Is an explosion in space less powerful than the same explosion in the atmosphere?
It depends on the type of bomb! If the bomb works via lots of shrapnels etc then it will do significantly more damage in space because the shrapnels will keep going at their original speed without slowing down till they hit something. A well aimed blast might be able to hit a stationary ship thousands of miles away or if it’s inside a ship the shrapnels will go really long distances inside the hull. If the bomb depends on pressure wave, heat etc though, then it’ll obviously need some atmospher to work well so can work only inside some ship etc but then again the blast radius won’t be adversely affected by lack of gravity. So unless the bomb requires air to work, it’ll be atleast as, if not more, effective in space!
