Tsar Bomba

The Tsar Bomba, also known as AN602, was the largest man-made explosion in history. It had a massive yield of 50-58 megatons and its flash could be seen from a distance of 620 miles. It was detonated on October 30, 1961, and had a burn radius of 4080 square miles.

The bomber that dropped it narrowly avoided being affected when the enormous fireball simultaneously touched the ground and shot up to a height of 6.5 miles. Originally, the plan was to create a 100 megaton bomb, but it was scaled back due to concerns about the fallout. Even so, the effects of the explosion were still significant. The blast caused damage to buildings in Norway and Finland, and a village located 34 miles away from the test site was completely incinerated. While the United States and Russia no longer test nuclear weapons, they continue to test bombs and explosive devices that have devastating effects on the immediate area. Fortunately, these alternatives do not produce as much fallout as nuclear weapons. One particularly horrifying aspect of these bombs, known as thermobaric bombs, is that those who survive the initial blast often die from the vacuum-like effect it has on their organs, causing them to contract and implode.

Soviet Test #219

In December of that year, they increased the intensity with test 219, which resulted in 24.2 megatons. It is advisable to remember to never visit Novaya Zemlya. If there were anyone within a 2,250 square mile radius at the time (which is possible), they would have experienced severe burns.

Soviet Tests #173, #174, and #147

In spite of the events in the Pacific in 1954, the Soviets persisted in conducting tests. During the autumn of 1962, they carried out nuclear tests of the 3rd, 4th, and 5th highest intensity, with each blast estimated to be around 20 megatons. Once again, no photographs have been made available.

 Castle Bravo, March 1, 1954

Despite the influence of 80s movies and nuclear fairy tales on our collective imagination, the largest nuclear blast attributed to the United States occurred over 60 years ago, on February 28, 1954. Known as Bravo, this Castle test exceeded its projected 6 megatons, resulting in a 15 megaton fission explosion. The devastation caused by Bravo far surpassed that of Yankee's later incident in Mexico City.

The dry fuel thermonuclear hydrogen bomb was visible from 250 miles away within the first second of detonation. Within ten seconds, a mushroom cloud 4.5 miles across had formed, expanding to 9 miles high and 7 miles across within a minute. The cloud peaked at 24 miles high and 62 miles wide ten minutes later, leaving behind a crater nearly a mile and a half across and 250 feet deep.

The effects of the blast were felt over a vast distance. Fallout rained down on residents of the Marshall Islands, a fire was ignited on an island 23 miles away by the thermal flash, and sailors on a Japanese fishing boat 80 miles distant were also exposed to fallout.

While the harmful effects of nuclear testing were already known, it was the Bravo incident that prompted calls for a ban on thermonuclear testing. The radiation from the blast spread over 7000 square miles, causing severe health issues for those exposed and birth defects in their children.

Castle Yankee

Castle Yankee surpassed expectations, performing well for a job but causing some concern as a bomb. Part of the Bikini Atoll tests in 1954, testers had anticipated a yield of 6-10 megatons, but Yankee delivered an impressive 13.5 megatons.

Yankee's dimensions were 35 miles high and 100 miles wide, with its increased power attributed to the fast fission of uranium tamper. Due to strong wind conditions (65 knots at 40,000 ft), the fallout traveled 7100 miles and reached Mexico City.

Soviet Test #123

One year before, Test 123 took place at the same location over Novaya Zemlya. It was followed by Tests 158 and 168. It is unclear why the tonnage decreased, but the previous test had a yield of 12.5 megatons, which was 2 megatons higher than the tests conducted the following year. Like the others, there are no photographs available.

Romeo 

In 1954, Romeo was included in a series of experiments conducted at the Bikini Atoll. It stood out as the first device to be tested above open water instead of a reef.

The 11 megaton bomb was detonated on a barge directly above the location where the Castle Bravo test had created a crater. This bomb is the third largest ever tested by the United States. If it had been detonated on an island or on the mainland, it would have obliterated everything within an area of 1.91 square miles.

The most commonly reproduced photograph of a nuclear explosion is the one captured during the Castle Romeo test.

Ivy Mike

The initial hydrogen bomb, Ivy Mike, completely destroyed the testing site. Elugelab Island in the Marshall Islands was specifically prepared for the 1952 test, but after the explosion, only a 164-foot deep crater remained. The bomb, with a power of 10.4 megatons, created a mushroom cloud that reached 30 miles into the sky and 164 feet underwater, with a crater radius of over 1 mile. The size and speed of the blast were astonishing, in the sense of the word before the 1980s. The 3-mile wide fireball expanded over 10 miles in the first 90 seconds, reaching a maximum width of 20 miles and a crown width of 100 miles. The fallout and the reaction of the ocean water to the circular shockwave were immense. Ships 30 miles away were hit by irradiated coral, and the vegetation on nearby islands was completely destroyed.

Soviet Tests #158 and #168

The Soviets were initially held back in their quest for nuclear weapons due to the ground battles of WWII, but once the war was over, they quickly joined the race. In 1949, they successfully tested their first nuclear device, known as First Lightning (RDS-1), making them the second nation to achieve this milestone. Thirteen years later, they once again caught up to the U.S. by detonating two atomic bombs, named 158 and 168, each yielding 10 megatons. It is not surprising that there are no photographs available of these tests conducted in the Arctic region of Novaya Zemlya in Russia.

The Trinity explosion, July 16, 1945

The Trinity explosion, performed in New Mexico, was the first test of an atomic bomb. It had a yield of 20 kt, which was similar in size to both Little Boy and Fat Man. Robert Oppenheimer, the technical director of the Manhattan Project, described this event by saying, "If the radiance of a thousand suns were to burst at once into the sky, that would be like the splendor of the mighty one... Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds."