Train disaster near Ufa, USSR. At the time of the passage of two passenger trains No. 211 "Novosibirsk-Adler" and No. 212 "Adler-Novosibirsk", a powerful explosion of an unlimited cloud of broad fractions of light hydrocarbons occurred as a result of an accident on the Siberia-Ural-Volga region pipeline passing nearby. 575 people died, 181 of them were children, more than 600 were injured.
The explosion of a large volume of gas distributed in space had the character of a volumetric explosion. The explosion power was estimated at 250-300 tons of TNT. According to other estimates, the power of a volumetric explosion could reach 12 kilotons of TNT, which is comparable to the power of a nuclear explosion in Hiroshima (16 kilotons) /
Explosion of a train in Arzamas. 3 wagons were detonated, carrying a total of 121 tons of RDX intended for mining enterprises. At the time of the explosion, the train was following a railway crossing in the city of Arzamas.
The explosion destroyed 151 houses, more than 800 families were left homeless. According to official data, 91 people died, 1,500 people were injured. 250 meters of railroad tracks were destroyed, a railway station was damaged, an electrical substation, power lines were destroyed, and a gas pipeline was damaged. 2 hospitals, 49 kindergartens, 14 schools, 69 shops were affected.
Explosion at the second launch of the LV N1, USSR. Accident due to abnormal operation of engine No. 8 of block A and shutdown of all engines for 23 seconds of flight. The carrier has fallen to the starting point. As a result of the largest explosion in the history of rocketry, one launch pad was completely destroyed, and the second was seriously damaged.
British Engineers set off an explosion on Heligoland Island. The purpose of the explosion was to destroy German bunkers and structures. About 4,000 torpedo warheads, 9,000 underwater bombs, 91,000 grenades of various calibers were detonated - a total of 6,700 tons of explosives. Assessment - 3.2 ct. Listed in the Guinness Book of Records as the largest detonation of explosives.
Texas City. An explosion of up to 2,300 tons of ammonium nitrate and subsequent fires and explosions killed at least 581 people.
During the loading of ammonal in Nakhodka, there was an explosion of the steamer "Dalstroy". Detonated 400 tons of TNT.
The explosion of the steamship "Fort Staykin", Bombay - 1400 tons of explosives, killed about 800 people.
explosion of the cellars of the aft towers of the battleship Mutsu. More than 1000 dead.
Battle of Messina - the explosion of 19 huge mines, totaling more than 455 tons of ammonium explosives. It is estimated that about 10 thousand Germans died.
in the Battle of Jutland - as a result of the explosion of art. cellars sank 3 British ships "Indefatigable" (1015 dead), "Queen Mary" (1262 dead), "Invincible" (1026 dead).
On October 30, 1961, the most powerful bomb in the world was tested - the thermonuclear Tsar Bomba, later named Kuz'kina Mother, was dropped on the Dry Nose test site. Today we remember this and other explosions of enormous destructive power.
Humanity spends a lot of money and gigantic efforts to create a weapon that is most effective in destroying its own kind. And, as science and history show, it succeeds in this. About what will happen to our planet, if suddenly the Earth breaks out nuclear war, a lot of films have been shot and more than a dozen books have been written. But the worst is still dry description weapon tests carried out mass destruction, reports formulated in a mean military clerical language.
The projectile of incredible power was developed under the guidance of Kurchatov himself. As a result of seven years of work, the most powerful explosive device throughout the history of mankind. According to various sources, the bomb had from 57 to 58.6 megatons of TNT equivalent. For comparison, the explosion of the Fat Man atomic bomb dropped on Nagasaki was equivalent to 21 kilotons of TNT. Many people know how many troubles she has done.
"Tsar Bomba" served as a demonstration of the strength of the USSR to the Western community
The explosion created a fireball with a radius of about 4.6 kilometers. The light radiation was so powerful that it could cause third-degree burns at a distance of about 100 kilometers from the explosion site. The seismic wave resulting from the tests circled three times Earth... The nuclear mushroom rose to a height of 67 kilometers, and the diameter of its "cap" was 95 kilometers.
