How does a nuclear explosion happen?
65 years ago, the first nuclear air explosion was carried out at the Semipalatinsk test site: the RDS-3 bomb was dropped from a Tu-4 aircraft. the site recalls the most famous nuclear explosions in human history. 18 October 2016, 13:38
RDS-3. The first air nuclear explosion in the USSR
The Soviet RDS-3 implosion-type atomic bomb was designed as an aerial bomb for heavy long-range Tu-4 and medium-sized Tu-16 bombers. The first aerial and third nuclear test in the USSR took place at the Semipalatinsk test site.
On October 18, 1951, a Tu-4 bomber dropped a bomb at an altitude of 380 meters. The energy release was 42 kilotons.
The bombing was carried out by the navigator-scorer captain B.D. Davydov. In his memoirs, he said that during the explosion, the arrows of aerodynamic instruments, altimeters, speed indicators began to rotate. Dust appeared on the plane, although the cabins were thoroughly cleaned before this flight. “The plume from the explosion quickly rose to the flight altitude and a “mushroom” began to form and grow. The colors of the cloud were the most varied. It is difficult to convey the state that took possession of me after the reset. The whole world, everything around was perceived differently - as if I saw it all again, ”the navigator recalled.
After landing, the crew of the aircraft left with parachutes and oxygen masks on. The pilots and the aircraft were examined for radiation contamination, after which it was concluded that the Tu-4 aircraft, retrofitted with a bomber installation and equipped with a bomb bay heating system and a set of additional special equipment, ensures safe and trouble-free operation of the RDS-3 product and targeted bombing.
The results of a successful aerial test of an atomic bomb became the basis for making decisions on equipping the Air Force with nuclear weapons: serial production of RDS-3 atomic bombs and Tu-4 carrier aircraft was organized.
American "Thing". First atomic bomb
The world's first atomic bomb was the American "Thing" ("Gadget") of the Trinity project. It was tested a few weeks before the attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Undermining "Things" occurred in the state of New Mexico, at the Alamogordo training ground, also known as the "White Sands".
The bomb was installed in a 30-meter watchtower. The bunkers were placed at a distance of 9,000 meters so that the explosion could be clearly observed. On the night of July 16, 1945, the "Thing" was blown up. As a result of the explosion, a shock wave swept through the desert, destroying the tower to pieces and forming a giant nuclear mushroom 12,000 meters high. The flash from the explosion was brighter than ten suns. It has been seen in all parts of New Mexico, as well as parts of Arizona, Texas, and Mexico.
The explosion of "Things" 0.016 seconds after detonation. The size of the plasma ball is about 200 meters.
Immediately after the explosion, the landfill was closed, and since 1965 it has been declared a national historical monument.
Despite the fact that hundreds of leading physicists from around the world worked on the project, before the bomb was tested, none of them knew exactly what would happen at the test site. Some believed that the charge would not work, others predicted a monstrous explosion that would almost destroy the entire state of New Mexico, and others feared that the atomic bomb would burn out all the oxygen on the planet. Closest to the truth was Isidor Rabi, according to whose calculations, the power of the bomb explosion was to be 18 kilotons of TNT. In fact, its capacity was 21 kilotons.
"Kid" and "Fat Man". Hiroshima and Nagasaki
Hiroshima and Nagasaki are symbols of the destructive power of nuclear weapons. Bombs were dropped on Japanese cities with civilians by American bombers.
After the explosion on August 6, 1945 in Hiroshima, the “Kid” bomb (weighing four tons and with a capacity of up to 20 kilotons of TNT) killed about 140 thousand people.
Bomb "Baby" dropped on Hiroshima
At about 8 a.m., two B-29 bombers appeared over Hiroshima. The alarm was given, but due to the fact that there were few planes, everyone thought it was reconnaissance. A few minutes later there was an explosion that turned the city into ruins.
Another bomb was activated in Nagasaki - "Fat Man". This explosion occurred three days after the first and claimed the lives of more than 80 thousand people.
Fat Man bomb dropped on Nagasaki
To date, the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki remains the only case of the use of nuclear weapons in the history of mankind.
"Baker". First underwater atomic explosion
On July 25, 1946, in the lagoon of Bikini Atoll, the Americans tested the Baker - the first underwater explosion, at a depth of 28 meters.
