Atomic weapons are the most terrible and magnificent invention of mankind. The power of a destructive nuclear wave is so great that it can wipe out not only all living things, but even the most reliable structures and structures. Only nuclear stocks in Russia are enough to completely destroy our planet. And no wonder, since the country has the richest stock of atomic weapons, after the United States. The Soviet “Kuzkina mother” or “Tsar bomb”, tested in 1961, became the most powerful atomic weapon of all time.
TOP 10 entered the most powerful nuclear bombs in the world. Many of them were used for testing purposes, but brought irreparable harm to the environment. Others have become weapons in the resolution of military conflicts.
10. Little boy | Power 18 kilotons
Little boy (“Baby”) - the first nuclear bomb, which was used not for test purposes. It was she who contributed to the end of the war between Japan and the United States. A little boy with a capacity of 18 kilotons caused the death of 140 thousand inhabitants of Hiroshima. A device 3 meters long and 70 cm in diameter created a nuclear pole more than 6 kilometers high. “Baby” and “Fat Man” following him brought considerable damage to two Japanese cities, which to this day remain uninhabited.
9. Fat Man | Power 21 kilotons
Fat man (Fat man) - the second in a row nuclear bomb that the United States used against Japan. The victims of nuclear weapons were residents of Nagasaki. An explosion with a capacity of 21 kilotons killed 80 thousand people at once, and another 35 thousand died from radiation. This is the most powerful weapon for the entire existence of mankind, which was used for military purposes.
8. Trinity | Power 21 kilotons
Trinity (Little thing) - the first bomb that laid the foundation for nuclear weapons tests. The shock explosion wave amounted to 21 kilotons and rose in a cloud up 11 kilometers. The first nuclear explosion in the history of mankind made a stunning impression on scientists. White puffs of smoke with a diameter of almost two kilometers rapidly rose up and formed a mushroom shape.
7. Baker | Power 21 kilotons
Baker (Baker) - one of the three atomic bombs that participated in Crossroads operation (“Crossroads) in 1946. Tests were conducted to identify the effects of atomic shells on ships and experimental animals. At a depth of 27 meters, an explosion was made with a capacity of 23 kilotons, which displaced about two million tons of water to the surface and formed a column of more than half a kilometer in height. “Baker” suffered the “world's first nuclear disaster.” The radioactive island of Bikini, where the tests took place, became unsuitable for life and was considered uninhabited until 2010.
6. Rhea | Power 955 kilotons
“Rhea”- the most powerful atomic bomb tested by France in 1971. A projectile with a capacity of 955 kilotons of TNT was blown up at the Murolla Atoll, which is a nuclear explosive test site. More than 200 nuclear weapons were tested there until 1998.
5. Castle Romeo | Power 11 megatons
Castle romeo - One of the most powerful explosions made by the USA. The operation was accepted for execution on March 27, 1954. The explosion was carried out on a barge in the open ocean, as they were careful that a bomb could destroy an island nearby. The explosion power was 11 megatons, instead of the expected 4 megatons. This is because cheap material was used as a thermonuclear fuel.
4. Mike device | Power 12 megatons
Mike device (Evie Mike) was not initially of any value and was used as an experimental bomb. The height of the nuclear cloud was estimated at 37 km, and the diameter of the cloud head was about 161 km. The strength of the nuclear wave “Mike” was estimated at 12 megatons of TNT equivalent. The projectile was powerful enough to wipe out the small islands of Elugelab where the test was conducted. In their place there was only a funnel with a diameter of 2 kilometers and a depth of 50 meters. Radioactive contaminated shards from reefs scattered 50 km from the epicenter of the explosion.
3. Castle Yankee | Power 13.5 megatons
Castle yankee - The second most powerful nuclear explosion produced by American testers. It was expected that the initial power of the device will be no more than 10 megatons of TNT. As it turned out, a nuclear explosion was of great strength and was estimated at 13.5 megatons. The height of the stem of a nuclear mushroom was 40 km, and the cap was 16 km. Within four days, the radiation cloud reached Mexico City, which is located 11,000 km from the site of the operation.
2. Castle Bravo | Power 15 megatons
Castle bravo (Shrimp TX-21) - The most powerful atomic bomb ever experienced in the USA. The operation was completed in March 1954 and suffered irreversible consequences. An explosion with a capacity of 15 megatons caused the strongest radiation infection. Hundreds of people living in the Marshall Islands received radiation. The leg of a nuclear mushroom exceeded 40 km, and the diameter of the cap was estimated at 100 km. The explosion caused the formation of a huge funnel on the seabed, which is 2 km in diameter. The consequences that led to the tests, became the reason for the limitation of operations conducted with nuclear shells.
1. Tsar bomb | Power 58 megatons
Tsar bomb (AN602) - the most powerful Soviet nuclear bomb in the world of all time. An eight-meter shell with a diameter of two meters was used as a test in 1961 on the Novaya Zemlya archipelago. It was originally planned that the AN602 will have a capacity of 100 megatons, but, fearing the global destructive force of weapons, agreed that the force of the explosion would not exceed 58 megatons. At an altitude of 4 km, the Tsar Bomb was activated and produced stunning results. The diameter of the fire cloud reached about 10 km. The nuclear pillar was about 67 km in height, and the diameter of the column head reached 97 km. Even being at a distance of 400 km from the epicenter of the explosion was extremely life threatening. A powerful sound wave spread almost a thousand kilometers. On the island where the test took place, there were no traces of life and any buildings, absolutely everything was equal to the surface of the earth. The seismic wave of the explosion three times circled the entire planet, and each inhabitant of the planet was able to feel the full power of nuclear weapons. After this test, more than a hundred countries have signed an agreement to terminate this type of operation both in the atmosphere and under water and on land.