This is not the sun. This is a flash from the explosion of the "Tsar Bomba"
Mother of All Bombs Trials
Until 2007, the American high-explosive aerial bomb, affectionately called the Mother Of All Bombs by the US military, was considered the largest non-nuclear bomb in the world. The projectile is over 9 meters long and weighs 9.5 tons. And most of this weight falls precisely on the explosive. The force of the explosion is 11 tons of TNT. That is, two "Moms" are enough to smash an average metropolis to dust. However, it is encouraging that until now bombs of this type have not been used in the course of hostilities. But one of the "Moms" was sent to Iraq, just in case. Apparently, counting on the fact that peacekeepers cannot do without weighty arguments.
"The Mother of All Bombs" was the most powerful non-nuclear weapon until the "Daddy of All Bombs"
According to the official description of the ammunition, "the force of the MOAB explosion is sufficient to destroy tanks and people on the surface within a few hundred meters and demoralize the troops in the vicinity that survived the explosion."
Explosion at the tests of the "Daddy of all bombs"
This is already our response to the Americans - the development of a high-yield aviation vacuum bomb, unofficially called the "Daddy of all bombs". The ammunition was created in 2007 and now it is this bomb that is considered the most powerful non-nuclear projectile in the world.
The bomb test reports indicate that the Pope's area of impact is so large that it can reduce the cost of producing ammunition by reducing accuracy requirements. Indeed, what is the purpose of an aimed hit if it blows everything around within a radius of 200 meters. And even at a distance of more than two kilometers from the epicenter of the explosion, a person will be knocked down by a shock wave. After all, the power of the "Papa" is four times greater than the "Mama" - the power of the explosion vacuum bomb is 44 tons in TNT equivalent. As individual achievement testers argue about the environmental friendliness of the projectile. “The test results of the created aviation ammunition showed that in terms of its effectiveness and capabilities it is commensurate with a nuclear weapon, at the same time, I want to emphasize this, the action of this ammunition absolutely does not pollute environment in comparison with nuclear weapons, ”the report says. chief General Staff Russian Armed Forces Alexander Rukshin.
"Daddy of all bombs" is about four times more powerful than "Mom"
"Kid" and "Fat Man": Hiroshima and Nagasaki
The names of these two Japanese cities have long been synonymous with a large-scale disaster. The US military actually tested atomic bombs on humans, dropping shells on Hiroshima on August 6 and on Nagasaki on August 9, 1945. Most of the victims of the explosions were not military at all, but civilians. Children, women, old people - their bodies instantly turned into coal. There were only silhouettes on the walls - this is how the light radiation worked. Birds flying nearby burned in the air.
"Mushrooms" of nuclear explosions over Hiroshima and Nagasaki
The number of victims has not yet been accurately determined: many did not die immediately, but later, as a result of the development of radiation sickness. "Kid" with an approximate capacity of 13 to 18 kilotons of TNT, dropped on Hiroshima, killed 90 to 166 thousand people. In Nagasaki "Fat Man" with a capacity of 21 kilotons of TNT cut off the lives of 60 to 90 thousand people.
"Fat Man" and "Kid" are exhibited in the museum - as a reminder of the destructive power of nuclear weapons
This was the first and so far the only case when the force of nuclear weapons was used in the course of hostilities.
The fall of the Tunguska meteorite: the most powerful explosion miraculous
The Podkamennaya Tunguska River was of no interest to anyone until June 17, 1908. On this day, at about seven o'clock in the morning, a huge fireball swept over the territory of the Yenisei basin and exploded over the taiga near Tunguska. Now everyone knows about this river, and versions of what exploded over the taiga have since been published for every taste: from an alien invasion to the manifestation of the power of angry gods. However, the main and generally accepted cause of the explosion is still the fall of a meteorite.
The explosion was so powerful that on an area of more than two thousand square kilometers trees were felled. Windows were shattered in houses hundreds of kilometers from the epicenter of the explosion. A few days after the explosion, people saw the sky and clouds glow in the area from the Atlantic to central Siberia.