The purpose of Operation Crossroads, in which the explosion was made, was to study the effect of atomic weapons on ships. In order for the target ships to enter the harbor, 100 tons of dynamite were used to destroy the coral ledges at the entrance to the Bikini Lagoon. In total, 95 ships were concentrated there: obsolete battleships, aircraft carriers, cruisers, destroyers, submarines, etc. On some ships, 200 pigs, 60 guinea pigs, 204 goats, 5,000 rats, 200 mice and grains containing insects were loaded as "crew" to study the effect on genetics.
Explosion in the lagoon of Bikini Atoll
First, an Able bomb dropped from an airplane was blown up in the air. Her explosion sank five ships and severely damaged fourteen. Underwater explosion "Baker" almost did not give a blinding flash, but threw up two million tons of sea water and sand up to 150 meters. The underwater blast wave destroyed and sank 10 ships. The wave, which rose to 305 meters in height, threw huge ships like toys, and threw landing craft ashore. The "Baker" gave an unprecedentedly strong infection, and the surviving, but "phony" target ships were flooded right there.
“Russia makes itself”, “Motherland gives Stalin” - this is how the name of the first domestic atomic bomb was deciphered. The official designation of the RDS-1 was "Jet engine C".
The test of the first domestic atomic bomb RDS-1 took place on August 29, 1949, 170 km west of the city of Semipalatinsk at test site No. 2. In place of the tower with the bomb, a funnel with a diameter of three meters and a depth of 1.5 meters was formed, covered with a melted glass-like substance.
It is known that the building of reinforced concrete structures located 25 meters from the tower was partially destroyed during the explosion. Of the 1538 experimental animals (dogs, sheep, goats, pigs, rabbits, rats), 345 died as a result of the bombing. The T-34 tank and field artillery, located within a radius of 500-550 meters from the epicenter of the explosion, received light damage. Installed at a distance of a kilometer from the epicenter and further every 500 meters, 10 Pobeda cars burned down. Residential panel and log houses of the urban type were completely destroyed within a radius of five km. The main damage was received not from the explosion itself, but from the shock wave.
The RDS-1 test was successful. Edited in complete secrecy, a documentary about the explosion and the consequences was shown to Stalin and was not available for viewing for 45 years. Now the video of the explosion of the first Soviet atomic bomb is in the public domain.
Atomic "Shrimp"
A 100-kilometer nuclear mushroom rose over the Pacific Ocean on March 1, 1954. Once again, the United States tested an atomic bomb on Bikini Atoll. It was assumed that the capacity of the TX-21 would be about six megatons. But Shrimp was underestimated, and the explosion yielded 15 megatons, a thousand times more than the bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Explosion TX-21 "Shrimp"
Residents of the islands closest to the site of the explosion were evacuated only two days later. By this time, many began to develop thyroid disease. As a result of the tests, 840 inhabitants of the atoll died of cancer, 7,000 people were evacuated, more than 1.5 thousand inhabitants received the status of test victims. The islands of the atoll affected by radiation were uninhabited until 2010. And now no one is in a hurry to return there.
From Totsk to Nevada. Explosions at military exercises
Explosion at the Totsk test site
In 1954, the Soviet command decided to test the interaction of troops under the conditions of a nuclear bombardment. The total number of military personnel participating in the exercise at the Totsk training ground reached 45,000 people. The task of the exercises was to work out the possibilities of breaking through the enemy's defenses using nuclear weapons.
During the explosion of a 40 kiloton bomb, the troops were located in special shelters at a distance of five kilometers from the explosion. Then several units went on the "offensive" through the area near the epicenter. About 500 people passed through the epicentral zone on vehicles.
The exercises were often criticized for the fact that thousands of soldiers and local residents were exposed to radiation, either evacuated far enough or received a dose of radiation after the maneuvers.
Also in September 1956, during the Semipalatinsk exercises, a landing force in the amount of 272 people in individual protective equipment was landed in the area of the explosion.
More such tests were not carried out in the USSR, but in the USA, exercises using nuclear weapons were carried out both before and after the Totsk maneuvers. Units of the American army have repeatedly passed through the site of the epicenter of an atomic explosion in the desert area of Nevada. The newsreel of the Desert Rock exercise shows that the soldiers are in open trenches, and after the passage of the shock wave, they run out of the trenches and go on the attack without protective equipment. Tourists even came to the test site to look at the tests of the miracle weapon.
"I became Death, the destroyer of worlds." Robert Oppenheimer
General Thomas Farrell: “The effect that the explosion had on me can be called magnificent, amazing and at the same time terrifying. Mankind has never created a phenomenon of such incredible and terrifying power.
