How much can a 50 megaton atomic bomb blow up?

Question

im just curious... dang.

Answer 1

An excerpt from the linked web site puts the size of the Tsar bomb in perspective. And this was the low power version imagine if it was the 100Mt version!!!

One second after detonation, the fireball was over 4 miles wide. Despite the high altitude of the test, the fireball swelled down to the Earth’s surface almost licking the ground. The shockwave of the blast almost killed the crew of the Tu-95 that dropped the plane as the fireball almost reached the height of the release plane. Despite cloudy skies, the flash of light was clearly visible 1,600 miles away. The shockwave destroyed buildings and tore roofs off of homes hundreds of miles from ground zero. Windows in Norway and Finland were shattered. The scientific settelment on the Matochkin Strait called Severney, some 35 miles south of the explosion, was devastated. The thermal pulse of the blast was felt 500 miles from the epicenter. Radio communications were knocked out for an hour and no word of the safety of the Tu-95 and its crew could be reported for some time

Answer 2

there are many ways to survive a nuclear blast. while you noted it was the biggest, that is probably not going to be the case if there is a blast. survival is as much as a matter of where you are when it detonates, as much as what you do in the minutes after it hits, and the hours there after. surviving it might not be to your advantage if you are going to be exposed to a lingering horrid death, but then who am i to judge what people want. in the military, you try to keep your soldiers safe in these events and as i say, it is a matter of timing. the light energy travels at 180,000 miles per second. it is hard to out run it. the blast wave will transverse 12 miles in 52 seconds, and then like a good dog, it comes back as the air rushes back. radiation is of secondary consideration depending on if it is a dirty bomb sucking up debris to create a lot of fall out, and if it is a clean bomb such as a high altitude airburst, the radiation may be very low and nothing to write your congressman about. (if you have one to write). i would suggest you do a lot of reading if you are wanting to survive one. you better plan well, plan intelligently and have a good idea how you will find your way to either your cache of food and water as well as an escape route. in a blast, the damage is so extensive, that for you to find landmarks that would help you to find you cach with will be zilch.

Answer 3

The blast wave, which I assume you are talking about, has an effect which depends on the height of detonation of your device. For a surface explosion, the crater diameter is about 45m for a 1kiloton yield in average dry rock formation, and increases by a factor of 2 for each decade of nuclear yield. So for a hypothetical 50M thermonuclear detonation, the crater of vapourisation is about 2.25km.
The 'overpressure' due to the blast where 35kPa is considered lethal for 50% of the population is about 25km if the blast was detonated about 11km in the air, being reduced correspondingly as the detonation height approaches ground level to about 3km.
The radiation dose is also logarithmic with yield.(doubles per decade) If we consider a total absorbed somatic dose from neutron and gamma rays of 500rem as 50% lethal, then a 50M burst would kill 50% of the unsheltered population at a range of about 8km prob within days. All in all, the 50M bomb would effectively destroy life within an area of about 100km^2, and this is even before we have calculated the averaged-out radiation doses due to the fallout.

Answer 4

Makes toast at 30 miles.

Answer 5

A lot!

Answer 6

Sh!t loads

Answer 7

lots...but would you really want to find out??????????