How loud is an atomic bomb? (2023)

FAQs

How far away can you hear an atomic bomb? ›

The flash was accompanied by a rush of heat and was followed by a huge pressure wave and the rumbling sound of the explosion. Curiously enough, this sound was not distinctly noted by those who survived near the center of the explosion, although it was heard as far as 15 miles away.

Tsar Bomba (224dB)

The Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombs of 1945 destroyed cities in an instant – but the Tsar bomb was 3,300 times stronger than that and is considered the strongest sound every produced by mankind, with the most reliable figure suggesting it clocked at 224dB.

The air blast from a 1 KT detonation could cause 50% mortality from flying glass shards, to individuals within an approximate radius of 300 yards (275 m). This radius increases to approximately 0.3 miles (590 m) for a 10 KT detonation. up to millions of degrees.

Overpressure ranges from 1 to 50 psi (6.9 to 345 kilopascals) of a 1 kiloton of TNT air burst as a function of burst height.

A nuclear attack on US soil would most likely target one of six cities: New York, Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles, San Francisco, or Washington, DC.

The safest place in the U.S. for nuclear war is considered to be the state of Maine. Maine is deemed to be safe due to its lack of nuclear plants and urban areas. Other potentially safe areas include Oregon, Northern California, and Western Texas.

The remaining bomb casings are located at the Russian Atomic Weapon Museum in Sarov and the Museum of Nuclear Weapons, All-Russian Scientific Research Institute Of Technical Physics, in Snezhinsk.

Tsar Bomba, (Russian: “King of Bombs”) , byname of RDS-220, also called Big Ivan, Soviet thermonuclear bomb that was detonated in a test over Novaya Zemlya island in the Arctic Ocean on October 30, 1961. The largest nuclear weapon ever set off, it produced the most powerful human-made explosion ever recorded.

If such a weapon exploded in a large American city such as New York, Chicago, San Francisco, or Washington, D.C., their metropolitan areas plus large portions of their surrounding suburbs would be completely destroyed and nearly devoid of all life.

Irwin Redlener at Columbia University specialises in disaster preparedness and notes that there are six cities in the US that are more likely to be targeted in a nuclear attack – New York, Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Washington DC.

What would happen if a nuke hit NYC? ›

A nuclear bomb dropped on New York City could kill 264,000 people — the most of any city on this list. The city's total injury count would also be harrowing: About 512,000 people would be hurt.

The resulting inferno, and the blast wave that follows, instantly kill people directly in their path. But a new study finds that some people two to seven miles away could survive—if they're lucky enough to find just the right kind of shelter.

People may experience moderate to severe skin burns, depending on their distance from the blast site. Those who look directly at the blast could experience eye damage ranging from temporary blindness to severe burns on the retina.

The effects are similar to the effect of a two-second flash from an enormous sunlamp. Since the thermal radiation travels at roughly the speed of light, the flash of light and heat precedes the blast wave by several seconds, just as lightning is seen before thunder is heard.

Once you survive the initial blast, you're going to want as much dense material — concrete, bricks, lead, or even books — between you and the radiation as possible. Fallout shelters are your next safest bet, as they will provide the highest protection from this debris.

The study published in the journal Risk Analysis describes Australia, New Zealand, Iceland, Solomon Islands and Vanuatu as the island countries most capable of producing enough food for their populations after an “abrupt sunlight‐reducing catastrophe” such as a nuclear war, super volcano or asteroid strike.

A full-scale nuclear war between the U.S. and Russia would see global food systems obliterated and over 5 billion people die of hunger.

Short-term effects. A single nuclear weapon can destroy a city and kill most of its people. Several nuclear explosions over modern cities would kill tens of millions of people. Casualties from a major nuclear war between the US and Russia would reach hundreds of millions.

Redlener identified six cities that have the greatest likelihood of being attacked: New York, Chicago, Washington D.C., Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Houston. Only New York, Washington D.C., and Los Angeles' emergency management websites give ways to respond to a radioactive disaster.

