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Nuclear Weapons
This category is for questions about weapons that use nuclear fission or fusion to gain explosive power.
3,869 Questions
Would the pyramids withstand a nuclear blast?
Oh, what a fascinating question! The pyramids are incredibly sturdy structures built to last through the ages. While they may sustain some damage from a nuclear blast due to the intense heat and pressure, their solid construction and ancient design would likely help them withstand such a force better than many other modern buildings. It's truly amazing how resilient and enduring these ancient wonders are.
How many nuclear bombs does Russia have?
Russia has roughly 3500 nuclear warheads at the time of this writing and the number is slowly falling.
How many nuclear bombs did the US and Russia have each?
America has roughly 10000 nuclear warheads and russia has anywhere from 5200-8800
Why is Americium not suitable for making fission type nuclear bombs?
Americium is not suitable for making fission-type nuclear bombs because it is primarily an alpha emitter, which means it does not release enough neutrons to sustain a chain reaction necessary for a nuclear explosion. Additionally, it is difficult to obtain enough pure americium for bomb production, as it is a rare element that is not found in large quantities.
Why does a nuclear explosion look like a mushroom cloud?
ALL explosions both nuclear and conventional produce mushroom clouds (fires do too). The mushroom cloud is just a column of rising hot air with a toroidal vortex at the top where cool air falls down around the top of this column. The cloud is made visible by debris and smoke being carried up in the hot air.
However nuclear explosions produce mushroom clouds that are both larger and last longer than those produced by other means because of the higher energy release, so they are more visible over longer distances and more memorable.
Which is hotter the explosion of a thermonuclear bomb or the core of the sun and explain why?
The temperatures are similar within about an order of magnitude, but the core of the sun is hotter.
The thermonuclear bomb is at the temperature of DT fusion, the lowest temperature at which fusion can occur. The sun, in addition to fusing DT, is fusing HH, HD, DD, DHe-3, TT, He-3He-3, all of which ignite at various temperatures higher than DT.
How many nuclear warheads would it take to end life on earth?
It is difficult to determine an exact number of nuclear warheads needed to end all life on Earth as it would depend on various factors such as targeting and the size of the warheads. However, it is believed that even a small fraction of the world's nuclear arsenal could potentially cause catastrophic global consequences.
How many nuclear bombs would it take to blow up the moon?
It is impossible to blow up the Moon with nuclear bombs as it is too massive and its gravity would likely prevent such an event from happening. Additionally, any attempt to do so would have catastrophic consequences for Earth due to the debris and environmental impact.
Literally, no. A "nuke" refers to a nuclear weapon or device. While it may have the potential to detonate or be detonated, by itself, it is largely inert, aside from a small amount of radioactive leakage, and in the case of liquid fueled missile engines a bit corrosive.
The detonation of a nuclear device can certainly produce the heat to instantly vaporize your whole body (A thermo-nuclear detonation--such as produced by a hydrogen bomb--produces temperatures that peak at 350 MK [million Kelvin]; that of a regular fission device peaks at 50 to 100 MK).
Further from the point of detonation, the heat falls off to that necessary to melt flesh. This is typically the zone of flash fires that the blast is not able to extinguish.
Still further out, it is still hot enough to flash burn the skin.
And even at distances of a hundred miles or more, the light energy is intense enough to produce flash blindness in those who faced the fireball.
To get a better idea of this, consider a very real scenario that was considered during the cold war. US expectations were that the Soviets had at any one time a device as large as 5 megatons pointed at the city of Grand Rapids, Michigan. At the center of Grand Rapids is a sculpture made by artist Alexander Calder, known locally simply as "The Calder." If the device detonated square on The Calder, the blast crater would be a half mile deep and extend from the south end of Riverside park to the north to Dickinson St SW to the south and from near the end of Lionsdale Dr. NE to Edison Park Ave. NW. That's roughly five times the size of meteor crater in Arizona. This is the ring of vaporization. Everything would be flattened from there to Lake Michigan in the West, south of Wayland in the South, past Ionia to the East, and Howard City in the North. This is the ring of melting flesh. Heat would be felt from the center of Lake Michigan in the West, Owosso in the East, ten miles north of Reed City, and Constantine in the south.
How many Tsar Bomba size nuclear explosions would be required to cause a nuclear winter?
It depends on where they are set off, as nuclear winter is precipitated mostly by the transfer of materials such as smoke and soot from flammable cities (not just nuclear materials) from the blast site into the upper atmosphere.
The Tsar Bomba detonation was scaled back from 100 megatons to 50 megatons to mitigate nuclear fallout, not nuclear winter, and it was not detonated over a city.
