Castle Bravo - huge thermonuclear Explosion

Castle Bravo was the most powerful nuclear device ever detonated by the United States, with a yield of 15 Megatons. That yield, far exceeding the expected yield of 4 to 6 megatons, combined with other factors, led to the most significant accidental radiological contamination ever caused by the United States.

In terms of TNT tonnage equivalence, Castle Bravo was about 1,200 times more powerful than the atomic bombs which were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki during World War II. The largest nuclear explosion ever produced was a test conducted by the Soviet Union several years later, the ≈50 MT Tsar Bomba.

Extract from the movie "Trinity and Beyond"

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• bravo
• castle
• nuclear
• nuke
• explosion
• atomic
• bomb
• hydrogen
• thermonuclear
• h-bomb
• hd

[Myusernamerulez]

@islamloverist

You can't destroy that which doesn't exist ;)

[Kaesoism]

@soccerfieldful : Even though the Tsar Bomba was bigger and deadlier, it wasn't practical to use. Caste Bravo however, could easily be mass produced and used without much trouble.

[Nuker1337]

@davids2000 I don't know about any. However, in one of the government film reports (search for "operation castle" on archive (dot) org) there is more footage (including an insane closeup on a fireball, the film quality is unfortunately pretty crappy). In "Atomic Filmmakers" there is good quality footage (it's the same as the last clip here but it lasts longer). On sonicbomb (dot) com you can see some very good shots since the author of that site also is interested in this stuff.

[davids2000]

@Nuker1337 Would you know if there are any complete videos of Bravo. I doubt they would have flown over a 15mt fireball. Thanks for the insight.

[Nuker1337]

@davids2000 This footage is a mishmash of pictures from various Castle shots. The first one is Nectar, the next two I'm unsure about, then you have Union, Romeo, Bravo, Romeo and finally Bravo.

[Blamcomac]

Looks like a giant nipple.

[EnigmaHood]

...is 1 megaton/kg. So max theoretical efficiency gives us a bomb that is only 25kg in mass. However that might be the max efficiency for a pure fusion warhead, and not a fission/fusion/fission warhead which is what hydrogen bombs use. HOWEVER, the US claimed in 1963 that they could make a 35MT bomb that massed only 3,700kg which should make it twice as efficient as the B41. However it was never built so it's not fair to claim that refutes your numbers.

[EnigmaHood]

I thought about what you were saying, and actually you ARE trying to say what the max efficiency was for a thermonuclear bomb is. You're just phrasing it in a retarded way. Ok I actually tried your calculation to see if it matched the figures I have. The B41 bomb was 25,000KT. 25,000/6= 4166.7kg is the min mass for that bomb according to you. The mass of the actual bomb was 4,850 kg so that's within your parameters. However according to my source, max efficiency for a fusion bomb..

[EnigmaHood]

@puncheex No, there's no such lower limit aside from the lower limit to how small you can make a fission reaction. Thermonuclear weapons have a theoretical max limit of 1 megaton per kilogram, but actually approaching that efficiency has not been demonstrated. The B41 bomb was the most efficient bomb created with an efficiency of 5.2 kilotons/kg

[puncheex]

@EnigmaHood: Go back and read what I wrote. Is it possible you are mistaken? A limit is a limitation: you cannot build a bomb below the limit. I said there "there is a minimum weight". Reading comprehension, maybe?

If it has x kT yield, it will mass at least x/6 kg. Sure, you can build a bomb as large as you want, but your missile had better have a throw weight greater than 4 metric tons if you want to loft 24 MT of yield, or MIRV six 4-MT bombs. As I said.

[EnigmaHood]

@puncheex Limitation? Now you're saying the exact opposite of what you were claiming before. A limitation is an upper limit, what you were claiming before was a lower limit. In any case, there is no upper limit to how large an H-bomb can be. You obviously don't know what you are talking about.

[puncheex]

@elmoskater: Ever hear about bunkers and telescopic lenses?