The ozone layer would diminish due to the radiation, ultimately becoming as much as 25% thinner for the first five years after the event. After 10 years, there would be some recovery, but it would still be 8% thinner. This would result in a rise in skin cancer and sunburns.

Where is the safest place to hide during a nuclear war? ›

In a study published in Physics of Fluids, scientists simulated an atomic bomb explosion to determine the best and worst places to be in a concrete-reinforced building during such an event. The safest place: the corners of a room, author Ioannis Kokkinakis of Cyprus' University of Nicosia said in a statement.

But a hydrogen bomb has the potential to be 1,000 times more powerful than an atomic bomb, according to several nuclear experts. The U.S. witnessed the magnitude of a hydrogen bomb when it tested one within the country in 1954, the New York ​Times​ reported.

Russia has the most confirmed nuclear weapons, with 5,997 nuclear warheads. The United States follows behind with 5,428 nuclear weapons, hosted in the US and 5 other nations: Turkey, Italy, Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands.

In the United States' current nuclear arsenal, the most powerful bomb is the B83, which has a maximum yield of 1.2 megatons, making it 60 times more powerful than the bomb dropped on Nagasaki, Japan, in 1945.

Tsar Bomba is the most powerful nuclear bomb ever made. One bomb would be stanched, but a million could easily destroy the Earth.

Could a massive bomb do that all by itself? According to Toon, the answer is no. One large bomb wouldn't be enough to cause a nuclear winter. He says in order for a nuclear winter to occur, you'd need to have dozens of bombs going off in cities around the world around the same time.

Redlener identified six cities that have the greatest likelihood of being attacked: New York, Chicago, Washington D.C., Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Houston. Only New York, Washington D.C., and Los Angeles' emergency management websites give ways to respond to a radioactive disaster.

Depending on its impact radius, even a Tsar bomb cannot destroy a whole country. Only a small country such as Vatican City or Monaco with land areas of 44 ha and 202 ha respectively can be completely destroyed using a nuclear weapon.

A.

At a distance of 20-25 miles downwind, a lethal radiation dose (600 rads) would be accumulated by a person who did not find shelter within 25 minutes after the time the fallout began. At a distance of 40-45 miles, a person would have at most 3 hours after the fallout began to find shelter.

Where is the best place to go if there was a nuclear war? ›

Safest countries

A study in August last year found that the countries with the best hope of at least seeing their civilisation survive during the ten years after a nuclear war would be Argentina and Australia.

What places would be nuked first? Redlener identified six cities that have the greatest likelihood of being attacked: New York, Chicago, Washington D.C., Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Houston.

Some estimates name Maine, Oregon, Northern California, and Western Texas as some of the safest locales in the case of nuclear war, due to their lack of large urban centers and nuclear power plants.

The safest place in your home during an radiation emergency is a centrally located room or basement. This area should have as few windows as possible. The further your shelter is from windows, the safer you will be. Preparation is the key.

Can the US stop a nuclear attack? According to The Week, while it is not impossible to create a system that could stop a nuclear attack, it is extremely difficult. One challenge faced by engineers attempting to build these systems is the small size of missiles.

For a nuclear explosion, if you have warning, take cover from the blast behind anything that might offer protection. If you are outside, lie face down to protect exposed skin from the heat and flying debris. After the shockwave passes, go inside the nearest building as quickly as possible.

Radiation levels are extremely dangerous immediately after a nuclear detonation, but the levels reduce rapidly, in just hours to a few days. This is when it will be safest to leave your shelter and participate in an orderly evacuation.

The walls of your home can block much of the harmful radiation. Because radioactive materials become weaker over time, staying inside for at least 24 hours can protect you and your family until it is safe to leave the area. Getting inside of a building and staying there is called “sheltering in place.”

Seven hours after a nuclear explosion, residual radioactivity will have decreased to about 10 percent of its amount at 1 hour, and after another 48 hours it will have decreased to 1 percent.

