What is the biggest explosion ever recorded?

Answer 1

The Big Bang

Answer 2

I'm so glad that you didn't specify due to what cause, so that more people's answers have a chace of being right!

Krakatoa was the largest terrestrial volcanic explosion (eruption) within recent times; however, this pales before the massive North American eruption which supposedly created the lava flow covering Wyoming and Montana (the caldera was supposed to have been 600 miles across) and is theorized to have caused one of the great extinctions of life. There is also supposed to have been a supervolcano in Siberia millions of years ago.

The largest MAN-MADE explosion was in Siberia, when the Soviets announced the successful test of a 100 megaton warhead. However, subsequent comparison of satellite overflight photos revealed that there was a town missing which had formerly been there, so it is now believed that there was an 'accident' at their (previously secret) warhead assembly plant!

As a result, the record for the largest explosion due to unknown causes reverts to the one which occurred in Tunguska, Siberia, in 1908. We still don't know whether it was due to a comet hitting the earth, a quantum black hole or speck of antimatter invading our atmosphere, or (for the conspiracy buffs among us) a catastrophic engine failure in an extraterrestrial starship.

The biggest commonly occurring explosion in the universe is that of a supernova, one of the ways a star can die.

The biggest explosion ever (calculated) is that of the so-called Big Bang, in which all matter and energy supposedly apeared bazillions of years ago.

Answer 3

Krakatoa and Santorini are the biggest exposions ever recorded. However man made explosions are Nuclear tests in the the US.
Conventional explosions Halifax harbour in Nova Scotia.

Answer 4

Check info on the Texas City explosion in the late 1940's. Ship full of the same fertilizer/deisel mixture that blew up the Oklahoma City Federal building. Not only was the explosion devastating, it cause a tsunami type wave from the Gulf that flooded some areas.

Answer 5

when black holes were involved

Earlier year 1998, astronomers revealed that they had seen the biggest explosion in space since the big bang. Now they want to explain it. Our science correspondent David Whitehouse reports.

Scientists are gathering at a meeting of the American Astronomical Society in San Diego to try to work out what caused this gigantic explosion.

They had thought it was caused by the collision between two superdense stars, called neutron stars. But the explosion that was observed was too energetic to be explained that way.

Now astronomers believe that two black holes were involved.

When the two black holes collided the release of energy was titanic. The shock waves rippled the very fabric of space-time, streams of particles were blasted into space as well as cascades of intense radiation.

Answer 6

No doubt Rosco the biggest has yet to come, but Krakatoa comes first as the biggest explosion ever recorded.

Answer 7

At a guess it would be the eruption of Krakatoa in 1883.
"The explosions were so violent that they were heard 2,200 miles (3,500 km) away in Australia and the island of Rodrigues near Mauritius, 4,800 km away; the sound of Krakatoa's destruction is believed to be the loudest sound in recorded history, reaching levels of 180 dBSPL 100 miles (160 km) away. Ash was propelled to a height of 50 miles (80 km). The eruptions diminished rapidly after that point, and by the morning of August 28"

Answer 8

Recorded Supernovae easily dwarf anything on this planet.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supernova
The Big Bang wasn't an explosion.

Man Made: a Soviet Nuclear test of a 100 megaton bomb in Siberia, satelite photos of the site revealed the test had wiped out a village, which may have been a mistake.

Answer 9

Forget the Big Bang - which was not recorded, and is hypothetical.
The comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 that hit Jupiter on July 16-22, 1994 was pretty massive.

Answer 10

I assume you mean on Earth.....A super nova (when a star exploads) would easily beat out any explosion which has every occured on Earth.

Hiroshima and Nagasaki are names of cities in Japan.
However, the atomic bombs which were detonated over the cities in 1945 were quite 'big' indeed, but they pale in comparison to the magnitude of one of today's nuclear warheads.
At very least, when the US and USSR were testing their Hydrogen bombs (orders of magnitude larger than atomic bombs), these might have been the largest explosions on Earth.
These nuclear tests were often in the high kilo-ton to mega-ton range (refering to the equivilent of TNT), the two bombs dropped over Japan were about 15 kt and 21 kt, much less powerful than later nuclear tests.

Answer 11

I would have to say Krakatoa (sorry if Ive spelt that wrong) or one of the bombs that exploded over Japan, like Hiroshima. But again, if you want to move outside of our hemisphere, probably the Big Bang, (although Im not sure if that one was actually recorded) or something involving a star. But Im not sure if they expand or explode. Sorry, I dont know if my answer is meandering too much, but to recap, probably Hiroshima and such, or Krakatoa