Scientists have calculated the approximate power of the explosion - from 40 to 50 megatons in TNT equivalent. That is, it is comparable to the power of the Tsar Bomb, the most destructive man-made bomb. We can only be glad that Tunguska meteorite fell in a deep taiga, far from villages and villages.
Nuclear weapons are the most destructive and absolute in the world. Since 1945, the largest nuclear explosions-tests in stories that showed the dire consequences of a nuclear explosion.
In contact with
Classmates
Since the first nuclear test on July 15, 1945, more than 2,051 other nuclear weapons tests have been recorded worldwide.
No other force personifies such absolute destructive action as nuclear weapon... And this type of weapon quickly becomes even more powerful in the decades after the first test.
The test of a nuclear bomb in 1945 had a yield of 20 kilotons, that is, the bomb had an explosive force of 20,000 tons in TNT equivalent. Over the course of 20 years, the United States and the USSR have tested nuclear weapons with a total mass of more than 10 megatons, or 10 million tons of TNT. For scale, this is by at least 500 times stronger than the first atomic bomb. To bring the size of the largest nuclear explosions in history to scale, the data was derived using Nukemap Alex Wellerstein, a tool for visualizing the horrific effects of a nuclear explosion in the real world.
In the maps shown, the first ring of explosion is a fireball, followed by a radiation radius. In the pink radius, almost all destruction of buildings and fatal 100%. In a gray radius, stronger buildings will withstand the explosion. In the orange radius, people will suffer third-degree burns and combustible materials will ignite, leading to possible firestorms.
Soviet tests 158 and 168
On August 25 and September 19, 1962, less than a month apart, the USSR conducted nuclear tests over the Novaya Zemlya region of Russia, on an archipelago in northern Russia near the Arctic Ocean.
No video or photographic footage of the trials remained, but both trials involved the use of 10 megaton atomic bombs... These explosions would have burned everything within 1.77 square miles at ground zero, causing third degree burns to victims in an area of 1090 square miles.
Ivy Mike
On November 1, 1952, the United States conducted the test of Ivy Mike over the Marshall Islands. Ivy Mike is the world's first hydrogen bomb and had a yield of 10.4 megatons, which is 700 times stronger than the first atomic bomb.
Ivy Mike's explosion was so powerful that it evaporated the island of Elugelab where it was blown up, leaving a 164-foot deep crater in its place.
Castle romeo
Romeo was the second nuclear explosion in a series of tests conducted by the United States in 1954. All explosions were carried out in Bikini Atoll. Romeo was the third most powerful test series and had a capacity of about 11 megatons.
Romeo was first tested on a barge in open waters rather than on a reef, as the US quickly ran out of islands to test nuclear weapons on. The explosion will burn everything within 1.91 square miles.
Soviet Test 123
October 23, 1961 Soviet Union conducted nuclear test No. 123 over Novaya Zemlya. Test 123 was a 12.5 megaton nuclear bomb. A bomb of this size would burn everything within 2.11 square miles, causing third-degree burns to people in an area of 1,309 square miles. This test also left no records.
Castle yankee
Castle Yankee, the second most powerful of the series of tests, was conducted on May 4, 1954. The bomb had a yield of 13.5 megatons. Four days later, its decay fallout reached Mexico City, not a distance of about 7100 miles.
Castle bravo
Castle Bravo was conducted on February 28, 1954, was the first of the Castle test series and the largest U.S. nuclear explosion of all time.
Bravo was originally envisioned as a 6-megaton explosion. Instead, the bomb produced a 15 megaton explosion. Its mushroom has reached 114,000 feet in the air.
The miscalculation of the US military had consequences in the amount of exposure of about 665 inhabitants of the Marshall Islands and the death from radiation exposure of a Japanese fisherman, who was 80 miles from the site of the explosion.