It is estimated, from a 2007 study, that one third of the world's arsenal could release 50 Tg (teragrams) of smoke, and reduce global temperatures by -3°C to -4°C for years, with half that shift persisting for more than a decade. There might be more than a -20°C shift in North America, and more than -15°C in Eurasia, covering all agricultural areas.
This would be comparable to the ice age of 18,000 years ago, and would devastate the planet. Even a "small" conflict, involving "50 Hiroshima scale weapons", less than 100 kilotons each, very small in comparison to today's weapons, would be terrible. The study has been criticized, but I believe it to be accurate.
Do Intercontinental ballistic missiles ICBM go into space?
Yes, intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) are designed to travel into space during their flight trajectory. They follow a ballistic path that involves traveling outside of the Earth's atmosphere before re-entering to reach their target.
Who barred nuclear testing in the atmosphere?
The Partial Test Ban Treaty, signed in 1963, prohibited nuclear testing in the atmosphere, underwater, and in space. This treaty was signed by the United States, the Soviet Union, and the United Kingdom.
What was the treaty that stopped nuclear testing in the atmosphere?
The treaty that stopped nuclear testing in the atmosphere was the Partial Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, signed in 1963 by the United States, the Soviet Union, and the United Kingdom. This treaty prohibited nuclear testing in the atmosphere, underwater, and in space, helping to reduce the environmental and health risks associated with nuclear weapons testing.
What happens when the mass of fissile material used in nuclear weapons is subcritical?
Nothing, it has to become supercritical for a nuclear detonation to happen. Most bombs perform this transition from subcritical state to supercritical state by an implosion driven by conventional explosive lenses. Once supercritical a neutron source is fired through the fissile material to start the reaction leading to the nuclear detonation.
There is a special type of test detonation called a hydronuclear test where the amount of fissile material remains subcritical throughout the implosion. When the neutron source fires the reaction simply multiplies the number of neutrons by a factor then dies out. No nuclear detonation happens. Measurements of this neutron flux can tell about the quality of the implosion, safety, etc. But as there is no nuclear yield, several of the nuclear test ban treaties allowed these hydronuclear tests while banning tests with nuclear yields.
Can a nuclear power reactor be cool externaly by space on spacecraft?
On a spacecraft the reactor thermal output would probably be used to make electricity directly using an array of thermocouples. It would not be using a steam/water cycle as in land based power plants. Without knowing what the system design would be, it's difficult to give a definite answer.
Can you blow up a nuke in space?
It's possible, though it's (probably... see below) prohibited by both the Outer Space Treaty and the Partial Test Ban Treaty of 1963. All countries known to possess nuclear weapons capability, with the exception of North Korea, have ratified at least one of these (North Korea has signed, but not ratified, the Outer Space Treaty).
Whether or not a non-weapon nuclear explosion (for example: using a nuclear device as a sort of improved dynamite for, say, mining purposes) would violate the Outer Space Treaty is an interesting legal question, since the treaty expressly refers to nuclear weapons and goes on to say that the use of any equipment or facility necessary for peaceful exploration shall not be prohibited. This could potentially eventually become important.
A more powerful weapon like the hydrogen bomb would escalate tensions and increase the risk of mutually assured destruction within the framework of brinkmanship. This weapon would make the policy of massive retaliation more credible, as the threat of its devastating power could deter adversaries from taking aggressive actions. However, the presence of such a destructive weapon also heightens the stakes and increases the potential for miscalculation or accidental conflict.
How big is the crater that is caused from a nuclear explosion?
The size of the crater created from a nuclear explosion can vary depending on the size of the bomb and the type of terrain it impacts. In general, a nuclear explosion can create a crater several hundred meters wide and tens of meters deep, with larger bombs resulting in larger craters.
What proof is there that Mohenjodaro was destroyed by nuclear weapon?
There is currently no credible evidence or scientific consensus to support the claim that Mohenjo-daro was destroyed by a nuclear weapon. The theory does not align with archaeological findings or historical records of the ancient Indus Valley civilization. Most experts believe that the city's decline was likely due to environmental factors, such as natural disasters or changes in the river's course.
Has a nuke ever been lanched not for a test?
On a missile? No, the only nuclear weapons ever used in war were the 2 aerial bombs dropped by B-29 bombers on Japan to end WW2. All the nuclear tipped missiles ever launched with live warheads were tests, either air defense missiles or high altitude effects shots.
The Limited Test Ban Treaty, signed in 1963, prohibited nuclear tests in the atmosphere, in outer space, and underwater. This allowed for a reduction in tensions between the USA and the USSR by lessening the risk of radioactive fallout and environmental damage caused by nuclear tests.
