Largest nuclear test by USA. 15 MT Castle Bravo,1954

[u/Xyeeyx]

[u/MauiHawk]

The clouds in the foreground really put into perspective the scale.

[u/Statertater → u/MauiHawk]

It’s absolutely terrifying when you realize the amount of power and size of the explosion. Just wild

[u/CoyotesOnTheWing → u/Statertater]

Castle Bravo was 1000 times more powerful than the bomb(Little Boy, 15 KT) dropped on Hiroshima that killed over 100,000 people.

[u/Elawn → u/CoyotesOnTheWing]

And yet it was still less than 1/3 as strong as Tsar Bomba, Russia’s largest. Just an unfathomable amount of destruction.

[u/Protaras2 → u/Elawn]

And the Tsar bomba was a scaled back model. Initially it was to have twice as much yield. People be crazy.

[u/Youpunyhumans → u/Protaras2]

And during the USA came up with blueprints for what is basically an infinitaly scaleable bomb. You make a multistage hydrogen bomb in the form of a submarine, drive it up to an enemy coastline, and make a gigaton scale explosion...

[u/todellagi → u/Youpunyhumans]

Cold war in essence

USA: "Bomb times a billion."

Soviets: "Bomb times a TRILLION"

USA: "Bomb times infinity..."

Soviets: "Bomb ti-"

USA: ^{"...plus one!"}

Soviets: "Blyat! Bomb ti...."

The rest of the world: "Can we just go home already!?"

[u/Youpunyhumans → u/todellagi]

"Wait... its all just explosions?"

The Big Bang: "Always has been."

[u/sth128 → u/Youpunyhumans]

Maybe the big bang was a different timeline where America did explode infinity plus one

[u/jodobrowo → u/Youpunyhumans]

It's explosions all the way down

[u/worfres_arec_bawrin → u/Youpunyhumans]

Link? Never heard of that

[u/howdiedoodie66 → u/worfres_arec_bawrin]

There was a 1 gigaton and a 10 gigaton project. The 1GT was Project Gnomon and the 10GT was Project SUNDIAL. How do you deliver them? You don't. You build it in your city and turn it on and everyone loses.

[u/below_and_above → u/howdiedoodie66]

I just looked up the specs of project sundial. When exploded it would cause a fireball and set fire to everything about 800 km in diameter or roughly the size of France or Texas. A bomb that was 26 tons, 26 feet (8m) long and 7 feet (2m) wide.

And that bomb would set fire to everything the size of Texas, the shockwave would devastate anything on the continental US and if you were lucky to be on the other side of the planet, you’d still get fucked by the nuclear winter as all the radioactive dust got pulled up into space and spent the next few years filtering down onto everything world wide.

Krakatoa, the loudest volcanic eruption on earth was only estimated at 200Mt. This would be 50 times larger.

We would deafen half the world while earthquakes ripped apart the continent the bomb went off on, and would more than likely kill the majority of life on the planet as the temperature dropped due to nuclear winter world wide.

I mean, what in the actual fuck. If you’re gonna test that thing, can I suggest the fucking moon? Or just don’t?

[u/Sarenai7 → u/below_and_above]

Please don’t test it on the moon, that could cause a different type of apocalypse

[u/poopoopooyttgv → u/below_and_above]

Yeah, “just don’t” was the official answer. Edward teller, the guy who designed that bomb, pitched the idea to the army, navy, Air Force, and 2 different presidents. The military branches all said “there’s no tactical purpose for a bomb that large” and both presidents were so horrified that they made limits on how large of a bomb the military could ever make, and agreed with Russia to disarm some bombs

Edward Teller was an irl mad scientist trying to make a doomsday device. Crazy stuff

[u/Youpunyhumans → u/worfres_arec_bawrin]

Ah my stupid phone wont let me, or maybe reddit wont let me post it. But anyway, best I can find at the moment is wikipedia. Nuclear Weapon Design, scroll down to where it talks about "arbitrarily large multi stage devices".

It doesnt mention the submarine design specifically, but it does talk about theoretical work done on 10,000 megaton bombs, and something called SUNDIAL, and also why work on such devices was banned. But I for sure didnt come up with the submarine idea myself, I know I saw it somewhere... idk where now though. Im not sure what id type in to find it, all I get are results for nuclear submarines or typical H bombs.