The brilliant physicist Robert Oppenheimer, also known as the "father of the atomic bomb", was born in New York in 1903 to a wealthy and educated Jewish family. During World War II, he led the development of American nuclear scientists to create the first atomic bomb in the history of mankind.
Trial Name: Trinity
Date: July 16, 1945
Location: Test site in Alamogordo, New Mexico.
It was the test of the world's first atomic bomb. In a section 1.6 kilometers in diameter, a giant purple-green-orange fireball shot up into the sky. The earth shuddered from the explosion, a white column of smoke rose to the sky and began to gradually expand, taking on a terrifying mushroom shape at an altitude of about 11 kilometers. The first nuclear explosion hit the military and scientists. Robert Oppenheimer remembered the lines from the Indian epic poem Bhagavad Gita: "I will become Death, the destroyer of worlds."
Trial Name: Baker
Date: July 24, 1946
Location: Bikini Atoll Lagoon
Explosion type: Underwater, depth 27.5 meters
Power: 23 kilotons.
The purpose of the tests was to study the effects of nuclear weapons on naval vessels and their personnel. 71 ships were turned into floating targets. This was the 5th nuclear test.
The bomb was placed in a waterproof case and launched from the vessel LSM-60. 8 target ships were sunk, among them: ships LSM-60, Saratoga, Nagato, Arkansas, submarines Pilotfish, Apogon, drydock ARDC-13, barge YO-160. Eight more ships were badly damaged. The explosion lifted several million tons of water into the air.
Challenge Name: Castle Bravo
Date: March 1, 1954
Location: Bikini Atoll
Explosion type: on the surface
Capacity: 15 megatons.
Explosion of a hydrogen bomb. Castle Bravo was the most powerful explosion ever carried out by the United States. The power of the explosion turned out to be much higher than the initial forecasts of 4-6 megatons. The crater from the explosion turned out to be 2 km in diameter and 75 m deep. In 1 minute, the mushroom cloud reached a height of 15 km. 8 minutes after the explosion, the fungus reached its maximum size of 20 km in diameter. The Castle Bravo test caused the largest radioactive contamination of territories and exposure of local residents in the United States.
Challenge Name: Castle Romeo
Date: March 26, 1954
Location: On a barge in Bravo Crater, Bikini Atoll
Explosion type: on the surface
Capacity: 11 megatons.
The power of the explosion turned out to be 3 times more than the initial forecasts. Romeo was the first test made on a barge. The fact is that such nuclear explosions left large funnels in the atoll, and the test program would destroy all the islands.
Test name: AZTEC
Date: April 27, 1962
Location: Christmas Island
Power: 410 kilotons.
These tests were carried out from 1962 to 1963 in the USA.
Trial Name: Chama
Date: October 18, 1962
Location: Johnston Island
Capacity: 1.59 megatons
Part of Project Dominic, a series of nuclear weapons tests consisting of 105 explosions.
Test Name: Truckee
Date: June 9, 1962
Location: Christmas Island
Power: more than 210 kilotons
Part of Project Dominic, a series of nuclear weapons tests consisting of 105 explosions.
Test Name: Dog
Date: 1951
Trial Name: Annie
Date: March 17, 1953
Location: Nevada Nuclear Test Site
Power: 16 kilotons
Test name: "Unicorn" (fr. Licorne)
Date: July 3, 1970
Location: atoll in French Polynesia
Power: 914 kilotons
The largest thermonuclear explosion in France.
"Unicorn".
"Unicorn".
"Unicorn".
Test Name: Oak
Date: June 28, 1958
Capacity: 8.9 megatons
Challenge Name: Mike
Date: October 31, 1952
Location: Elugelab ("Flora") Island, Eneweita Atoll
Power: 10.4 megatons
The device detonated in Mike's test, dubbed the "sausage", was the first true megaton-class "hydrogen" bomb. The mushroom cloud reached a height of 41 km with a diameter of 96 km. Mike's power was greater than the power of all the bombs dropped in World War II.
Challenge Name: Grable
Date: 25 May 1953
Location: Nevada Nuclear Test Site
Power: 15 kilotons
As part of Operation Upshot Knothole, a series of 11 nuclear explosions carried out by the United States in 1953.
Trial Name: George
Date: 1951
Location: Nevada Nuclear Test Site
Trial Name: Priscilla
Date: 1957
Location: Nevada Nuclear Test Site
Power: 37 kilotons
As part of the Plumbbob test series in May-October 1957.