Soviet tests 173, 174 and 147
From August 5 to September 27, 1962, the USSR conducted a series of nuclear tests over Novaya Zemlya. Test 173, 174, 147 and all stand out as the fifth, fourth, and third strongest nuclear explosions in history.
All three explosions produced 20 Megatons, or about 1000 times stronger than the Trinity nuclear bomb. A bomb of this force would blow everything in its path within three square miles.
Test 219, Soviet Union
On December 24, 1962, the USSR conducted test No. 219, with a capacity of 24.2 megatons over Novaya Zemlya. A bomb of this strength can burn everything within 3.58 square miles, causing third-degree burns in an area up to 2,250 square miles.
Tsar bomb
On October 30, 1961, the USSR detonated the largest nuclear weapon ever tested and created the largest man-made explosion in history. As a result of an explosion, which is 3000 times stronger than the bomb dropped on Hiroshima.
A flash of light from the explosion was visible 620 miles away.
The Tsar Bomb ultimately had a yield of between 50 and 58 megatons, double the second largest nuclear explosion.
A bomb of this size would create a fireball 6.4 square miles in size and would be able to inflict third-degree burns within 4080 square miles of the bomb's epicenter.
There is no artificial explosion in the world more powerful than the explosion of an atomic bomb. And although many countries have tested atomic weapons in the world, only the USA and the USSR detonated bombs with a yield of more than 10 megatons in TNT equivalent.
In order to visually see the destruction and casualties that such bombs can cause, you should use the service Nukemap... The inner ring is the epicenter where everything will burn in the fire. In the pink circle, almost all buildings will be destroyed, and the percentage of casualties will be almost 100%. In the green circle, mortality will range from 50 to 90%, most of those killed will die from the radiation received within the next few weeks. In the gray circle, the most durable buildings will survive, but the wounds in the bulk will be fatal. In orange, people with exposed skin will receive third-degree burns and combustible materials will catch fire, leading to massive fires.
And here are the 12 most powerful explosions in human history:
Foto: Publicitātes attēli
On August 25 and September 19, 1962, with an interval of less than a month, atomic bombs with a yield of 10 megatons were tested on Novaya Zemlya. The area of the epicenter of the explosion, in which all living and nonliving would have been destroyed, was 4.5 square meters. kilometers. Third-degree burns would be expected for everyone within a radius of almost three kilometers. Photos and videos of test materials, at least in the public domain, have not survived.
10. Evie Mike
On November 1, 1952, for the first time in the world, the United States tested a thermonuclear explosive device with a capacity of 10.4-12 megatons of TNT equivalent - almost 700 times more than the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima. The power of the explosion was sufficient to completely destroy the Elugelab atoll, in the place of which a crater with a diameter of 2 kilometers and a depth of 50 meters was formed. Severely infected pieces of coral reefs were scattered over a distance of 50 kilometers. The explosion was filmed.
9. Castle Romeo
Foto: Wikipedia
In 1954, the United States started a whole series of tests of thermonuclear bombs of a fundamentally different design than the Ivy Mike (more practical, although still not applicable as a weapon). The Romeo's power was 11 megatons and it was the first bomb detonated on a barge in open ocean- later it will become the standard for American nuclear tests, since bombs of such power, as it turned out with the rest of the charges in the Castle test series, simply wipe off the small islands on which nuclear charges were originally tested from the face of the earth.
Foto: Publicitātes attēli
On October 23, 1961, the USSR experienced another nuclear bomb, this time with a capacity of 12.5 megatons of TNT equivalent. On an area of 5 sq. kilometers, it destroyed everything in general, and within a radius of three kilometers it burned out everything that could burn.
7. Castle Yankee
Foto: Kadrs no video
In 1954, the US tested locks consistently. Another was blown up on May 4 - with a capacity of 13.5 megatons and the infected clouds reached Mexico City, which was more than 11 thousand kilometers away, in just four days.