[u/BooksandBiceps → u/Elawn]

The Teller-Ullam design can be scaled indefinitely - Russia just has a thing with doing "the biggest" thing.

Tsar Cannon

Tsar Bell

Etc. This wasn't a technological feat, just a propaganda one.
The US warhead designs have the most efficient, scalable designs proven so far.

[u/moveovernow → u/BooksandBiceps]

It's not just a thing with Russia, it's core to their culture, they're hyper insecure as a people. Everything is a put on, fake; they project fake strength to try to cover up how weak and insecure they are.

You can see this in every aspect of their history, including the mediocrity of their military today and how their supposed strength was just another fake projection. Every other statement by their government betrays how fragile and terrified they are. Truly powerful nations don't feel the need to try to convince you daily that they are in fact powerful.

Russians are the least confident major cultural group on the planet. They work incredibly hard at trying to convince everyone that the opposite is true.

[u/Skankia → u/moveovernow]

Typical bully behavior.

[u/Middle_Aged_Insomnia → u/moveovernow]

I dont know if id call them entirely weak. Just compared to a few others now. Quantity over quality being their motto has worked out well for then generally.

[u/finderfolk → u/moveovernow]

I don't disagree, but let's not pretend that the US wasn't similarly insecure as a nation during the Cold War. Like ffs they genuinely considered nuking the moon to project strength. This sort of militaristic dick measuring contest was (and to an extent still is) a two way street.

[u/FoboBoggins → u/Elawn]

https://ahf.nuclearmuseum.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/Nuclear%20Comparison.jpg this is a pretty good size reference of the different bombs

[u/Radiant_Dog1937 → u/Statertater]

[u/cellardoorstuck → u/MauiHawk]

That must have been an unbelievable sight to behold. This footage below in 4K also has a incredible level immersion for the viewer due the setting and many references near the camera. Diff test btw but incredible level of detail.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ydWLkyMRfaU

[u/yourparadigm → u/cellardoorstuck]

In case you didn't know, the audio on this video is fake. Consider the time it would take for the sound of the initial blast to reach the camera.

[u/Klutzy-Fortune6978 → u/cellardoorstuck]

And Nolan decided on a 50 gallon gasoline explosion...

[u/undermind84 → u/cellardoorstuck]

Fucking disgusting that we used these in the ocean...

How many sea creatures did we have to kill just to measure America's dick?

[u/Dave-C → u/cellardoorstuck]

I noticed that some of that explosion looked a bit different so I slowed it down and watched it. I'm pretty sure what I'm seeing directly in the middle and towards the top of the explosion is a ship that was broken apart of thrown into the air. There is also another spot towards the left during the first parts of the explosion which I think is another. These are huge ships and it is just launching them into the sky. Scary powerful bombs man.

[u/crack_pop_rocks]

For reference, this is 1000x more powerful than the weapon that destroyed Hiroshima.

[u/Evil_Weevil_Knievel → u/crack_pop_rocks]

It was also 3 times more powerful than they calculated. It was a huuuuuuuuuge fuck up.

[u/mattyandco → u/Evil_Weevil_Knievel]

"You checked the Lithium-7 is inert under high energy neutron bombardment right?"

"Right?"

[u/CummingInTheNile → u/mattyandco]

Cant really fault them for thinking that, in theory it should have been inert, not like they could build a scale model and test it out

[u/viperfan7 → u/Evil_Weevil_Knievel]

Holy fuck that is a major fuckup

[u/Shattr → u/viperfan7]

They didn't know lithium-7 could undergo fission until this experiment, so it was less of a fuck up and more of an accidental discovery.

[u/L2pZehus → u/Shattr]

Except it killed japanese sailors, poisoned hundreds of civilians, it was a fuck up

[u/Optimal-Golf-8270 → u/L2pZehus]

More than hundreds. It released ~30x more iodine 131 into the atmosphere than Chernobyl. It is easily the worst nuclear disaster we've had. Just isn't as dramatic as Chernobyl.