Another photo of the nuclear explosion of Castle Romeo, which we wrote about above:
Copies of the first atomic bombs "Kid" (Little Boy) with a charge mass of 16 kilotons and "Fat Man" with a charge mass of 21 kilotons. It was the "Baby" that was dropped on Hiroshima on August 6, 1945, and the "Fat Man" on Nagasaki on August 9, 1945:
Challenge Name: Umbrella
Date: June 8, 1958
Location: Eniwetok Lagoon in the Pacific Ocean
Power: 8 kilotons
An underwater nuclear explosion was carried out during Operation Hardtack. Decommissioned ships were used as targets.
Test Name: Seminole
Date: June 6, 1956
Location: Eniwetok Lagoon in the Pacific Ocean
Power: 13.7 kilotons
Test Name: YESO
Date: June 10, 1962
Location: Christmas Island
Power: 3 megatons
Trial Name: Rhea
Date: June 14, 1971
Location: French Polynesia
Power: 1 megaton
The atomic bombings of Hiroshima (left, atomic bomb "Kid", August 6, 1945) and Nagasaki (right, atomic bomb "Fat Man", August 9, 1945) are the only example in the history of mankind of the combat use of nuclear weapons. The total death toll ranged from 90 to 166 thousand people in Hiroshima and from 60 to 80 thousand people in Nagasaki.
Trial Name: Annie
Date: March 17, 1953
Location: Nevada Nuclear Test Site
Power: 16 kilotons
As part of Operation Upshot Knothole, a series of 11 nuclear explosions carried out by the United States in 1953. A series of images showing the destruction of a house located 1 km from the explosion:
AN602 (aka Tsar Bomba and Kuzkina Mother) is a thermonuclear aerial bomb developed in the USSR in 1954-1961 by a group of nuclear physicists led by Academician I.V. Kurchatov. The most powerful explosive device in the history of mankind. various data had a capacity of 57 to 58.6 megatons:
Test Name: Tsar Bomba
Date: October 30, 1961
Location: Novaya Zemlya test site
Capacity: more than 50 megatons
(Photo from Minatom archive):
Location at the Alamogordo, New Mexico test site where the world's first atomic bomb, Trinity, was detonated on July 16, 1945.
The creator of the atomic bomb, Robert Oppenheimer, said on the day of the first test of his brainchild: “If hundreds of thousands of suns rose at once in the sky, their light could be compared with the radiance emanating from the Supreme Lord ... I am Death, the great destroyer of worlds, bringing death to all living things ". These words were a quotation from the Bhagavad Gita, which the American physicist read in the original.
At the epicenter of an atomic explosion, the temperature rises to an incredibly high level, hot air rapidly rises, dragging smoke and debris with it. Due to higher temperatures, the air in the center rises faster, thus the cloud takes on a mushroom shape.
It is impossible to look at a nuclear explosion for the same reason that one cannot look at the sun. The instantaneous flash of a nuclear explosion flashes much brighter than the sun for a tiny fraction of a second, which causes overload of the optic nerves. This happens so quickly that during this time a person does not have time to blink his eyes or turn away.
(Total 34 photos)
1. Project "Crossroads". Challenge: Baker.
date: July 24, 1946;
Location: Bikini Atoll, Marshall Islands
test type: underwater,
depth - 27.5 m;
power: 23 kt;
charge type: atomic.
The 2nd atomic explosion, which was carried out as part of the Crossroads project, and the 5th nuclear explosion in the history of mankind. An atomic bomb enclosed in a waterproof case was attached to the bottom of the landing craft LSM-60, which was installed in the center of the experimental flotilla of 71 ships. The closest position to the atomic bomb was occupied by the aircraft carrier Stratoga. For scientific research purposes, many laboratory animals, plants, and even biological warfare weapons were placed on board the ships participating in the experiment.
As a result of the explosion, 3 ships were sunk and overturned: Stratoga, Arkansas, Apogon and Pilotfish submarines, Nagato, LSM-60, ARDC-13 dry dock and YO-160 tanker. 8 ships were seriously damaged. The explosion lifted several million tons of water into the air, resulting in a water column 600 meters high, with a wall thickness of 100 meters. The blast wave generated huge waves in the ocean. The stern of the Stratoga aircraft carrier rose on the crest of the first wave to a height of 13.5 meters above the water surface. The entire territory of the lagoon was contaminated with radiation. During the first 24 hours after the explosion, the level of radiation was lethal, and remained extremely dangerous for the next 7 days. (Photo: US Navy/Wikicommons)
2. Project "Castle", test "Romeo".
Location: Bikini Atoll
type of test: explosion on a barge;
power: 11 mt;
charge type: atomic.
