What would you do if some one dropped an nuclear bomb close to where you live?

Question

Have you ever though about it? How can we hide from it and be protected safely?
Do people still feel the effects from the Hiroshima bomb?

Answer 1

In a 2-megaton explosion over a fairly large city, buildings would be vaporized, people reduced to atoms and shadows, outlying structures blown down like matchsticks and raging fires ignited. And if the bomb were exploded on the ground, an enormous crater, like those that can be seen through a telescope on the surface of the Moon, would be all that remained where midtown once had been.

There are now more than 50,000 nuclear weapons, more than 13,000 megatons of yield, deployed in the arsenals of the United States and the Soviet Union -- enough to obliterate a million Hiroshimas.

But there are fewer than 3000 cities on the Earth with populations of 100,000 or more. You cannot find anything like a million Hiroshimas to obliterate. Prime military and industrial targets that are far from cities are comparatively rare. Thus, there are vastly more nuclear weapons than are needed for any plausible deterrence of a potential adversary.

Even small nuclear wars can have devastating climatic effects. A war in which a mere 100 megatons were exploded, less than one percent of the world arsenals, and only in low-yield airbursts over cities. This scenario would ignite thousands of fires, and the smoke from these fires alone would be enough to generate an epoch of cold and dark almost as severe as in the 5000 megaton case. The threshold for the Nuclear Winter is very low

Answer 2

John ... Excellent, excellent question. Yes, I've thought about it ... I've thought about it quite often, in fact, because I live in a suburb of Washington, DC. I've repeatedly imagined that I'd be driving along, perhaps mowing the lawn, taking a walk, or maybe sitting in front of my TV. And then out of nowhere, a huge flash of light appears. Since I'm about 50 miles away, I don't think the immediate effects would get me. On the other hand, I feel the fall out would.

Have you heard of the movie called "The Day After"? You should rent it or borrow it from your local library. I'm certain it will answer many questions you may have. In the movie, the bombs that struck were delivered by ICBMs, as I recall. However, if the terrorists have plans, I don't think they're going to wait until they can develop an intercontinental delivery system ... or in plain English, a missile capable of striking from across the ocean. They'll probably smuggle it into the country and detonate it at ground level. By the way, see my link below for info about Hiroshima and the effects of the small nuclear device that was dropped on them. Yes, it WAS a small device by the standards of modern day hydrogen bombs.

Do people in Japan still suffer from the effects of the bombs? Yes, they do ... See the link below.

On the lighter side, you asked how we could protect ourselves. Well, if I were a liberal-minded person, I'd appeal for a solution and assistance from my capable mentors Jane Fonda, Tim Robbins, and Michael Moore. They seem to have a lot of answers and vast resources that I'm sure they'd be willing to make available to those who follow them so loyally. They would no doubt provide all the assistance I may need in a post-blast environment.

However, since I'm actually a more conservatively-minded person, I'd try to join the military or help my government in every way I can to kick the damned butts of the people or nation that perpetrated the attack.

Sorry to go that way with my answer, John. In view of recent events, I was almost powerless to avoid mentioning that.

Thanks for a good question. And by all means, please rent or borrow "The Day After."

Answer 3

Nothing. I would either die instantly or slowly. There's nothing you can do. Yes, I grew up in the fifties and sixties during the "cold war" so it was constantly on my mind. Nobody's building bomb shelters anymore because the world that they would return to would be useless. Yes, of course people not only feel the effects of the Hiroshima bomb, but the Nagasaki one, as well.

Answer 4

you have to protect yourself from the initial blast with some kind of armor. After that you need a radiation suit to protect your self because the radiation can get through matter. Maybe reinforced concrete and lead helps keep out some radiation. Yes people still die from cancer from the Hiroshima bombing

Answer 5

It depends upon the size...the popular notion is that these things always destroy cities...but tactical weapons have to be very close to achieve their intended impact. So as in other things...size matters....let us assume a relatively modest 500 kiloton weapon...a ground rather than an airburst..and over a small city of about 50,000 residents.

There would be a crater at ground zero and an area of induced radiation of about a half mile radius or so.....

Exposed people at about two to three miles would be serverely burned. Secondary fires would extend out to about 8 or 10 miles.

Structures and high drag targets out to about 10 - 15 miles would be destroyed by the winds.

Fall out would travel with the wind layers for several hundred miles and then settle down to earth and remain dangerously radioactive for a period of ...oh about two weeks or so....

About 5 thousand people would die outright or in a few days....about 10 thousand more would die in a few weeks to months.....and

hospitals would be overwhelmed....people would riot for food and water...then..take it from those who are not armed to defend themselves....

Unless, of course, the Governor declares a state of emergency, martial law and calls in the National Guard.

This is one possible outcome of US failure in Iraq...

That about sums it up....now...if this happened a bunch of places at the same time......

Answer 6

Um - prolly vaporize! Look, dear, we went all through that bull during the Cold War; please give it a rest. As for the folks who're still alive who were affected by the nuclear attack on Hiroshima -yes, quite a few of them are just now, over sixty years later, beginning to show adverse health consequences.

Answer 7

You cannot hide. Shirt of an encapsulated, self-contained living environment, you will not survive. Hopefully you are up wind from the blast, so the radiation will not blow over you.

I would actually hope that if that were to happen, that I would be at ground zero - no pain - no suffering.

Answer 8

I would say right before I was vaporized .... "ooooo - pretty glow!"

If they ever start a nuclear war, I want to be at ground zero of the first bomb they drop.

Answer 9

First I'd die, then I would consider getting a new job as I don't think it possible for a ghost to cook.
Then I would go visit Scottland, and Ireland, because all the other ghosts realy like the castles there.
My wife says she would just die.

Answer 10

How big of a bomb and how close?

Depending upon these factors, I would be:
- vaporized
- incinerated
- have my flesh superheated by the radiation, becoming molten and bubbly, then blown off my skeleton by the shock wave
- killed by shock wave
- killed by the fire storm
- killed quickly by severe radiation poisoning
- killed slowly by radiation poisoning
- not immediately affected physically because too far away.