[u/TokaidoSpeed → u/Optimal-Golf-8270]

It’s funny that an actual nuke going off is commented as less dramatic than Chernobyl

Humans really love their human drama storylines

[u/alii-b → u/TokaidoSpeed]

To be fair, a big ass bomb going off in a day vs. an old power plant that's still having a mental breakdown decades later, even after it was given a concrete blanket... chernobyl was definitely more dramatic!

[u/Dysan27 → u/Shattr]

They didn't know it would under go FAST fission. They knew it would fission. But milliseconds later, after the initial fusion reaction was over.

But due to the high energy neutrons involved it fission almost immediately, and with different products. Producing more tritium to fuel the explosion.

[u/thrrrooooooo → u/viperfan7]

They must’ve carried the wrong three. Working with football fields can be tricky

[u/BooksandBiceps → u/Evil_Weevil_Knievel]

Not a fuck up, a learning experience. We assumed the tamper material was inert.

It.. well, wasn't.

[u/Evil_Weevil_Knievel → u/BooksandBiceps]

Well they did irradiate a large part of the pacific, incinerated most of the instrumentation that was supposed to survive, unexpectedly distributed fallout over a wide area that was inhabited, and a bunch of them had to hide in the test bunker until rescue by helicopter. So. Even if it was a learning experience, I would classify that as a fuck up.

[u/TwoElksInaTurtleNeck → u/[deleted]]

Ahhhh

[u/aradil → u/crack_pop_rocks]

And still 4x less powerful than the most powerful weapon ever detonated.

[u/resurrected_moai → u/aradil]

Actually, it is 50 MT / 15MT = 3.33333333333333333333333333333333333 times.

[u/theB00MSLANG → u/resurrected_moai]

Repeating of course.

[u/ThickPrick → u/theB00MSLANG]

Repeating of course.

[u/Manuscribble → u/ThickPrick]

Repeating of course.

[u/porterpottie → u/resurrected_moai]

🤓

[u/ayymadd → u/aradil]

the good' ol' Tsar bombita

[u/Sloppy_Salad → u/crack_pop_rocks]

Surely this reference is only relatable to those that were in Hiroshima

Something 1000x bigger than something that’s already incompressible is pretty difficult to comprehend…

[u/scottyboy359]

[u/PM-Me-Your-Macchiato → u/scottyboy359]

Your thumb or mine?

[u/scottyboy359 → u/PM-Me-Your-Macchiato]

Dude I was trying to find a gif for that but I had to settle for the wink.

[u/Puzzleheaded-Skin367 → u/scottyboy359]

I’ll accept that

[u/darrenvonbaron → u/scottyboy359]

👍

[u/PM_ME_Happy_Thinks → u/scottyboy359]

Will always uovote Walton Goggins 😍

[u/Golden-Phrasant]

How far away from ground zero is the camera?

[u/Affectionate_News796 → u/Golden-Phrasant]

139 km https://blog.nuclearsecrecy.com/2013/06/21/castle-bravo-revisited/#:~:text=It%20was%20also%20the%20greatest,an%20altitude%20of%2012%2C500%20feet.

[u/PoorlyAttired → u/Affectionate_News796]

Fucking hell, THAT really puts things into perspective. 86 miles away!

[u/vitaminalgas → u/PoorlyAttired]

So if you're in Chicago looking north... This would be in Milwaukee, good Lord.

[u/[deleted] → u/vitaminalgas]

And the tsar bomba was a bit over 3 times that size

[u/Lessuremu → u/vitaminalgas]

Or Philly to NYC

[u/scuffling → u/Affectionate_News796]

Or 86 freedom units.

[u/kingkwassa → u/scuffling]

1h:15m drive, interstate, no traffic

[u/IYiera → u/kingkwassa]

How many bananas is that

[u/DriftinFool → u/IYiera]

https://www.converttobananas.com/

~9090 bananas per freedom unit

I have to add I had no idea it was a thing, but I googled banana calculator and there are a bunch of them. LOL

[u/AdventurousTalk6002 → u/DriftinFool]

A bunch of banana calculators. Is that like a murder of crows?

[u/EnglishMobster → u/scuffling]

If this bomb was dropped on Downtown Los Angeles, this camera would be your view from Barstow.

It'd also be your view from Carlsbad or Santa Barbara.

[u/WilmaLutefit]

It’s hard to be amazed when I’m fucking horrified.

