Japanese artist Isao Hashimoto has created a beautiful, undeniably scary time-lapse map of the 2053 nuclear explosions which have taken place between 1945 and 1998, beginning with the Manhattan Project’s “Trinity” test near Los Alamos and concluding with Pakistan’s nuclear tests in May of 1998. This leaves out North Korea’s two alleged nuclear tests in this past decade (the legitimacy of both of which is not 100% clear).
Each nation gets a blip and a flashing dot on the map whenever they detonate a nuclear weapon, with a running tally kept on the top and bottom bars of the screen. Hashimoto, who began the project in 2003, says that he created it with the goal of showing”the fear and folly of nuclear weapons.” It starts really slow — if you want to see real action, skip ahead to 1962 or so — but the buildup becomes overwhelming.
What is the largest nuclear weapons ever tested?
Tsar Bomba , or “Tsar-bomb,” is the nickname for the RDS-202 hydrogen bomb (code named “Ivan” by its developers) the largest and most powerful nuclear weapon ever detonated.
Developed by the Soviet Union, the bomb was originally designed to have a yield of about 100 megatons of TNT; however, the bomb yield was reduced by half in order to limit the amount of nuclear fallout that would result. One bomb was built and tested on October 30, 1961, in the Novaya Zemlya archipelago. The weapon never entered service.
A mock bomb was stored in the Russian Nuclear Weapons Museum in Sarov.
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How was the largest nuclear bomb ever created?
Soviet General Secretary Nikita Khrushchev initiated the project on July 10, 1961, requesting that the test take place in late October, while the 22nd Congress of the CPSU was in session. Khrushchev approved of the bomb’s development during a very tense time; during construction of the first Berlin wall which began on August 13, 1961. Moreover, France had just emerged as the second Western European nuclear force on February 13, 1960 when Gerboise Bleue, the first French nuclear test, was successfully completed.
The Soviets had restarted their tests two months before Tsar Bomba, and there was no de-jure moratorium in place at the time (the U.S. had already announced that it considered itself free to resume testing without further notice).
The term “Tsar Bomba” was coined in an analogy with two other massive Russian objects, the Tsar Kolokol, the world’s largest bell, and the Tsar Pushka, the world’s largest howitzer. Although the bomb was so named by Western sources, the name is now widely used in Russia.
How big was the Tsar Bomba?
The Tsar Bomba was a three-stage hydrogen bomb with a yield of about 50 megatons (Mt). This is equivalent to ten times the amount of all the explosives used in World War II combined, including Little Boy and Fat Man, the bombs that destroyed Hiroshima and Nagasaki. A three-stage H-bomb uses a fission bomb primary to compress a thermonuclear secondary, as in most H-bombs, and then uses energy from the resulting explosion to compress a much larger additional thermonuclear stage. However, there is evidence that the Tsar Bomba had a number of third stages rather than a single very large one.
The initial three-stage design was capable of approximately 100 Mt, but at a cost of too much radioactive fallout. To limit fallout, the third stage, and possibly the second stage, had a lead tamper instead of a uranium-238 fusion tamper (which greatly amplifies the reaction by fissioning uranium atoms with fast neutrons from the fusion reaction). This eliminated fast fission by the fusion-stage neutrons, so that approximately 97% of the total energy resulted from fusion alone (as such, it was one of the “cleanest” nuclear bombs ever created, generating a very low amount of fallout relative to its yield). There was a strong incentive for this modification since most of the fallout from a test of the bomb would fall on populated Soviet territory.
The components were designed by a team of physicists headed by Academician Julii Borisovich Khariton and including Andrei Sakharov, Victor Adamsky, Yuri Babayev, Yuri Smirnov, and Yuri Trutnev. Shortly after the Tsar Bomba was detonated, Sakharov began speaking out against nuclear weapons, which culminated in him becoming a dissident.
The Test
The Tsar Bomba was flown to its test site by a specially modified Tu-95V release plane, flown by Major Andrei Durnovtsev, which took off from an airfield in the Kola peninsula. The release plane was accompanied by a Tu-16 observer plane that took air samples and filmed the test. Both aircraft were painted with a special reflective white paint to limit heat damage.
The bomb, weighing 27 tons, was so large (8 metres (26 ft) long by 2 metres (6.6 ft) in diameter) that the Tu-95V had to have its bomb bay doors and fuselage fuel tanks removed. The bomb was attached to an 800 kilogram fall-retardation parachute, which gave the release and observer planes time to fly about 45 kilometres (28 mi) from ground zero.
The Tsar Bomba detonated at 11:32 on October 30, 1961 over the Mityushikha Bay nuclear testing range (Sukhoy Nos Zone C), north of the Arctic Circle on Novaya Zemlya Island in the Arctic Sea. The bomb was dropped from an altitude of 10.5 kilometres (6.5 mi); it was designed to detonate at a height of 4 kilometres (2.5 mi) over the land surface (4.2 kilometres (2.6 mi) over sea level) by barometric sensors.