6. Castle Bravo
Foto: Wikipedia
The most powerful of the "castles" - aka the most powerful American nuclear warhead - was detonated on February 28, 1954 in Bikini Atoll, before other "castles". It was assumed that its capacity would be only 6 megatons, but in fact, due to an error in the calculations, it reached 15 Mt, exceeding the calculated 2.5 times. As a result of the explosion, the Japanese fishing vessel "Fukuryu-Maru" was covered with radioactive ash, which led to serious illness and disability of the crew members (one person died soon afterwards). This incident with the "fisherman", as well as the fact that the radiation was received by several hundred inhabitants of the Marshall Islands, in the direction of which the wind blew on the day of the test, led to serious protests around the world and forced politicians and scientists to talk about the need to limit nuclear weapons testing. ...
Foto: Publicitātes attēli
From August 5 to September 27, 1962, a series of tests of nuclear charges with a capacity of 20 megatons of TNT equivalent each was carried out on Novaya Zemlya - 1000 times more powerful than the bomb dropped on Nagasaki.
Foto: Publicitātes attēli
A series of Soviet tests in 1962 ended with the detonation of a charge with a capacity of 24.2 megatons in TNT equivalent, this is the second most powerful explosion. It was produced at a test site on the same Novaya Zemlya.
The day of October 30, 1961, unlike April 12, was not included in the political calendars of the USSR as a day of national pride for Soviet people, although there was something to be proud of. About that record - ominous, of course, but in many respects forced - Soviet people and did not know, as nowadays not everyone knows about him.
It is about an event in the history of domestic scientific and technological progress, which had a sharp impact on the course " cold war"between two nuclear powers. On that day, in a clear sky over Novaya Zemlya, a second sun lit up. It burned for 70 seconds, illuminating a huge snow-covered archipelago with a piercing, blinding light. It was the world's most powerful thermonuclear air explosion - over 50 megatons in TNT equivalent.
Work to create thermonuclear bomb AN602 was launched in the early 1950s under the leadership of academicians Kurchatov and Khariton (by the way, academician and human rights activist Andrei Sakharov, who was often called by Western propaganda the "father of the Russian hydrogen bomb", was only one of the team members). The first test of Soviet thermonuclear weapons took place on August 12, 1953 - Stalin did not live to see this for only six months. According to the tradition adopted in the Union, the new nuclear device received the code name "Vanya", and more officially - "Ivan". However, in itself, the creation of a bomb and its testing in the ground version did not yet solve the issue of eliminating a potential enemy, because for effective application it was necessary to deliver the bomb to the point of use. And the carrier of a 100-megaton thermonuclear ammunition had to meet the relevant requirements: to have a large carrying capacity, range, speed and altitude. After appropriate consultations of nuclear scientists and aviators, it was proposed to use the developments on the creation of the Tu-95 aircraft.
Preparations began for the explosion of the "Tsar Bomb" five years before the set date. In the language of military atomic scientists, it was called very prosaically - "item 202", but it had unprecedented dimensions: an eight-meter bomb with a diameter of two meters weighed 26 tons. To lift such a colossus into the air required a special alteration of the Tu-95 long-range strategic bomber.
And now this day "H" has come. On October 30, at 09:27 am, the commander of the airship, Major Andrei Durnovtsev, lifted the super-heavy aircraft into the air. After him took off and the backup aircraft Tu-16. In one formation, they moved along a strictly classified route to the discharge area on Novaya Zemlya.
Before dropping the superbomb, the backup aircraft set off 15 kilometers ahead in order to avoid unnecessary risk. Major Durnovtsev and his entire crew of eight were to meet an explosion in the air, unprecedented in the history of the planet. Nobody could guarantee them a safe return.
Serafim Mikhailovich Kulikov, head of the testing department of the Novaya Zemlya test site, says:
“The crucial moment came - from a flight altitude of 10,500 meters at 11:30 am a bomb was dropped on target D-2 in the Matochkin Shara area. The tension of the crew reached a climax - what will happen next? the effect of vibration appeared on the plane, that is, by definition of the pilots, the plane “sat on its tail.” By the intervention of the pilot, the effect was countered - all the attention of the crew was focused on tracking the separated product.
