Image:Comparative nuclear fireball sizes.svg

A simple graphic showing comparative nuclear fireball diameters for a number of different tests and warheads. From largest to smallest, the radiuses are:

• Tsar Bomba — 50 Mt — 2.3 km
• Castle Bravo — 15 Mt — 1.42 km
• W59 warhead (Minuteman missile) — 1 Mt — .48 km
• W88 warhead (Peacekeeper missile) — 350 kt — .32 km
• Fat Man bomb (dropped on Nagasaki, Japan) — 18 kt — .1 km

Created in Inkscape by User:Fastfission. Sizes calculated using the equations at Carey Sublette's Nuclear Weapons Archive FAQ.

Note that these are only for the fireball component of the explosion — radiation, blast, and heat would extend far beyond these distances (i.e. for the Tsar Bomba, anyplace with 6.56 km would receive 500 rems of radiation, there would be near total fatalities for the air blast within 9.95 km, structural damage at 26.26 km, and third-degree burns at 58 km). This is meant only to give some means of comprehending the differences in scale between different weapon designs.

This vector image was created with Inkscape.

[edit] License

This image has been released into the public domain by its author, Fastfission. This applies worldwide. In some countries this may not be legally possible; if so: Fastfission grants anyone the right to use this work for any purpose, without any conditions, unless such conditions are required by law. العربية | Български | Deutsch | Ελληνικά | English | Español | Français | Italiano | 日本語 | 한국어 | Polski | Русский | Српски / Srpski | Svenska | தமிழ் | Українська | ‪中文(繁體)‬ | ‪中文(简体)‬  +/-

If you want to credit someone, credit "Wikimedia Commons." Otherwise don't credit anyone, that's fine by me. --Fastfission 14:59, 14 April 2008 (UTC)

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