Science
Related: About this forumRussia Just Declassified Footage of The Most Powerful Nuclear Bomb Blast in History
BRANDON SPECKTOR, LIVE SCIENCE
1 SEPTEMBER 2020
In October 1961, the Soviet Union dropped the most powerful nuclear bomb in history over a remote island north of the Arctic Circle.
Though the bomb detonated nearly 2.5 miles (4 kilometers) above ground, the resulting shockwave stripped the island as bare and flat as a skating rink.
Onlookers saw the flash more than 600 miles (965 km) away, and felt its incredible heat within 160 miles (250 km) of Ground Zero. The bomb's gargantuan mushroom cloud climbed to just below the edge of space.
This was RDS-220 also known as the Tsar Bomba. Nearly 60 years after the bomb's record-shattering detonation, no single explosive device has come close to matching its destructive power.
More:
https://www.sciencealert.com/russia-declassifies-footage-of-the-most-powerful-nuclear-bomb-in-history
Pachamama
(16,884 posts)Their releasing this is also a message to say Look at our might...
abqtommy
(14,118 posts)Not all technical advances are for the better good!
gladium et scutum
(806 posts)They were told that their Bear bomber may not be fast enough to get them out of the blast when the bomb detonated,
Javaman
(62,497 posts)the soviets actually had a plan to detonate a 100 megaton bomb but scrapped it after seeing the effects of this one.
hunter
(38,301 posts)97% of the total yield of this bomb resulted from thermonuclear fusion. It might have used a uranium tamper rather than lead, which would have increased its yield very considerably but also the radioactive fallout.
This is the bomb's 8 kilometer (5 mile) fireball just before it touched the ground:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tsar_Bomba
Javaman
(62,497 posts)They are "The Making of the Atomic Bomb" and "Dark Sun: the making of the hydrogen bomb"
Both by Richard Rhodes.
I highly recommend them. The are down right brilliant.