A Question about Hydrogen and Neutron Bombs?

Question

If We Use a 200 Megaton Hydrogen Bomb and Hit it In suppose say in the Middle of Iran, then will the people towards the East in Pakistan and Afghanistan die and will the people towards the west in Iraq, Saudi Arabia Die.
Can a Netron Bomb be Built which has the Radius of destruction of about 15 km.

Answer 1

sure bombs that powerful can be built - though the largest ever detonated was "only" 45 megatons

A mere 20MT bomb has a destruction radius of 17 kilometers, will cause 3rd degree burns to unprotected skin in a radius of 38km, will give an instantly lethal radiation dosis within a radius of 4.7km.

For a 200MT bomb these radiuses would be about 3x larger, which becomes pretty scary if you ask me.

Now just a couple questions:
- why would you want to do this? Do you think it would make the world a better place if someone used such a weapon for war, or worse, to prevent a war i.e. arbitrarily? Or would there be a risk that anyone else who has similar weapons, decide to use them in defence?
- what of probably very massive nucleary fallout hitting densely populated regions, say Europe (the minuscule Chernobyl already caused some pretty nasty effects)
- what of the mini nuclear winter such an explosion would cause around the world, with very adverse consequences on crops, health, you name it?

Answer 2

Radiation from a hydrogen bomb will fan out along the dominant wind pattern. Downwind from Iran is likely east by north though I'm not 100% sure of the jet stream there. Fallout would be heaviest within the Iranian borders. People within 100 miles of the blast (but outside of the blast zone) might experience some radiation sickness but it would be a small percentage of the population. Further downrange, radiation would probably produce longer range problems - more incidence of cancers and birth defects but little in the way of immediate deaths. This could travel as far as Pakistan and Afghanistan depending on the size of the bomb. Those west of Iran would likely suffer very little since the air currents would push radiation away from them.

Neutron bombs use a fast degenerating isotope that kills with hard radiation in a small area. People outside the blast area would probably suffer very little in short or long term effects and within 48 hours, the radiation has diminished enough to return to the area with little chance of harm.

Answer 3

the destructive radius of a nuclear bomb is not as bad as people think. at 1000ft from the blast, the shockwave produces 15psi, which would devestate a house but leave something like a skyscraper or any other steel framed object intact.
The force of an atomic bomb at 1000ft would produce less force on a skyscrper than a jet does when it hits at 250mph. a 400,000lb 767 produces 2 trillion lbs of force over 60sq ft during a collision at 250mph, and an atomic bomb would produce 1.6 trillion lbs of force over the entire side of a wtc sized building at 1000ft.

Oh, and the largest bomb ever built was 60 megatons, and gave 3rd degree burns 60 miles away, but the shockwave would not have destroyed steel structures outside of about a 3 miles.

According to the link the guy gave above, the wepon would have exactly the effect I think it would.

Answer 4

Here is a graph that shows what different size nuclear bombs can do.

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

Here is the most effective way to destroy a large area, direct a astroid or comet to the area. This is another graph that shows the effect of that, bombs have nothing on a comet impact.

http://www.lpl.arizona.edu/~marcus/crater2.html

Answer 5

thats a tough question let me calculate. yes that would be most destructive, it could blow a radius of 15km because of the pressure.

Answer 6

maybe they all will die from the fall out