At first, the Romeo test was scheduled to be the 6th in a series of explosions of the project. But the incredible success in the Bravo test made some adjustments to the operation schedule, as a result of which, Romeo was moved to second place. The Romeo test blast used the Runt I thermonuclear device, which was a larger version of the device used in the Bravo test. Its length was 5.71 m, and its diameter was 1.56 m versus 4.56 × 1.37 of the Bravo test device. The difference was in thermonuclear fuel. Runt I used inexpensive natural (7.5% Li6) lithium. The calculated explosion power was 4 mt, the permissible limits varied from 1.5 mt to 7 mt. This suggests that no one knew how the device would ultimately behave. Roughly speaking, this experiment was carried out to determine whether cheap thermonuclear fuel would work effectively. After the Bravo test, the design capacity was almost doubled: from 8 mt to 15 mt. The actual explosion power was equal to 11 mt, which was almost 3 times higher than the initial value of the calculated explosion power. The Romeo was the first test to be carried out on a barge. This method of testing was due to the fact that a powerful explosion could completely destroy the island. (Photo: US Department of Energy/National Nuclear Security Administration - Nevada Site Office)
3. Project "Dominic", test "Aztec".
The Aztec test was conducted on April 27, 1962 on the island. As part of the test, a 410 kiloton nuclear bomb was detonated.
4. Project Ranger, 1951 The name of the test is unknown. (Photo: National Nuclear Security Administration / Nevada Site Office)
5. Test "Trinity".
Trinity was the code name for the first nuclear test. This test was conducted by the United States Army on July 16, 1945, at an area approximately 56 kilometers southeast of Socorro, New Mexico, at the White Sands Missile Range. For the test, an implosion-type plutonium bomb was used, nicknamed "Thing". After the detonation, there was an explosion with a power equivalent to 20 kilotons of TNT. The date of this test is considered the beginning of the atomic era. (Photo: Wikicommons)
6. Project "Castle", test "Bravo".
"Castle Bravo" was the code name for the first dry-fuel hydrogen bomb test. The first test of Project Castle was conducted on March 1, 1954, at Bikini Atoll, in the Marshall Islands. "Castle Bravo" was the most powerful nuclear charge (its power was 15 mt.). The actual power of the explosion was much higher than the calculated one, which was determined at 4-6 megatons. Combined with other factors, the aftermath of the explosion resulted in the worst radioactive contamination ever caused by the United States. The radioactive fallout caused serious harm to the health of the inhabitants of the island, who returned to their former place of residence, the crew of the fishing vessel "Daigo Fukuryu Maru", which caused concern of the world community and massive checks on the level of radiation in the precipitation. (Photo: Wikicommons)
7. Project "Dominic", test "Cham".
Capacity: 1.59 megatons;
Location: Johnston Island
8. Mushroom cloud formed as a result of the atomic explosion of the Truckee test, carried out as part of the Dominic project.
9. Project "Buster", test "Dog".
10. Project "Buster", test "Dog".
11. "Fizo".
12. Upshot-Knothole project, Annie test. The test passed on March 17, 1953. (Photo: Wikicommons)
13. Test "Licorn" in French Polynesia. Image #1. (Pierre J./French Army)
14. Test "Licorn" in French Polynesia. Image #2. (Photo: Pierre J./French Army)
15. Test "Licorn" in French Polynesia. Image #3. (Photo: Pierre J./French Army)
16. Test "Licorn" in French Polynesia. Image #4. (Photo: Pierre J./French Army)
17. Project "Hardtrack 1", test "Oak".
Test: Oak; date: June 28, 1958; project: Hardtrack I; Location: Eniwetok Atoll Lagoon test type: explosion on barge, 2.58 m above the surface; power: 8.9 mt; charge type: atomic. During the Oak test, a prototype of the TX-46 atomic bomb, which was developed at Los Alamos, was tested. The explosion of the Oak test ranks 6th on the list of the most powerful nuclear explosions produced by the United States.