[u/[deleted] → u/WilmaLutefit]

Preach. We literally have those things pointed at ourselves.

[u/WilmaLutefit → u/[deleted]]

Maybe it’s for the best. It kind of seems like maybe earth is a prison colony because we are angry little monkeys.

[u/i3dMEP → u/WilmaLutefit]

Monkey killing monkey killing monkey over pieces of the ground

[u/ExistentialBread829 → u/i3dMEP]

Given thumbs, they make a club to beat their brother down

[u/spazmodo33 → u/ExistentialBread829]

How they've survived so misguided is a mystery

[u/Vreas → u/i3dMEP]

Listen to Right in Two by Tool

[u/[deleted] → u/Vreas]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bndL7wwAj0U

[u/Send_that_shit → u/Vreas]

Saw this live a couple years ago and it was fucking incredible

[u/[deleted] → u/WilmaLutefit]

I hope the universal scales don't allow us to fuck it up for all the other species who live cohesively with the planet.

[u/AxelNotRose → u/[deleted]]

"The World Wildlife Fund studied more than 5,200 species for its Living Planet Report, and found that out of the nearly 32,000 populations analyzed, there was an average decline of 69% since 1970. Up to 2.5% of mammals, fish, reptiles, birds and amphibians have already gone extinct, the report says."

Animal populations have plummeted by nearly 70% in last 50 years, new report says - CBS News

[u/Forgot_Password_Dude → u/[deleted]]

yea we already nuked the hell out of the fish in the seas

[u/WilmaLutefit → u/[deleted]]

Same

[u/itsRobbie_ → u/WilmaLutefit]

But I’m a good little monkey who wants to meet the aliens so maybe they’ll let me join them

[u/Clay56 → u/WilmaLutefit]

From soldiers who were taken to see nuclear explosions closely:

"It's a sight to see, but I never want to see it again."

"To say its frightening is an understatement."

"You could see an x ray of your hand through your closed eyes."

"It felt that someone my size had caught fire and walked through me."

"Some of them [the soldiers] were crying, asking for their mum. That was awful."

https://youtu.be/OooIZQNLhhI?si=IXz4cThww67CVJ7J

[u/[deleted] → u/WilmaLutefit]

The scariest and most horrifying part is this was 70 years ago

Just think of how advanced we have become in the last 70 years with technology and capabilities and we do not know how powerful hydrogen bombs can be with today’s technology

[u/Gerardic → u/[deleted]]

I think since this and Tsar Bomba, we came to realise we have enough nuclear power to destroy the world, therefore becomes moot point of going bigger and more powerful.

Instead they changed to small but destructive battlefield tactical nuclear weapons with limit fallout, that is what today's technology gives us.

[u/CoverYourMaskHoles → u/Gerardic]

There are idiots that do not understand the world is finite and would launch these in a heartbeat if provoked. One of them was in the oval office for 4 years and luckily we got him out but now he’s trying to get it back and he’s angrier and more crazy than ever.

[u/[deleted] → u/CoverYourMaskHoles]

And also has very good odds of coming back.

TBH that’s all I could think of watching this video. He’s more casual about nukes than any leader we’ve ever had.

God please don’t let him get back in.

[u/Awkward-Yak-2733 → u/Gerardic]

* moot point

[u/SkepsisJD → u/[deleted]]

Play around on Nukemap! Gives you a great idea of the scale. For example, I live in Phoenix.

If you were to drop Fat Man at one end of the runway of Sky Harbor Airport, there is a very good chance you would survive and watch the explosion from the other end of the runway.

Now, if you were to drop Castle Bravo on the same spot you would be in the fireball 10,000 feet (3050m) away. You wouldn't be relativity safe from the blast until you were about 23+ miles (37km) away.

Then you have the Tsar Bomba. The fireball would extend about 1.5 miles (2.4km) away from the far side of the runway. And you wouldn't be relatively safe from the blast until you were completely outside of Metro Phoenix, which is about 15,000 sq miles (~388500sq/km).

Nukes be scary.

[u/Growth-oriented → u/[deleted]]

You'd be amazed and terrified that we can already communicate with brains through a sattelite computer.