The original U.S. estimate of the yield was 57 Mt, but since 1991 all Russian sources have stated its yield as 50 Mt. Khrushchev warned in a filmed speech to the Communist parliament of the existence of a 100 Mt bomb (technically the design was capable of this yield). The fireball touched the ground, reached nearly as high as the altitude of the release plane, and was seen and felt almost 1,000 kilometres (620 mi) from ground zero. The heat from the explosion could have caused third degree burns 100 km (62 miles) away from ground zero. The subsequent mushroom cloud was about 64 kilometres (40 mi) high (nearly seven times higher than Mount Everest) and 40 kilometres (25 mi) wide. The explosion could be seen and felt in Finland, breaking windows there and in Sweden. Atmospheric focusing caused blast damage up to 1,000 kilometres (620 mi) away. The seismic shock created by the detonation was measurable even on its third passage around the Earth. Its Richter magnitude was about 5 to 5.25. The energy yield was around 7.1 on the Richter scale, but since the bomb was detonated in air rather than underground, most of the energy was not converted to seismic waves.
Since 50 Mt is 2.1×1017 joules, the average power produced during the entire fission-fusion process, lasting around 39 nanoseconds, was about 5.4×1024 watts or 5.4 yottawatts. This is equivalent to approximately 1.4% of the power output of the Sun.
The Tsar Bomba is the single most physically powerful device ever utilized throughout the history of humanity. By contrast, the largest weapon ever produced by the United States, the now-decommissioned B41, had a predicted maximum yield of 25 Mt, and the largest nuclear device ever tested by the US (Castle Bravo) yielded 15 Mt (due to a runaway reaction; the design yield was approximately 5 Mt).
Analysis
The weight and size of the Tsar Bomba limited the range and speed of the specially modified bomber carrying it and ruled out its delivery by an ICBM (although on December 24, 1962, a 50 Mt ICBM warhead developed by Chelyabinsk-70 was detonated at 24.2 Mt to reduce fallout). In terms of physical destructiveness, much of its high yield was inefficiently radiated upwards into space. It has been estimated that detonating the original 100 Mt design would have released fallout amounting to about 25 percent of all fallout emitted since the invention of nuclear weapons. Hence, the Tsar Bomba was an impractically powerful weapon. The Soviets decided that such a test blast would create too great a risk of nuclear fallout and a near certainty that the release plane would be unable to reach safety before detonation.
The Tsar Bomba was the culmination of a series of high-yield thermonuclear weapons designed by the USSR and USA during the 1950s (examples include the Mark-17 and B41). Such bombs were designed because:
- The nuclear bombs of the day were large and heavy, regardless of yield, and could only be delivered by strategic bombers. Hence yield was subject to dramatic economies of scale;
- It was feared that many bombers would fail to reach their targets because their size and low speed made detection and interception easy. Hence maximizing the firepower carried by any single bomber was considered vital;
- Prior to satellite intelligence, each side lacked precise knowledge of the location of the other’s military and industrial facilities;
- A bomb dropped without benefit of advanced inertial navigation systems could easily miss its intended target by six kilometers or more. Parachute retardation would only worsen the bomb’s accuracy.
Thus certain bombs were designed to destroy an entire large city even if dropped five to ten kilometers from its centre. This objective meant that yield and effectiveness were positively correlated, at least up to a point. However, the advent of ICBMs accurate to 500 meters or better made such a design philosophy obsolete. Subsequent nuclear weapon design in the 1960s and 1970s focused primarily on increased accuracy, miniaturization, and safety. The standard practice for many years has been to employ multiple smaller warheads (MIRVs) to “carpet” an area. This is believed to result in greater ground damage.
SOURCE : WIKIPEDIA
Want to know the effect of a nuclear bomb on your home town? There’s an app for that
Since the end of the Cold War more than 20 years ago, the prospect of nuclear Armageddon has gradually faded from the popular consciousness.
But with approximately 23,000 nuclear warheads still thought to be in existence, there is still more than enough nuclear firepower available to basically end life on Earth.
Now those interested in finding out how much damage a nuclear strike would cause in their home town can find out, thanks to a new online app.
This picture, taken from the Nukemap, shows the level of destruction that would be caused if the Tsar Bomba – the largest USSR bomb designed – was dropped on London
A wider view shows just how apocalyptic the circle of destruction would be
CIRCLES OF DEVASTATION: A KEY TO THE NUKEMAP DATA
These figures are for the proposed 100megaton Tsar Bomba, the biggest bomb ever designed.
Fireball radius: 3.03 km / 1.88 mi
Maximum size of the nuclear fireball; relevance to lived effects depends on height of detonation.
Radiation radius: 7.49 km / 4.65 mi
500 rem radiation dose; between 50% and 90% mortality from acute effects alone; dying takes between several hours and several weeks.