18. Project "Hardtrack 1", test "Oak". (Photo: Wikicommons)
19. Project "Ivy", test "Mike". Challenge: Mike; date: October 31, 1952; project: Ivy; Location: Elugelab Island, Eniwetok Atoll; test type: ground; power: 10.400 mt; charge type: atomic. The bomb, nicknamed "Sausage", was the first so-called "clean" thermonuclear bomb. Its dimensions were 2 m wide and 6.2 m long, and its weight was approximately 80 tons. The power of the bomb explosion was 10.4 mt, and the diameter of the plasma ball reached the size of 4.8 km. The cloud formed as a result of the explosion was incredibly huge: 40.5 km in height and 96 km in diameter. The thundering explosion completely destroyed the island of Elugelab. At the site of the explosion, an explosive crater with a diameter of 1.5 km and a depth of 53 m was formed. After this test, a high level of radiation spread throughout the Eniwetok Atoll. It was the 4th most powerful explosion ever carried out by the United States (at that time it was the most powerful). Its power was equal to the power of all the combined bombs of the Allied forces dropped during the entire period of the Second World War. (Photo: National Nuclear Security Administration / Nevada Site Office)
20. Upshot-Knothole project, Rake test. As part of this test, a 15 kiloton atomic bomb was detonated, launched by a 280 mm atomic cannon. The test took place on May 25, 1953 at the Nevada test site. (Photo: National Nuclear Security Administration / Nevada Site Office)
21. "George". (Photo: Wikicommons)
22. Plumbob project, Priscilla test.
23. Models of nuclear bombs "Baby" and "Fat Man". (Photo: Atomic Archive)
24. Project "Castle", test "Romeo". (Photo: zvis.com)
25. Hardtack project, Umbrella test. Challenge: Umbrella; date: June 8, 1958; project: Hardtack I; Location: Eniwetok Atoll Lagoon test type: underwater, depth 45 m; power: 8kt; charge type: atomic.
26. Hardtack project, Umbrella test.
27. Project "Redwing", test "Seminol". (Photo: Nuclear Weapons Archive)30. Upshot-Knothole project, Annie test. Date: March 17, 1953; project: Upshot-Knothole; test: Annie; Location: Knothole, Nevada Proving Ground, Sector 4; power: 16 kt. (Photo: Wikicommons)
31. Test "Riya". Atmospheric test of an atomic bomb in French Polynesia in August 1971. As part of this test, which took place on August 14, 1971, a thermonuclear warhead, codenamed "Riya", with a capacity of 1000 kt, was detonated. The explosion occurred on the territory of the Mururoa atoll. This picture was taken from a distance of 60 km from zero. Photo: Pierre J.
32. Mushroom cloud from a nuclear explosion over Hiroshima (left) and Nagasaki (right). In the final stages of World War II, the United States launched two atomic strikes on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The first explosion occurred on August 6, 1945, and the second on August 9, 1945. This was the only time that nuclear weapons were used for military purposes. By order of President Truman, on August 6, 1945, the US Army dropped the "Baby" nuclear bomb on Hiroshima, followed by the nuclear explosion of the "Fat Man" bomb on Nagasaki on August 9. Between 90,000 and 166,000 people died in Hiroshima within 2-4 months after the nuclear explosions, and between 60,000 and 80,000 died in Nagasaki. (Photo: Wikicommons)
33. Upshot-Knothole project. Landfill in Nevada, March 17, 1953. The blast wave completely destroyed Building No. 1, located at a distance of 1.05 km from the zero mark. The time difference between the first and second shot is 21/3 seconds. The camera was placed in a protective case with a wall thickness of 5 cm. The only source of light in this case was a nuclear flash. (Photo: National Nuclear Security Administration / Nevada Site Office)
34. Monument to the first test of the atomic bomb "Trinity". This monument was erected at White Sands in 1965, 20 years after the Trinity test. The memorial plaque of the monument reads: "On this site, on July 16, 1945, the world's first test of the atomic bomb took place." Another plaque below indicates that the site has been designated a National Historic Landmark. (Photo: Wikicommons)
On August 29, near Semipalatinsk in Kazakhstan, the USSR conducts the first test of its atomic bomb, America no longer has a monopoly on the most destructive weapons.