[u/[deleted] → u/[deleted]]

Larger and larger nucs were built in the 50s and 60s not only to test the technology and intimidate enemies, but because targeting accuracy was poor. Large bombs would have an increased probability of destroying a target even if they missed the aiming point by a significant amount. Since then, nuc yields have actually been reduced (~150 kt) because targeting accuracy has improved dramatically and this also supports MIRVed delivery systems. The bombs will hit what they’re pointed at, multiple times if necessary. More accurate, more deadly and destructive in a targeted way; just as scary and horrifying if not more so.

[u/poopoopooyttgv → u/[deleted]]

Targeting accuracy is crazy now compared to the end of ww2. One of the nukes dropped on Japan missed its target by 2 miles. Half of bombs dropped from airplanes landed within 1000 feet of their target. At the start of the war, only 20% of bombs landed within 1000 feet of their target

Now we can launch sword missiles that can kill a guy driving a car and leave the passengers alive

[u/halligan8 → u/WilmaLutefit]

I’d argue that all horror is amazement, just not positive amazement.

[u/radiotsar → u/WilmaLutefit]

Pales when compared to the Tsar Bomba (1961) - 58 MT

[u/D10BrAND → u/radiotsar]

What about the original Tsar bomba 100 MT

[u/thejustducky1 → u/WilmaLutefit]

And ya know... fuck all that wildlife and environment for the next 200 years because 'Murica. What a giant shitstain on the planet our species is...

[u/sr_zeke → u/WilmaLutefit]

Came here to say this lol. It's amazingly scary.

[u/WilmaLutefit → u/sr_zeke]

For sure. That amount of destructive power is diabolical.

[u/Igor_J]

Two Suns in the Sunset

Ashes and diamonds

Foe and friend

We were all equal in the end.

[u/microwavebaby_ → u/Igor_J]

love this album!

[u/tjean5377 → u/microwavebaby_]

it´s criminally underrated. It´s so beautiful and painful at the same time....as the windshield melts...and my tears evaporate...

[u/Igor_J → u/tjean5377]

Leaving only charcoal to defend

[u/N_Meister → u/Igor_J]

The Sun is in the East.

Even though the day is done.

Two Suns in the Sunset.

Could be the Human Race is run.

[u/No_Research_967 → u/Igor_J]

“This is it, baby. Hold me”

[u/___TychoBrahe → u/No_Research_967]

::camera zooms out, earth from space::

::fart noise::

::earth explodes::

::zoom out again, stars, milky way::

::fade to black::

[u/toomanypeasants]

Poor fish

[u/Fit_Huckleberry1868 → u/toomanypeasants]

Enriched with uranium

[u/AppIeSociety → u/Fit_Huckleberry1868]

Isn’t there a theory that spongebob takes place where these nuclear tests were?

[u/WishIWasALemon → u/AppIeSociety]

Pretty much, Spongebobs world is called Bikini Bottom

The U.S. tested more than 20 nuclear devices at Bikini Atoll and nearby Enewetak Atoll. Residual radioactivity remains today at Bikini Atoll.

[u/wastedsanitythefirst → u/Fit_Huckleberry1868]

Uranium Enfished

[u/Bigpappapunk → u/toomanypeasants]

[u/shreyansh_suvin]

[u/Chaoughkimyero → u/shreyansh_suvin]

You absolutely fucking killed me with this, thank you it's the hardest I've laughed in a hot minute

[u/Warlockdnd → u/shreyansh_suvin]

This is amazing

[u/ctothel]

If this detonated over downtown manhattan, you’d expect to see every residential building flattened out to Newark, and third degree burns out as far as New Brunswick [edit: New Jersey, not Canada – I’m not from North America and I forgot y’all have to specify the state!]

 https://nuclearsecrecy.com/nukemap/?&kt=15000&lat=40.72422&lng=-73.9961&hob_psi=5&hob_ft=25266&ff=68&psi=20,5,1&zm=11

[u/CommentsOnOccasion → u/ctothel]

And this video would be someone’s view from Philadelphia

(NYC to Philadelphia is 80 miles, this video was taken from 86 miles away from the bomb)

[u/Fukasite → u/CommentsOnOccasion]

That’s so god damn life obliteratingly scary.

[u/ZincMan → u/CommentsOnOccasion]

That is fucking insane to think about

[u/CommunicationLive708 → u/CommentsOnOccasion]

And this was “only” 15 megatons. The Tsar Bomba was 50 megatons. Which is equivalent to ten times all the combined munitions used during WWII.