According to the reports of the Tu-95 and Tu-16 crews, as well as according to the recordings of the recording equipment, the superbomb separated from the Tu-95 carrier aircraft, and the parachute system was launched. Finally, it happened - in the 188th second after the separation of the superbomb from the plane, the island New earth was illuminated by a glow of unprecedented brightness.
The flash was observed for 65-70 seconds, and a very bright part of it was observed for 25-30 seconds. The explosion of the product occurred on command from barometric sensors, as planned, at an altitude of 4000 meters above the target. At the time of the outbreak, the carrier aircraft was at a distance of 40 kilometers from the explosion, and the backup aircraft (laboratory) was 55 kilometers away. After the end of the light exposure on the aircraft, the autopilots were turned off - in anticipation of the arrival of the shock wave, they switched to manual control. The shock wave affected the aircraft many times, starting from the distance from the explosion at 115 kilometers for the carrier and 250 kilometers for the backup aircraft. The impact of the shock wave for the crews was quite noticeable, but it did not cause any difficulties in piloting. "
Nevertheless, the pilots experienced many unpleasant minutes. During the outbreak, it became hot in the cockpits, closed with opaque curtains, a burning smell appeared, and smoke came from the navigator-bombardier's workplace.
- Are we on fire? - clarified the commander of the ship.
Fortunately, it soon became clear that the fire did not happen - only dust and lint flared up, and the winding of the harnesses located between the glazing and the light protection curtains began to smoke. The worst was in the aft cabin, facing directly towards the explosion. It was so hot there that the air gunner burned his face and hands.
“When filming the development of the explosion cloud, an approaching shock wave was observed in the form of an expanding bluish sphere. It was visible its passage through the aircraft. By the time the shock wave arrived, the autopilot was turned off. Piloting of the aircraft continued in manual control. 1 minute 37 seconds after the explosion, the second after 1 minute 52 seconds and the third after 2 minutes 37 seconds The first wave was the most noticeable - a powerful blow shook the aircraft. Subsequent waves were less powerful, and the impact of the third was perceived as a weak jolt of the aircraft.When the shock waves passed through the aircraft, barometric instruments (altitudes, flight speeds and variometers), which are connected with the atmosphere, began to give increased readings, their arrows several times moved to different sides... The development of the explosion cloud lasted for 8-9 minutes, the height of its upper edge reached 15-16 km, diameter 30-40 km. The color of the cloud was crimson, and the stem-stem was bluish-gray. Cloudiness (usual) at the base of the trunk of the radioactive cloud was noticeably drawn into it. After 10-12 minutes. after the explosion, the cloud dome began to stretch in the wind, and after 15 minutes. the cloud took on an elongated shape. "
Aircraft laboratory Tu-16 under the command of Major K. Lyasnikov received a truly suicidal task: to set a course for a fireball and study how a nuclear explosion works on an aircraft. And he went to carry out the task. It is difficult to imagine what nerves one had to have to fly the plane towards the most terrible thing that could happen on planet Earth. Lyasnikov says:
“After the explosion, we saw the usual bright light. But it’s one thing - to immediately turn the plane around and another - to go straight for the flash. The black pillar raises it and throws it up. Urgently need to return - otherwise death. And the ball-cloud is almost there. When in front of your eyes a pitch hell unfolds next to you, believe me, it's not up to delight ... This, I'll tell you, is worse, than in a horror movie ... Until following the instructions at such a moment?
Not everyone's nerves withstood this test. One of the pilots who went to the nuclear "thunderstorm" honestly confessed to the head of the test department S. Kulikov:
"Seraphim, do not scold and do not disgrace me - they could not complete the task completely. A seething wall of fire formed in front of us in flight. Our nerves could not stand it, and we turned around the explosion cloud at a distance far from the set."
The most powerful explosion on the planet carried serial number 130. This was the most ambitious military propaganda action of the century, and perhaps in the entire history of mankind: after all, the explosion of a superbomb was timed to coincide with the next - XXII Congress of the CPSU. His delegates did not even suspect about the gift that their native defense industry had prepared for them.