In the USSR, work on the fission of the atomic nucleus of uranium was carried out even before the war, but rather as a scientific topic. In the fall of 1942, a special laboratory was set up in Kazan, headed by Igor Kurchatov, a practical physicist, for whom this project would become a matter of life. There was information that the Americans were busy with a new superweapon, but the prospects for its creation, apparently, were underestimated. After the first test in the New Mexico desert, on June 24, 1945, President Harry Truman speaks in Potsdam about the bomb to Stalin, who does not seem to attach any importance to this. Truman and Churchill will decide that the Soviet ruler simply did not understand what it was about. However, Stalin on the same day conveyed to Kurchatov: we must hurry. The bombs dropped on Hiroshima on August 6, 1945 and on Nagasaki on August 9 make America the winner of the next war: the death of 50-100 thousand people from a single charge will bring any enemy to its knees.
Igor Kurchatov, physicist, employee of the Radium Institute.
On August 20, 1945, a committee was established to create its own atomic bomb, headed by Lavrenty Beria - he is both the curator of intelligence supplying American secrets and the organizer of domestic secret productions. It is impossible to assess reliably how much the bomb was "stolen" from the United States by Soviet agents. There were also own developments, and it was also necessary to create an entire nuclear industry. With unlimited funds, this is done in four years. The first to experience an analogue of the American charge, the scheme of which was available. On a giant training ground, military equipment was placed along an experimental field with a radius of 10 km, houses, bridges, sections of the railway and highways, mines of different depths imitating the subway were built - the impact of a terrible force must be tested on everything. The bomb is detonated on a tower about 40 m from the ground. Beria reports to Stalin: the power exceeded the calculated one by 50%. Star rain of secret heroic titles will fall on the creators of atomic weapons.
The explosion near Semipalatinsk turned out to be one and a half times more powerful than expected.
An American reconnaissance aircraft patrolling the Soviet border area detects an increase in radiation. The statement that the USSR staged a nuclear explosion is made personally by Truman. In response, TASS, without confirming or denying, discusses in detail about peaceful explosions in the national economy and recalls the statement of Foreign Minister Molotov in 1947: the secret of the atomic bomb "has long ceased to exist." It should be understood that the USSR had the bomb at least two years ago, but he was in no hurry to test it, and the Americans thought that the Soviets were bluffing. Perhaps they wanted to hide the fact that they blew up the only device, and now the country has no nuclear weapons again. Two new bombs will be prepared by the end of the year, while the United States has about two hundred charges at this time.
The ability of the then Soviet bombers to deliver an atomic bomb to American soil is doubtful. But in Europe and Asia, they can inflict unacceptable damage on US allies now. Four decades of "mutual deterrence" in the arms race begin. Academician Kurchatov will be honored as the savior who forged the "nuclear shield of the motherland." The success of the project will make Beria one of the contenders for the Kremlin throne.
Atomic weapons are rightfully considered not only the most terrible, but also the most majestic invention of mankind. So much destructive power is hidden in it that not only all kinds of life, but also any, even the strongest structures, are swept away from the face of planet Earth by a blast wave. There are so many nuclear weapons in Russia's military storage facilities alone that their simultaneous detonation can lead to the destruction of our planet.
And this is not surprising because Russian reserves are in second place after the American ones. Representatives such as "Kuzkin's Mother" and "Tsar Bomba" are assigned the title of the most powerful weapon of all time. The TOP 10 lists nuclear bombs around the world that have or had the greatest potential. Some of them were used, causing irreparable harm to the ecology of the planet.
10th place. Little boy (Kid) with a capacity of 18 kilotons
This bomb was the first to be used not at the test site, but in real conditions. Its use had a great influence on the end of the war between America and Japan. From the explosion of Little boy in the city of Hiroshima, one hundred and forty of its inhabitants were killed. This bomb was three meters long and seventy centimeters in diameter. The height of the nuclear pillar formed after the explosion was more than six kilometers. This city remains uninhabited to this day.
9th place. Fat Man (Fat Man) - 21 kilotons
This was the name of the second bomb dropped by an American plane on the city of Nagasaki. The victims of this explosion were eighty thousand citizens who died immediately, despite the fact that another thirty-five thousand people became victims of exposure. This bomb is still the most powerful weapon in the history of mankind, the use of which was carried out to achieve military goals.
8th place. Trinity (Thing) - 21 kilotons
Trinity owns the palm among the nuclear bombs exploded in order to study reactions and ongoing processes. The shock wave of the explosion lifted a cloud to a height of eleven kilometers. The impression that was received by scientists who observed the first nuclear explosion in the history of man, they called stunning. Puffs of white smoke in the form of a column, whose diameter reached two kilometers, rapidly rose up, where they formed a hat in the form of a mushroom.