Immediately after you are inside shelter, if you may have been outside after the fallout arrived: Remove your outer layer of contaminated clothing to remove fallout and radiation from your body. Take a shower or wash with soap and water to remove fallout from any skin or hair that was not covered.

Does aluminum foil block nuclear radiation? ›

Although there is a wide range of materials that you could use as nuclear shielding, metal is generally the best option. That is why aluminum is so highly recommended for this task.

From 0.2 to 3 seconds after detonation, the intense heat emitted from the fireball exerted powerful effects on the ground. Temperatures near the hypocenter reached 3,000 to 4,000 degrees Celsius. This heat burned human skin as far as 3.5 kilometers from the hypocenter.

There is at least some testing footage from the era that features sound. It is jarring to hear. The boom is more like a shotgun than a thunderclap, and it's followed by a sustained roar. Here's one example, from a March 1953 test at Yucca Flat, the nuclear test site in the Nevada desert.

The gaseous hydrogen sulphide, which smells similar to that of rotten eggs, is toxic to humans and animals should it be inhaled in high doses.

Building down to a depth of about ten feet will provide ample protection, but any deeper makes it hard to dig out in the event of a collapse.

If you are not in an underground shelter, do not approach the windows, stay as far as possible from the outer walls and roof. Surviving near the epicenter of the explosion is possible only if you are in shelter.

Buildings provide considerable protection from fallout

A brick building provides better protection from radiation than does a brick veneer building, which is better than that of a frame building. Less radiation exposure (increasing the Protection Factor) is seen at interior locations and below ground.

Note: Depending on atmospheric conditions, the sound of the explosions may be amplified and heard up to 50 miles away.

Can you hear a nuke coming? There is at least some testing footage from the era that features sound. It is jarring to hear. The boom is more like a shotgun than a thunderclap, and it's followed by a sustained roar.

The blast wave shattered windows for a distance of ten miles and was felt as far away as 37 miles. Over two-thirds of Hiroshima's buildings were demolished. The hundreds of fires, ignited by the thermal pulse, combined to produce a firestorm that had incinerated everything within about 4.4 miles of ground zero.

How loud is too loud for humans? ›

Noise above 70 dB over a prolonged period of time may start to damage your hearing. Loud noise above 120 dB can cause immediate harm to your ears.

But what about the loudest sound ever heard? On the morning of 27 August 1883, on the Indonesian island of Krakatoa, a volcanic eruption produced what scientists believe to be the loudest sound produced on the surface of the planet, estimated at 310 decibels (dB).

If we're talking about sounds within the human hearing frequency range (between 20 and 20,000 Hz), high-intensity sounds above 150 decibels can burst your eardrums, while sounds above 185 dB can impact your inner organs and cause death.

Irwin Redlener at Columbia University specialises in disaster preparedness and notes that there are six cities in the US that are more likely to be targeted in a nuclear attack – New York, Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Washington DC.

Use of nuclear weapons as a war crime. A number of possible uses of a nuclear weapon would constitute a war crime, generally defined as a serious violation of international humanitarian law (IHL).

If a multi-story building or a basement can be safely reached within a few minutes of the explosion, go there immediately. The safest buildings have brick or concrete walls. Underground parking garages and subways can also provide good shelter.

Seek shelter indoors, preferably underground and in a brick or concrete building, per the Red Cross and FEMA. Go as far underground as possible, per the Red Cross and FEMA. If that's not possible, try to stay in the center of the building, for example in a stairwell.

Leaflets dropped on cities in Japan warning civilians about the atomic bomb, dropped c. August 6, 1945. TO THE JAPANESE PEOPLE: America asks that you take immediate heed of what we say on this leaflet.

Deaths from radiation began about a week after exposure and reached a peak in 3 to 4 weeks. They practically ceased to occur after 7 to 8 weeks.

Reconstruction just after the atomic bombing

The reconstruction of Hiroshima City first began with development of urban infrastructure under the national government's wad-damage reconstruction project as one of the 115 war-damaged cities in Japan.