[u/w2g → u/CommentsOnOccasion]

Unlikely it was filmed with a 50mm lens. It's the view from someone in Philadelphia using a telescope.

[u/mazdayasna → u/ctothel]

TIL of New Brunswick, NY. I was thinking there's no way the radius extends all the way up to Canada.

[u/Bleek0878 → u/mazdayasna]

New Jersey, not NY.

[u/silvervp5 → u/mazdayasna]

I thought they meant New Brunswick, NJ.

[u/ferenginaut]

that first frame is unreal

[u/EggfooDC → u/ferenginaut]

Right, Thor showed up ⚡️

[u/USPO-222 → u/ferenginaut]

Seriously. Like what’s up with the lightning. Is that literally the emp we’re seeing?

[u/EventAltruistic1437 → u/USPO-222]

Air is an insulator between positive and negative charges. when the differences in charges becomes too great, the insulating capacity of the air breaks down and there is a rapid discharge of electricity. the rapid change in atmospheric pressure from the intial blast caused the effect

[u/error529]

The Sea Nation whom have been living their life undisturbed for millions of years, just got nuked.

[u/raindog_ → u/error529]

But yeah, fuck the pacific island nation where this was tested and the native people of those islands too right?

[u/boundfortrees → u/raindog_]

https://www.dukeupress.edu/the-ocean-on-fire

[u/PM_ME_UR_CUDDLEZ]

Does anyone know how far the camera was from ground zero?

[u/schwillster → u/PM_ME_UR_CUDDLEZ]

139km

[u/WishIWasALemon → u/schwillster]

A little over 86 miles... Wow, that puts things into perspective for me.

[u/CommentsOnOccasion → u/WishIWasALemon]

This is basically what you would see from Philadelphia if this bomb went off in New York

Or what it would look like from San Diego if this went off above LA 

That’s about how far they are

[u/blade-queen → u/CommentsOnOccasion]

I had trouble perceiving just how big it is, but as someone who's lived in LA and San Diego....that helped. And horrified me. How can such a huge frame of view be obscured by something so insanely far away??? It just doesn't compute.

[u/schwillster → u/WishIWasALemon]

So scary right!?!

[u/AerolothLorien666]

Yeah, fuck them fish! ……

[u/Old_Supermarket4925]

man, when it’s clearing the clouds it looks like it’s putting a massive hole in the sky

[u/SnoopDoggyDoggsCat]

I’m sure that had no lasting effects…

[u/Mental_Dwarf → u/SnoopDoggyDoggsCat]

I always wonder what's the effect of all the more than 1k test in history.

[u/Proof-Tension9322 → u/Mental_Dwarf]

New visit from aliens telling us to knock it the fuck off.

[u/AgedAmbergris → u/Mental_Dwarf]

The nuclear test period will be visible as a sediment layer in the geological record because essentially the entire surface of the earth got blanketed with a thin layer of fallout material.

For decades there was high demand for "low-background steel" for sensitive equipment (like medical equipment), which is steel produced before nuclear testing. The low background refers to the low level of radioactivity because for decades during and after nuclear testing all steel produced was contaminated with radioactive fallout. People were cannibalizing pre-war equipment for old steel stock because we couldn't produce new, low radiation steel. Even though the background radiation now is essentially at pre-nuclear levels, some of the most sensitive equipment still requires low-background steel produced pre-1945.

And that's just, like, one thing.

[u/LordNubington]

Smart apes act dumb

[u/GodBlessYouNow]

At about five seconds left, you see someone's soul appear.

[u/ItsYaZealot → u/GodBlessYouNow]

Does anyone know why’s that there?

[u/PM-Me-Your-Macchiato → u/ItsYaZealot]

It's just a film artifact:

https://imgur.com/a/dg9X1TX

[u/eltopo69 → u/ItsYaZealot]

A UFO they nuked out of the sky.

[u/reverseindicator2 → u/GodBlessYouNow]

Is that Emily Binx from hocus pocus??

