Biggest thermonuclear weapon ever?

Question

The Tzar bomb tested by the USSR in 1961 had an explosive yield of 58,000 kilotons. (Source: http://zvis.com/nuclear/ndb/index.shtml) A quck search didn't turn up any bigger yield in any US or Soviet test since then. I simply can't believe that the biggest nuclear bomb in history was tested over four decades ago.

1) Has a bigger nuclear device been created since then (not that 58,000 kt. isn't already destructive enough!!!).

2) Also, what is the approximate yield of today's nukes? (I presume these are not state secrets.)

3) I know it's morbid, but I'm curious: if the biggest nuclear device today were detonated over a city, what would be the radius of the actual blast, not including the subsequent fires, lingering radiation, etc.

I'd greatly appreciate any links you can provide to substantiate your answers. Thanks.

I found the answer to my first question. The "Tsar Bomba" remains the biggest thermonuclear weapon ever made. (Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thermonuclear_weapon)

Answer 1

Wikipedia has a good article about the Tsar Bomba test of 1961 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tsar_bomba ). I suppose that in terms of developing weapons, one has to take into account that one needs to be able to get them to the primary target, so it's a balance of size versus destructive capacity.

Today, there's a significant variety of nuclear weapons. Of course, there's still the big monsters capable of 25 megatonnes, but there's emphasis on small bombs that are designed for tactical use, so-called "bunker busters", that might be used on the field, on par with the Davy Crockett class (around 100 tonnes). However, given that test explosions of nuclear devices are no longer performed, we would have to extrapolate from older data.

I actually studied up on nuclear bombs for a science project (not to actually make one, of course), but from I remember, if a 10 megatonne device was detonated, it would have a fireball that goes something like two to three miles in diameter. The concussion waves would go for 10 to 15 miles from ground zero, but that would be in terms of significant destruction. I suppose that someone could feel the concussion wave hundreds of miles away as it would have its effects decay logarithmically. I would guess that the 25 megatonnes beasts would be around twice these numbers. A more detailed description can be found on Wikipedia at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Effects_of_nuclear_explosions .

Hope that helps.

Answer 2

The reason it was deactivated and the reason there have been No device created since then with a bigger yield was due to the destructive nature of the beast. Global suicide was not something the 'rational' powers were willing to risk. Even so, the existing nukes can annihilate the human race. The current strategic nukes are in the 500kiloton range. The smaller tactical nukes are as low as .3 kilotons.

A website depicting the effects of various kiloton ranges and types of delivery (ie airburst or ground level detonation) can be found at:

http://www.fas.org/main/content.jsp?formAction=297&contentId=367