Time lapse of all nuclear exlosions from 1945 - 1998

http://memolition.com/2013/10/16/time-lapse-map-of-every-nuclear-explosion-ever-on-earth/

by Bhel • 13 years ago

100 28 13 years ago

memolition.com

intslack• 13 years ago

Blogspam, original video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cjAqR1zICA0

beloch• 13 years ago

Estimated world nuclear stockpile: 5000 megatons total yield [1]

Estimated total yield of tests up to 1980: 510 megatons (418 atmospheric) [2]

It's hard to find good numbers on the total yield of all nuclear tests to date, but the ballpark figure is 10% of current stockpiles. This is actually somewhat comforting. We've all heard scary stories saying that we have enough nuclear weapons to destroy the world dozens of times over, but the truth is we've detonated 10% of the total current stockpile in the course of weapon testing with barely any noticeable impact. Yes, it will indeed suck much worse if nuclear bombs ever target populated areas, but the planet will likely recover and live on.

[1] http://www.nuclearfiles.org/menu/key-issues/nuclear-weapons/...

[2]http://www.nuclearfiles.org/menu/key-issues/nuclear-weapons/...

32bitkid• 13 years ago

serious question: does nuclear radiation scale linearly with explosive yield?

That question aside, the destructive power of a explosive does not scale linearly with yield [1]

This relation arises from the fact that the destructive power of a bomb does not vary linearly with the yield. The volume the weapon's energy spreads into varies as the cube of the distance, but the destroyed area varies at the square of the distance.

The destructive effects of one big 5000-megaton bomb is very different than 10,000 half-megaton bombs. Or even worse, 40,000 125-kiloton bombs.

[1] http://www.atomicarchive.com/Effects/effects1.shtml

Ntrails• 13 years ago

We also, historically, tend to test in ways that limit damage. We doubtless have enough weapons to eliminate 95% + of the global population if that were the intent.

arethuza• 13 years ago

The design of particular bombs also plays a part - in most H-bomb designs the bulk of the energy produced comes from the fission of the tamper round the secondary by neutrons produced by the fusion reaction in the secondary.

If a non-fissioning tamper is used then a relatively clean explosion happens (e.g. the Tsar-bomb) - if depleted or enriched uranium is used as a tamper then weapons will be much messier. Indeed some weapon designs explicitly came in "clean" and "messy" versions (the latter often with greater yield) e.g. the US B53:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B53_nuclear_bomb

Also there is an option of deliberately including a material in a bomb design that will be activated by the neutron flux from the secondary (e.g. cobalt or gold)- so called "salted bombs":

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salted_bomb

byoung2• 13 years ago

I take comfort in the fact that we can only destroy ourselves, not the planet.

rimo• 13 years ago

I wouldn't be so sure about that.

EGreg• 13 years ago

Looks like the cold war ended around 1991 with the collapse of the Soviet Union and no more tests

sbierwagen2• 13 years ago

Note: due to the ratification of the Partial Test Ban treaty in 1963, every test after that year has been conducted underground. (With the notable exception of China, which isn't a signatory, and has detonated a couple nuclear weapons in the atmosphere post-1963.)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Partial_Test_Ban_Treaty

EDIT: China.

abirkill• 13 years ago

The vast majority, but not all, I don't think?

Wikipedia states that the most recent atmospheric test detonation was carried out by China in 1980, although the reference link appears to be broken:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_nuclear_weapons_tests#...

sbierwagen2• 13 years ago

This was news to me, but apparently China is not a signatory of the PNTBT.

qwerta• 13 years ago

How about Israel and South African Republic?

Ologn• 13 years ago

I guess the Vela Incident didn't make the cut...

polaris9000• 13 years ago

Fascinating read about this topic: http://www.amazon.com/Command-Control-Damascus-Accident-Illu...

Command and Control: Nuclear Weapons, the Damascus Accident, and the Illusion of Safety

DanBC• 13 years ago

It doesn't have the Aum Shinrikyo Australia event. So it's good that they're not including speculation.

http://www.nytimes.com/1997/01/21/science/seismic-mystery-in...

LATE on the evening of May 28, 1993, something shattered the calm of the Australian outback and radiated shock waves outward across hundreds of miles of scrub and desert. Around the same time, truck drivers crossing the region and gold prospectors camping nearby saw the dark sky illuminated by bright flashes, and they and other people heard the distant rumble of loud explosions.

[...]

The evidence was ominous. Investigators discovered that the cult, Aum Shinrikyo, had tried to buy Russian nuclear warheads and had set up an advanced laboratory on a 500,000-acre ranch in Australia near the puzzling upheaval. At the ranch, investigators found that the sect had been mining uranium, a main material for making atomic bombs.

coob• 13 years ago

That was far more likely to be a meteorite impact: http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/2285/did-the-aum-sh...

bionerd• 13 years ago

For anyone who hadn't read it yet, there is a relevant very short story by Isaac Asimov called Hell-Fire: http://www.tep-online.info/short/hell.htm

“That these bombs are man’s death sentence. We don’t seem to be able to learn that.”

These must have been incredibly scary times. The first time in our modern history that we came close to our own extinction.

lloeki• 13 years ago

Eerie feeling: what a weird war, "won" by detonation bombs over one's own territories.

chris_wot• 13 years ago

Typo in title...

ye• 13 years ago

It's very sad to see a spam blog submission like this on HN. Create a page with a short description of a 3 year old video, embed the video, welcome to the front page.

Please flag this crap.

znowi• 13 years ago

It's revealing to me that the US is far ahead of the Soviets in nuclear explosions. Somehow, given all the "evil Ruskies" outcry, I thought it to be the opposite.

Raphmedia2• 13 years ago

Could this be related to all those cancers popping up?

KMag2• 13 years ago

Citation needed.

Improved diagnostics and improvements in fighting other diseases will lead to higher (diagnosed) cancer rates.

If you live long enough, you will get cancer. Every time a cell copies its DNA, you roll the dice to see if it becomes cancerous. You can do things to bias the dice toward or away from cancer, but it's still always a roll of the dice. As the number of dice rolls approaches infinity, the probability of them coming up snake eyes at least once approaches certainty.

Raphmedia2• 13 years ago

I understand your point, and I understand that cancer can and will pop up in safe environments.

However, that much radioactivity cannot be good. I understand that those were mostly detonated in safe environnements and in safe ways, but that is a lot of detonations right there. I'm not sure I can trust that all of those denotations released nothing bad in the atmosphere.

I would be curious to overlay a map of cancer rates over a map of detonations, taking wind into account.

VikingCoder• 13 years ago

What did the US learn from the 1032nd nuke, that the previous 1031 didn't teach us?

KMag2• 13 years ago

Refined models of the dynamics of a nuclear explosion, and better analysis of the reliability of warheads as they age in stockpiles

robodale• 13 years ago

They should overlay UFO sightings during this timeframe.

Time lapse of all nuclear exlosions from 1945 - 1998

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