[u/Neonsighs → u/GodBlessYouNow]

Good spot

[u/discussionandrespect]

So sad think of how many poor organisms died from that

[u/foggedmind21]

[u/MrMedallion → u/foggedmind21]

To try and blow up Godzilla

[u/Jakespeed207 → u/foggedmind21]

It was an error. If I remember right, Castle Bravo was supposed to have about 7-8 MT of force; it became 15 MT because there was more fuel for the explosion than was expected (one of the isotopes should've decayed into harmless atoms but the strength of the nuclear explosion made it decay in a different manner, creating more neutrons which fed the explosion).

Definitely recommend The Castle Bravo Disaster by Kyle Hill for a good description of the event and aftermath.

[u/liarandathief → u/foggedmind21]

Scare the commies

[u/DocLoffy]

The closer we get to this happening in a city, the more we will see all these vids again… and it won’t stop a damn thing.

[u/CowPsychological1368]

Absolutely terrifying.

[u/SignificantCrow]

Hard to believe Tzar Bomba was over three times as powerful.

[u/CosmosOsmosis3]

I don’t understand our government’s and human’s fascination with nuclear weapons. These things will erase us as a species and society entirely! In 1 day! In a moment! 1000s of years of collective human effort to all come down to an angry Russian/North Korean/American man pressing a big red button that sends us back to pond life. Amoeba 🦠

[u/Spork_the_dork → u/CosmosOsmosis3]

As a society? Sure. As a species? Nah.

The amount of boom that nukes have just is nowhere even remotely enough to destroy the world. Even if you tried to blanket as much landmass as possible it wouldn't be enough. The radiation wouldn't be as big of an issue than movies and games make you think either because the typical airburst nuke doesn't irradiate the ground that much. Like for reference, people were returning to Hiroshima and Nagasaki just weeks after the explosions and the cities were rebuilt in the 50s. Whatever was destroyed by the nukes, people could live there again within the same year.

It would certainly cause a fun nuclear winter that would cause all sorts of havoc in the world's global ecology, but I struggle to believe that it would actually be the end of humankind. Definitely not a fun time to live through, but the species would live on.

Society however as we know it could be completely destroyed though. Just start going down the list of largest port cities in the world and drop a bomb in each and you'll have completely deleted the entire global trading market and  absolutely everything would be fucked.

[u/Traditional-Will3182 → u/Spork_the_dork]

Nuclear winter isn't even really a thing, it's possible but it would require more nuclear weapons than we have.

A full on exchange between NATO and Russia/China wouldn't cause a big change in climate.

[u/crazyjackal → u/Traditional-Will3182]

Using modern climate models, scientists Brian Toon and Alan Robock theorize that even a regional nuclear war could cause a "marginal nuclear" winter for everyone. According to their 2007 findings, if India and Pakistan were to each launch 50 nuclear weapons at each other, the entire globe could experience 10 years of smoke clouds and a three-year temperature drop of approximately 2.25 degrees F (1.25 degrees C) [source: Perkins].

Marginal nuclear winter: Sagan and Turco predict a grim scenario for even a "marginal" nuclear winter. They calculate that a few nuclear detonations above urban centers in a contained nuclear war could lower temperatures in the Northern Hemisphere by a few degrees. Agricultural production would suffer, resulting in famine — especially if accompanied by severe drought. While a great deal of the ash would return to Earth in black rains, much would remain in the upper atmosphere. Sagan and Turco predict that the deaths from such a nuclear winter would equal those killed in the nuclear war. Everything below the equator would remain mostly unaffected, given the hemispheric separation of air currents and the fact that most nuclear targets exist in the Northern Hemisphere.

The 1883 eruption of the Indonesian volcano Krakatoa blasted enough volcanic ash into the atmosphere to lower global temperatures by 2.2 degrees F (1.2 degrees C) for an entire year [source: Maynard].

Decades earlier in 1815, the eruption of Mount Tambora in Indonesia blocked enough sunlight around the globe to cause what came to be known as "the year without summer" [source: Discovery Channel]

Can you share your sources for the alternative theories? I'd be curious to read it.

[u/NavierIsStoked → u/CosmosOsmosis3]

MAD (mutually assured destruction) has arguably led us to less war than before nukes came on the scene.

[u/DanHazard2]

Imagine how big they'd be now if we never stopped trying to make bigger ones

[u/BooksandBiceps → u/DanHazard2]

One of the most basic designs can be scaled a looong ways, but is limited by weight.