A well-known connoisseur of the Arctic, who worked in the hydrometeorological service of the Northern Sea Route on Dikson for more than twenty years, Nikolai Grigorievich Babich knows well how that long-standing record explosion backfired for the North.
“The blast wave circled the globe three times. We then took people away from the islands of the Kara Sea covered with a radioactive cloud for so many years. However, no one wanted to diagnose radiation sickness ... People were at least somehow treated. But thousands of polar bears died from overexposure. Today, the surface of the islands does not "phonet". But those 5-6 million curies thrown into the Arctic sky by that explosion did not disappear. They were blown all over the world. And the half-life of this muck is hundreds of years ... "
The famous Cold War historian Rear Admiral Georgy Kostev says:
"Only fifty megatons rushed over the Matochkin Ball. But initially they planned everything one hundred. But scientists began to fear for the state crust- would not break ... "
Nobody counted how many birds burned out in that man-made nuclear sun. And those that survived were blinded. Fishermen said that the flight of the blind gulls resembled the flutter of bats. Most of them rocked silently on the waves, quietly dying of hunger.
The model of the "Tsar Bomb" AN602, among the creators of which was Academician Andrei Dmitrievich Sakharov, is now kept in the Arzamas-16 Museum. The head of one of the local research institutes, Colonel-General Negin, told reporters on British television that, inspired by a super-powerful explosion, the "Sakharovites" offered Khrushchev a super-project for codename"Armageddon": Send a ship filled with 100 megatons of TNT equivalent to the Atlantic. Sheathe it with sheets of cobalt, so that when the metal evaporates in the nuclear hell, a powerful radioactive contamination occurs. Khrushchev thought, thought ... and refused.
The AN602 thermonuclear aerial bomb is the most powerful explosive device that mankind has used in history. Work on its creation was carried out for more than seven years from the fall of 1954 to the fall of 1961. AN602 had a three-stage design: the first stage nuclear charge (the estimated contribution to the explosion power is 1.5 megatons) launched thermonuclear reaction in the second stage (contribution to the explosion power - 50 megatons), and she, in turn, initiated the nuclear "Jekyll-Hyde reaction" (fission of nuclei in blocks of uranium-238 under the action of fast neutrons formed as a result of the thermonuclear fusion reaction) in the third steps (another 50 megatons of power), so that the total design power of the AN602 was 101.5 megatons. The original version of the bomb was rejected due to the extremely high level radioactive contamination, which she was supposed to cause, so it was decided not to use the "Jekyll-Hyde reaction" in the third stage of the bomb and replace the uranium components with their lead equivalent. This reduced the estimated total power of the explosion by almost half.
The bomb showed more power than the calculated one - 57 megatons. At the same time, rival development teams made bombs of 25 and 100 megatons, but they were never tested. And thank God.
The explosion of AN602 was classified as an ultra-high power low air explosion. The results were impressive:
- The explosion fireball reached a radius of approximately 4.6 kilometers. In theory, it could have grown to the surface of the earth, but this was prevented by the reflected shock wave, crushing the bottom of the ball and throwing the ball off the ground.
- Light radiation could potentially cause third-degree burns at a distance of up to 100 kilometers.
- Nuclear explosion mushroom rose to a height of 67 kilometers; the diameter of its two-tiered "cap" reached (at the upper tier) 95 kilometers.
- A perceptible seismic wave from the explosion circled the globe three times.
“The witnesses felt the blow and were able to describe the explosion at a distance of thousands of kilometers from its center.
- The sound wave generated by the explosion reached Dixon Island at a distance of about 800 kilometers.
- The power of the explosion exceeded the total power of all explosives used during the First and Second World Wars, including two American atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki (16 kilotons and 21 kilotons, respectively).
H-bomb remains the most destructive weapon: according to experts, an explosion with a capacity of 20 megatons can raze all residential buildings within a radius of 24 km to the ground and destroy all living things at a distance of 140 km from the epicenter.
