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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
What was the biggest nuclear bomb in history?
The USSR's 1961 Tsar Bomba (King of bombs), yield 52 to 58 MTon (depending on measurement technique). It was an air dropped 3 stage hydrogen fusion bomb with a design yield of 100 MTons. Andrei Sakharov (its designer) had the amount of lithium-deuteride fusion fuel in the 3rd stage reduced for the test to cut expected yield roughly in half while still demonstrating ignition of all stages.
The effects of this bomb were so dramatic that Sakharov soon became a strong opponent of nuclear weapons and testing, spending several years in Siberian prison camps for his protests.
Physically the largest nuclear bomb was the US's 1952 Ivy Mike, yield 10 MTons. It stood 80 feet tall and 20 feet in diameter on the island of Eugelab in the Eniwetok atoll. It was a 2 stage hydrogen fusion bomb using cryogenic liquid deuterium and tritium. Eugelab ceased to exist when Mike exploded.
How can you pickpocket a mini nuke in Nellis without losing Boomer karma in Fallout New Vegas?
You can't, but the karma loss is so minimal for one single item, it is not worth worrying about.
Which two countries almost let nuclear bombs on each other?
Either Russia and the US in the cold war or India and Pakistan in a standoff in 2001-2002
How long did it take to build a atomic bomb?
It took the US 2 to 3 years to build the industrial infrastructure needed to begin building Atomic fission bombs.
When the US first started building bombs in those factories in 1945 they could build 3 bombs a month with the expectation by the end of the year of building 7 a month. You compute the time per bomb. But remember this is just beginning production, with each bomb hand assembled.
These bombs were delivered by the factory to the field as a kit of parts in multiple crates. Assembly of a MK-III Fatman type bomb from this kit took 3 days in the field.
At the peak of production both the US & USSR had the capacity to build 100s of Hydrogen fusion bombs per day! You compute the time per bomb. This was full assembly line production.
These bombs were delivered by the factory to the field fully assembled and ready for use.
How many people died from nukes alone in World War 2?
The actual number will never be known. The number of those immediately killed by the blasts is CONSERVATIVELY estimated somewhere between 175,000 to 225,000 people depending on the source of the numbers.
No matter what the initial death toll. more died over the ensuing months and years due to burns and radiation sickness caused by the blasts. Due to the flatter terrain of Hiroshima, the bomb blast there was much more devastating so about two thirds of those killed by atomic bombs in Japan were killed in the Hiroshima blast.
To keep things in context the estimated number of people who would be killed in a US/Allied invasion of the Japanese main island (Operation Downfall) was estimated at 10,000,000 soldiers and civilians. (400,000-800,000 American soldiers, 5,000,000 to 10,000,000 Japanese soldiers and civilians) and the war would have dragged out through into 1946. To say that the atomic bomb saved people's lives is controversial, but there is no doubt that the atomic bombs put an end to the pacific war in days rather than months or years.
That would depend on yield, cities selected, and many other parameters.
I do not know as I don't have full access to INEL (the nuclear reactor development site in Idaho) records, perhaps a good idea for a FOIA request, the first meltdown would almost certainly have occurred in one of their test reactors long before any commercial reactor.
I do know that the core of EBR-I (the first US breeder/power reactor prototype) was damaged in a meltdown on November 29, 1955; it was repaired and finally deactivated in 1964. This reactor has been decontaminated and is open for public tours (docent guided and self guided). I have been there 3 times (the first before decontamination of the floors were complete).
I very much suspect they had at least one test reactor deliberately designed to thermally damage or even melt its core to study the effects.
Why did the US decide to drop nuclear bombs on japan instead of continuing to fight them?
- #1: Truman knew he would almost certainly have been impeached and convicted when the war finally ended in late 1946 as a traitor for having available a weapon that had cost over $2,000,000,000 to develop that could have shortened the war by more than a year and saved over 1,000,000 US soldier's lives and never using it. He simply had no choice politically or militarily.
- The US public was getting impatient to see the war end.
- etc.
If necessary we had the production schedule and facilities operating to drop not just the 2 nuclear bombs that were dropped on Japan, but a total of 23 nuclear bombs could have been dropped on Japan in 1945 alone and probably several times that in 1946 if they didn't surrender.
Mutually assured destruction, called for short (and sensibly so): the M.A.D. Principle.
Can video cameras survive a nuclear explosion?
A sufficient distance, shielded from direct radiation, photographing an indirect image via a mirror.
Why does Europe use more nuclear power than the us?
I'm not sure if that is true. The US has 104 operating power reactors. I think if you add up those in Western Europe, in France, UK, Germany, Spain, Belgium for example, it will still be fewer. A good source of information is www.world-nuclear.org
What three countries have the most nuclear weapon?
As of 2012, the countries with the most nuclear weapons, counting actively deployed and stockpiled ones, are, in order of most to least:
- Russia
- United States
- France
- People's Republic of China (mainland)
- United Kingdom
- Pakistan
- Israel
- India
- North Korea
What is the triad of nuclear weapons that the US relies on for national defense?
- ICBMs
- SLBMs
- Long Range Bombers
Why shouldn't north Korea have nuclear weapons?
They don't have any less of a right to have nuclear weapons than any other country.
Did the cold war involve the exchange of atomic weapons?
No, just the exchange of lots of fallout from tests.
Who is first nuclear power in the world?
The first country to develop nuclear elements I'm not sure, but the first country to develop a nuclear weapon was the united states. Also the former soviet union has the most nuclear missiles in the world but they are from the cold war, old and outdated, America has sophisticated missile systems that can sent a warhead almost anywhere on the planet
no the atom bomb was used in world war 2 the did not have the technology yet
