger the alarm, which could be wired to ignite the flare and in turn blow up the propane tank.

Though as anyone who's ever tried to blow up Glasgow International Airport with a fuel-air bomb will tell you, it's tricky. Even without a tornado. Or the sharks.

That such an explosion, if correctly pulled off, would have approximately no effect whatsoever on the local weather, well, that's just nitpicking.

[Miku Fan]

There is one flaw to your master theory:  They light the flares by hand, in the helicopter, then count to three, then toss the bombs out the helicopter.

[CJones]

Getting back to the original question... some types of smoke detectors go off when there's sufficient water vapor in the air, like whenever my wife takes one of her needlessly-long showers. Ask me how I know. I'd imagine that throwing such a detector in a tornado/hurricane/waterspout/spinny-wind-and-rain-thingy would trigger the alarm, which could be wired to ignite the flare and in turn blow up the propane tank.

Though as anyone who's ever tried to blow up Glasgow International Airport with a fuel-air bomb will tell you, it's tricky. Even without a tornado. Or the sharks.

That such an explosion, if correctly pulled off, would have approximately no effect whatsoever on the local weather, well, that's just nitpicking.

I guarantee, you put more thought into that than the people who made this movie. That almost sounds like it could work. But like Miku Fan said, they lit the flare by hand before throwing it.

Which brings up another question: How do you fly a helicopter to within throwing distance of a tornado (sharks or no sharks) and not die a horrible death?

[Miku Fan]

Getting back to the original question... some types of smoke detectors go off when there's sufficient water vapor in the air, like whenever my wife takes one of her needlessly-long showers. Ask me how I know. I'd imagine that throwing such a detector in a tornado/hurricane/waterspout/spinny-wind-and-rain-thingy would trigger the alarm, which could be wired to ignite the flare and in turn blow up the propane tank.

Though as anyone who's ever tried to blow up Glasgow International Airport with a fuel-air bomb will tell you, it's tricky. Even without a tornado. Or the sharks.

That such an explosion, if correctly pulled off, would have approximately no effect whatsoever on the local weather, well, that's just nitpicking.

I guarantee, you put more thought into that than the people who made this movie. That almost sounds like it could work. But like Miku Fan said, they lit the flare by hand before throwing it.

Which brings up another question: How do you fly a helicopter to within throwing distance of a tornado (sharks or no sharks) and not die a horrible death?

You don't!  I am absolutely sure about that.  You can't get within a couple of miles of a tornado, without risking your life (particularly in a helicopter).  It takes a competent, experienced pilot to safely be within a few miles of a tornado.  The  winds that form the tornado constantly push the helicopter towards the tornado. Get too close, and you are finished.

But, sharknadoes are apparently a little different. 

[Trekker4747]

Yeah, I also was thinking along the lines that the flare and smoke-detector somehow worked together in order to ignite the explosive.  But nothing I come up with makes too much sense.  On the one hand, the plasma from the flare should be able to ignite the fuel, so nothing is needed from the smoke detector.  But then I'm not entirely sure the flare would be able to ignite the fuel, but then why is it there?

So.... Maybe they timed how long the flare burns before creating enough heat/smoke to activate the smoke-detector and they wired the smoke-detector to a fuse that sets-off the propane tank?  Like the flare is almost like the timer and the smoke-detector is the detonator. But this creates a *lot* of variables to how the bomb would work and would be nearly impossible to accurately time because wind, placement of the fuse and the smoke-detector and any number of things would radically change the length of time it takes for the flare to set-off the smoke detector.

Hmmmm..... Maybe the bombs didn't stop the tornadoes through the explosive but through the small amount of radioactive material inside the smoke-detector?  The bomb blows up the smoke detector, releasing the radioactive material, thus destroying the tornado.  Yes, we can destroy tornadoes with minor nuclear weapons!  Just ignore the fairly minor radioactive clean up that'd be necessary after the sharknado was over.

[abosch]

That's quite a minor nuclear device, then. Smoke detectors have a tiny amount of Americium-241. So tiny that really a nearby blast would just make tiny shreds of the foil that holds it and not cause any sort of fission reaction.

[RoninFox]

But as comic books have taught us, radioactivity is basically magic.  Really the worst that could happen is that the radiation actually brings the tornadoes themselves to life.

Wait a minute.  They do keep coming back and seemingly are targeting the same people.  That's exactly what happened, isn't it?

[Darth Geek]

But as comic books have taught us, radioactivity is basically magic.  Really the worst that could happen is that the radiation actually brings the tornadoes themselves to life.

Wait a minute.  They do keep coming back and seemingly are targeting the same people.  That's exactly what happened, isn't it?

The radioactivity gave the sharks superpowers?

[RoninFox]

But as comic books have taught us, radioactivity is basically magic.  Really the worst that could happen is that the radiation actually brings the tornadoes themselves to life.

Wait a minute.  They do keep coming back and seemingly are targeting the same people.  That's exactly what happened, isn't it?

The radioactivity gave the sharks superpowers?

Perhaps, but I'm thinking now that the tornadoes themselves have become self-aware, and they are pissed.