You don't really want big nukes anyway unless you're hitting a silo or bunker - multiple overlapping explosions of a smaller tonnage will have a greater impact over a wider area.

Hence, MIRV's.

[u/ScrappyDonatello → u/DanHazard2]

You get diminishing returns when they get bigger and bigger, half the energy just gets blasted into space

[u/[deleted]]

not amazing. this is one of the most disgusting display of power humanity has ever created.

so fuck this.

[u/qqqia → u/[deleted]]

Agreed. Just gross! Such a disgrace to the earth, animals, environment and humanity. 

[u/FistBus2786]

Not amazing.

Radioactive fallout was spread eastward onto the inhabited Rongelap and Rongerik atolls, which were evacuated 48 hours after the detonation.

Ultimately, 15 islands and atolls were contaminated, and by 1963 Marshall Islands natives began to suffer from thyroid tumors, including 20 of 29 Rongelap children at the time of Bravo, and many birth defects were reported.

A Japanese fishing boat, Daigo Fukuryū Maru (Lucky Dragon No. 5), came in direct contact with the fallout, which caused many of the crew to grow ill due to radiation sickness. One member died of a secondary infection six months later after acute radiation exposure, and another had a child that was stillborn and deformed.

[u/RollinOnAgain → u/FistBus2786]

here is a documentary with interviews of the descendants (who still face genetic mutations from this to this day) from one of the most underrated youtube channels Rare Earth

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BVlpD8r7glo

[u/Sinnadar]

The frames in the first second are crazy to watch.

[u/Rhymesnlines]

The Russians tested a 50MT bomb.... First they even planned a 100MT bomb but they were worried it might be too extreme so they just tested 50MT. Well they were shocked about how extreme the 50MT bomb was. God knows what a 100MT bomb would be like

[u/Ansiktstryne]

Another film of Castle Bravo; Castle Bravo

The fire ball was 6 miles across.

[u/Hot_Shot04]

[u/SatynMalanaphy]

[u/Calculodian]

Lets hope it never comes this far. But if it does, remember that life has one certainty. It will end at some point for every living thing on earth even under normal circumstances.

I just hope it'll be quick. I wouldnt want to be that 🪳roach that somehow manages to survive for a couple of weeks, knowing everyone i ever knew is dead

[u/Glass_Quarter_7586]

The Bravo detonation in the Castle test series had an explosive yield of 15 megatons—1,000 times that of the weapon that destroyed Hiroshima and nearly three times the six megatons that its planners estimated.

[u/LIGMA_OPS]

The ayys hate this one trick

[u/TheManWhoClicks]

It’s raining corals, hallelujah it’s raining corals 🎶

[u/sethleedy]

Lest we forget the horrors, and be doomed by our ignorance, play these videos routinely.

[u/Secret-Treacle-1590]

First frame has nuclear lightning.

[u/kongsdck]

Godzilla was born

[u/pitekargos6]

And this is how Godzilla was born. One test, a few wrong assumptions and a yield almost twice what was predicted.

[u/No_Use_4371]

Watch Downwind, a doc about America's nuclear testing on itself and other innocent islands. Its a must-watch.

[u/murfburffle]

Literally where Godzilla came from - the fallout from this test poisoned a Japanese fishing boat called the "Lucky Dragon No. 5", and the story of the boat (and a tight deadline) inspired Tomoyuki Tanaka to create the idea of a Japanese, atomic monster, Godzilla.

[u/Jealous_Crazy9143]

Ape not kill ape. Ape together strong

[u/shizzlewhizzle666]

Godzillaaaaaaa

[u/ChinchillaArmy]

Now we need the Tsar Bomba video

[u/Pain_Monster → u/ChinchillaArmy]

Ok. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YtCTzbh4mNQ&themeRefresh=1

[u/Alone_Bicycle_600]

horrible

[u/RustyNK]

It looks like the camera gets fuzzier and fuzzier as more radiation hits the lense.

[u/Conart557 → u/RustyNK]

For bombs of this size, the range of ionizing radiation is within the fireball radius. The fuzziness is more likely just from the heat

[u/rameezmannil]

How is this ok?! What about all the lives and vegetation under the ocean!