WORLD'S LARGEST MAN-MADE FIREBALL: MIKE (IVY)

"You will see the largest explosion ever witnessed by the human eye." On November 1st, 1952, the world's first hydrogen bomb exploded with a force of 10 million tonnes of TNT on Enewetak Atoll. This test was part of Operation Ivy. The "Mike" device was a 82-tonne bomb, which was more of a building than a bomb. The hydrogen-bomb concept was written by Edward Teller and Stanislaw Ulam, while the Mike device was designed by Richard Garwin.

The primary stage was a TX-5 boosted fission bomb in a separate space atop the assembly (so it would not freeze, rendering it inoperable). The "secondary" fusion stage used liquid deuterium despite the difficulty of handling this material, because this fuel simplified the experiment, and made the results easier to analyze. Running down the center of the flask which held it was a cylindrical rod of plutonium (the "sparkplug") to ignite the fusion reaction. Surrounding this assembly was a five-ton (4.5 tonne) natural uranium "tamper". The interior of the tamper was lined with sheets of lead and polyethylene foam, which formed a radiation channel to conduct X-rays from the primary to secondary. (The function of X-rays was to hydrodynamically compress the secondary, increasing the density and temperature of the deuterium to the levels needed to sustain the thermonuclear reaction, and compressing the sparkplug to supercriticality ignition.) The outermost layer was a steel casing 10-12 inches (25-30 cm) thick. The entire assembly, nicknamed "Sausage", measured 80 inches (2.03 m) in diameter and 244 inches (6.19 m) in height and weighed about 60 tons (54 tonnes).

At 0715 local time, the device was detonated. The 10.4-megaton blast generated the world's largest man-made fireball, over FIVE KILOMETERS wide. The mushroom cloud rose 37 kilometers above the ground. The explosion created a crater 1.9 kilometers in diameter and 50 meters deep.

With that test, the world entered the thermonuclear era.

* The country that used the least time between its first atomic and thermonuclear test was China, which only took TWO years to develop its hydrogen bomb.

Taken from: Trinity and Beyond: The Atomic Bomb Documentary

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• nuclear
• nuke
• atom
• atomic
• hydrogen
• thermo
• thermonuclear
• thermal
• bomb
• weapon
• cold
• war
• fusion
• fission
• uranium
• explode

[kornweasel]

I would love to see a nuclear explosion. But I hope to NEVER do.

[55758]

just sick what humans do....

[usafjonhill]

Tsar Bomba (U.S.S.R.) is by far the most powerful nuclear warhead ever tested, yielding 50 Megatons of TNT. It could have yielded 100 Megatons, but they reduced the yield to reduce radiation. the fireball could be seen from over 500 miles away.

[CrazyPyromaniac572]

U.S.A! U.S.A! OOORAAAH!!!

[MikeRoePhonicsMusic]

@PS3z05133 Reality.

[D34Df007]

@55758 the tsaar is far worse

[PS3z05133]

nice specail effects wat movie is this?

[BrodyLuv2]

@snake172

Its' in my Favourites on my channel..16th one down from the top of the list.

Enjoy.

[snake172]

@BrodyLuv2 cant find it through the search function for some reason, mind sending me a link or something?

[BrodyLuv2]

@snake172

If you have the time I think you may be interested to watch a video here on YT that shows you over a 2d Map all the Detonations of Nuclear Devices from the late 40's all through till' 1998..it starts of a little slow but then the amount of blasts increase dramatically..really an amazing eye-opener..

The name of the video here on YT is "Alert Mankind Has Nuked Himself Alert" A bit dramatic I know,but I urge you to take a look.

Cheers.

[snake172]

@BrodyLuv2 most of them were underground or high atmospheric tests, the ones which weren't were done in controlled environments to make sure fallout would be limited..... its one thing to blow up a nuke in the middle of nowhere or in space as opposed to someone's garden or a city centre.

not that those tests haven't already made an impact on human health........

[BrodyLuv2]

@snake172

Do you know how many Nuclear devices were detonated from the end of the 40's until 1998!?....Alot more than would have been in the event the Cold War went Hot.

Just because they were "Tests" does not mean that Massive High Yield Nuclear Bombs were not Detonated all over Planet Earth and our Atmospheres..even Space.

If you think that this is in anyway different to Nuclear War Please Tell Me How?