7th place. Baker (Baker) - 23 kilotons
Baker was the name of one of the three bombs that took part in the operation codenamed Crossroads ("Crossroads"), which was carried out in 1946. During the test, the consequences of the explosion of atomic shells were studied. Animals and sea-class vessels were used as test subjects. The explosion was carried out at a depth of twenty-seven kilometers. As a result, about two million tons of water were displaced, which led to the formation of a pillar more than half a kilometer high. Baker triggered the world's first nuclear disaster. The radioactivity of the island of Bikini, which was chosen for testing, has reached such a level that it has become impossible to live on it. Until 2010, it was considered completely uninhabited.
6th place Rhea - 955 kilotons
Rhea is the most powerful atomic bomb ever tested by France in 1971. The explosion of this projectile was carried out on the territory of the Mururoa Atoll, used as a testing ground for nuclear explosions. By 1998, over 200 nuclear projectiles had been tested there.
5th place. Castle Romeo - 11 megatons
Castle Romeo belongs to the category of one of the most powerful nuclear explosions carried out by America. The order to start the operation was signed on March 27, 1954. A barge was brought into the open ocean to carry out the explosion, as there were fears that an island located nearby could be destroyed by a bomb explosion. It was assumed that the explosion power would not exceed four megatons, but in fact it was equal to eleven megatons. During the investigation, it was revealed that the reason for this was the use of cheap material used as thermonuclear fuel.
4th place. Mike device - 12 megatons
Initially, Mike's device (Evie Mike) had no value and was used as an experimental bomb. The nuclear cloud from its explosion rose thirty-seven kilometers, and the cap of the cloud reached 161 kilometers in diameter. The strength of the nuclear wave was estimated at twelve megatons. This power turned out to be quite enough for the complete destruction of all the islands of Elugelab, on which the tests were carried out. Where they were, a funnel formed, reaching a diameter of two kilometers. Its depth was fifty meters. The distance over which the fragments that carried the radioactive contamination scattered was fifty kilometers, if you count from the epicenter.
3rd place. Castle Yankee - 13.5 megatons
The second most powerful explosion carried out by American scientists was the explosion of Castle Yankee. Preliminary calculations made it possible to assume that the power of the device could not exceed ten megatons, in terms of TNT equivalent. But the actual force of the explosion was thirteen and a half megatons. The leg of the nuclear mushroom stretched for forty kilometers, and the hat for sixteen. Four days was enough for the radiation cloud to reach the city of Mexico City, the distance to which from the explosion site was eleven thousand kilometers.
2nd place. Castle Bravo (TX-21 Shrimp) - 15 megatons
The Americans did not test a more powerful bomb than Castle Bravo. The operation was carried out in 1954 and entailed irreversible consequences for the environment. As a result of a fifteen mega-ton explosion, a very strong radiation contamination occurred. Hundreds of people who lived in the Marshall Islands were exposed to radiation. The length of the nuclear fungus leg reached forty kilometers, and the hat stretched for a hundred kilometers. As a result of the explosion, a huge funnel was formed on the seabed, the diameter of which reached two kilometers. The consequences provoked by the tests forced the introduction of restrictions on operations in which nuclear projectiles were used.
1 place. Tsar bomb (AN602) - 58 megatons
There was not and is not more powerful than the Soviet Tsar Bomba in the whole world. The length of the projectile reached eight meters, and the diameter - two. In 1961, this projectile exploded on an archipelago called Novaya Zemlya. According to the original plans, the capacity of AN602 was to be one hundred megatons. However, scientists, fearing the global destructive power of such a charge, decided to stop at fifty-eight megatons. The Tsar Bomba was activated at an altitude of four kilometers. The consequences of this shocked everyone. The fiery cloud reached ten kilometers in diameter. The length of the “leg” of the nuclear fungus was about 67 km, and the diameter of the cap covered 97 km. A very real danger threatened even the lives of people living at a distance of less than 400 kilometers. Echoes of a powerful sound wave could be heard at a distance of a thousand kilometers. The surface of the island on which the tests were carried out became absolutely flat without protrusions and any buildings on it. The seismic wave managed to go around the Earth three times, allowing each of its inhabitants to feel the full power carried by nuclear weapons. The result of this test was that representatives of more than a hundred countries signed an agreement prohibiting this type of test. It does not matter what medium is chosen for this - earth, water or atmosphere.