Learn the story of the most powerful nuclear bomb ever created by mankind
We have already brought to you here at Mega Curious a story about some spectacular bomb detonations that have entered history, and of course the greatest nuclear bomb ever developed by man could not be missing. In case you don't know, we're talking about Tsar Bomba - or "Big Ivan" for the intimate - which was created by the Soviets in the early 60's. And why was this monster built after all?
The Tsar Bomb was developed during the Cold War, and its main purpose was to demonstrate to the world - and especially to the US - Soviet warfare and technological power. The artifact was so absurdly large that, in practical terms, it would be very difficult to transport to be detonated during a battle, and even more complicated to bring it to the United States.
Moreover, the bomb was so powerful that, even after the Soviets halved its force, the survival rate of the crew responsible for carrying it was estimated at 50%, considering that they were all 10 kilometers high and 45 kilometers high. kilometers away at the time of detonation, which should be 4 kilometers before the bomb hits the ground!
Development and testing
Originally, Tsar had 100 megatons, which were reduced to explosive power between 50 and 57 megatons to minimize the extent of the destruction. Still, just to give you an idea, the device was 3, 000 times more powerful than the Hiroshima bomb. And do you know how long the Tsar team - made up of only five Soviet physicists - took to build it? Between 14 and 16 weeks!
In late October 1961, the Soviets decided to conduct a test with Big Ivan and show the world what happens when a 50 megaton device explodes. To do this, a team of engineers had to remodel an aircraft and remove part of its fuselage so that Tsar, which weighed 25 tons and was over 8 meters, could be transported.
Historical detonation
The location chosen for the test was an Arctic island called Nova Zembla, and once detonated, the Tsar Bomba unleashed a shockwave powerful enough to circle our planet three times and break the windows of a building 900 kilometers away. distance in Finland. In addition, the explosion could be seen a thousand kilometers from the test site, and the destruction radius reached 35 kilometers.
All houses and buildings located in an abandoned island village - 55 kilometers from the blast site - were completely swept away and the surface of the site completely flat. In addition, the mushroom cloud produced by the detonation reached 60, 000 meters, and the heat generated by the bomb could cause severe burns to those 100 kilometers away.
Fortunately, Tsar Bomba served only as a show of power, and as far as anyone knows, no similar device has been built in the world.
* Originally posted on 07/30/2013 .
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