Air blast radius: 12.51 km / 7.77 mi
20 psi overpressure; heavily built concrete buildings are severely damaged or demolished; fatalities approach 100%.
Air blast radius: 33.01 km / 20.51 mi
4.6 psi overpressure; most buildings collapse; injuries universal, fatalities widespread.
Thermal radiation radius: 77.06 km / 47.88 mi
Third-degree burns to all exposed skin; starts fires in flammable materials, contributes to firestorm if large enough.
Source: nuclearsecrecy.com/nukemap
Alex Wellerstein, historian of science at the American Institute of Physics, has designed the Nukemap to show the scale of destruction nuclear weapons can cause.
The app, which uses Google Maps, allows users to choose any destination in the world and then drop a nuclear bomb of their choice on it.
Dragging the marker to London and detonating the Russian Tsar Bomba – at 100 megatons, the biggest bomb ever designed – shows just how terrifying the prospect of nuclear war would be.
A 100 megaton nuclear bomb would be equal to the effect of exploding 100milllion tons of trinitrotoluene (TNT).
According to Dr Wellerstein’s calculations, the radius of the fireball would be 1.88 miles, obliterating everything from St Pancras in the north to Kennington in the south.
The radiation radius would stretch to 4.65 miles, coating the whole of London transport zones one and two with a 500 rem radiation dose, which would kill up to 90 per cent of people within weeks.
But most of them would already be dead thanks to the air blast radius of 20.51 miles, which would demolish even most heavily built concrete buildings as far afield as Enfield, Woking and Slough.
And even though the bomb was dropped in central London, the thermal radiation radius stretches to 47.88 miles – meaning people as far south as Eastbourne and as north as Cambridge would suffer third-degree burns and be trapped by firestorms.
This Nukemap image shows how a Tsar Bomba H-bomb would pretty much wipe the entire North West region off the face of the planet
Other shocking results in other parts of the country show how even the Yorkshire Dales and Sheffield could be wiped out with a blast in Manchester and Nottingham and Northampton affected by one in Birmingham.
Thankfully, Russian engineers lost their nerve before building the Tsar Bomba. Afraid of the global effects of such a massive explosion, they only ever tested a version of half the strength.
Nevertheless, that still caused an explosion bigger than would have been caused by a conventional bomb packed with all the explosives used in the Second World War.
Dr Wellerstein, who is a Ph.D graduate from Harvard University, says he uses the ‘Nukemap’ to bring help his students understand the implications of nuclear warfare.
‘I’ve done different types of map based teaching for the students because I’ve found that students don’t really have a sense of how big a nuclear explosion is,’ said the 30-year-old, who lives with his wife in Washington, DC.
‘What I like about the map is it makes the explosions look large and impressive but it shows it isn’t the end of the world.
‘I think a lot of people think a nuclear weapon goes off and everybody gets blown up or disappears.
‘The reality is the buildings would collapse and you would be set on fire, which makes it real and scarier.’
If a Tsar Bomba were exploded over the centre of Birmingham, almost the entire Midlands would suffer
Dr Wellerstein, who specialises in the history of nuclear weapons, says because of Google Maps’ limitations it isn’t possible to calculate the scale of the death toll.
But he thinks it wouldn’t be that hard to work out by taking into account the population sizes of the area you destroy.
‘The calculations match historic events well. It matches Hiroshima almost exactly but they are approximations,’ added Dr Wellerstein.
‘You’re talking about the effects it could have on different landscapes and whether the buildings are built from wood or concrete, but the map does give you a very good idea of what the major effects would be.’
A Tsar Bomba dropped in Glasgow would cause devastation from coast to coast in Scotland
Of course, jokers will choose their least favourite town and drop the bomb just to see the effects, and Dr Wellerstein says humour is a good defence given the dark subject matter.
He said: ‘It has a response from people who say, “Haha I’ve just nuked my home town”. But on the other hand you have the dread and that’s very potent.
‘It’s a dark realisation, I’ve plotted a terrorist bomb at the capital where I live and thought “that’s not very good for me” quite a few times.’
If Cardiff were to be targeted with a mammoth bomb, the effects would be felt across Devon and Cornwall
The Nukemap’s reception has taken the historian by surprise – with a staggering 700 people using the app and 1,500 individual detonations within its first three days online.
And while people could accuse the ‘Nukemap’ of promoting violence, Dr Wellerstein says he only created the app to display facts and insists there is no political motive involved.
‘Most of the people who talk about it are anti-nuclear protesters,’ he said.
‘They like it because it highlights the danger they create. I’m sort of in the middle on all this so I don’t see it as having a particular message.
‘I don’t think nuclear weapons will be go any time soon but I hope we don’t use them. The map is just laying out the facts of it, there is no political message from me.’
Test a bomb on your home town.. click here http://nuclearsecrecy.com/nukemap/
Time lapse map of every nuclear explosion ever on Earth.. plus more explosive info
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