Nuclear Bomb Question

[cracked]

hey yall. i been thinkin. what is the maximum blast radius of an average nuke? i live back in the sticks, about 30 miles from even a small city, 100 miles from any medium to large sized city. am i relatively safe in the event of a nuclear attack? what is the blast radius of the most powerful nukes?

a side question, could they, using a very small amount of uranium(or whatever) make a nuke with a blast radius of say, 100'? in other words, could they make a very small nuke, to be used like a grenade? i dont know what practical applications this would have because the radiation is still there, but is it possible?

drew

Depends on how large the reaction would be with a single uranium atom. That would be one heck of an advanced bomb though, methinks. Not enough info or personal knowledge to go on here.

[willy_ph]

I don't think that you would be exposed to the blast radius, however, you'll likely suffer from the following radioactive fallout.

[vass0922]

heh... I think me, and Theo and maybe a few others would be gone before you could say ut oh haha

[Gomer]

Something tells me it won't really matter. I am of the mindset that if somehow, somewhere, a nuke is unleashed... it will soon be followed by others. Not just a crazy idea, it's MAD.

[Daft_Ghosty]

Well cracked you shouldn't trouble yourself over this.. As it stands.. even if your 100 miles away from say a 1 megaton blast.. u r still a dead person.. anything within 5 miles of a blast from that small bomb will be almost all gone.. but see it isn't the blast from a nuclear weapon that is so feared.. If we had weapons that could deliver the blast a 20 to 40 megaton weapon without radiation.. then weapons like that would be used more often.. its the facts that you have fallout that is the scary part..

ok back to point.. the safest distance from a 1megaton blast is 250 miles plus.. due to the fact that dust and radioactive material is through up into the air.. and carried 100s of miles..

This is based on a 1 megaton blast.. 1 megaton is small.. the weapons we use are in the range of 20 mega tons or more.. the russians had designs for 100 megaton weapons.. a weapon like that would destroy anything within around 50 miles.. and send death to those up to 500+ miles..

edit:had to fix a mistake..

[Toadman]

If you're not in the actual blast radius, check prevailing winds.
This site is an eye-opener if you are a US resident with a zip code.Blast Mapper.

[Mr. Goodbytes]

It's not just the amount of weapons grade uranium or plutomium that makes the big bombs so powerul. It's mainly the use of tritium to create a multistaged warhead, one that has both a fission and fusion reaction. Microseconds before the detonation that causes the nuclear material to reach critical mass, tritium is injected into the "core" to create an enhanced reaction. That steps up the yeild to upo to 75 kilotons or so. Although that detonation is mainly directed inward to crush the uranium/plutonium, the blast is arranged so that the resulting reaction is directed towards a supply of tritium (or sometimes deuterium i think), and it slams into it creating the fusion reaction. I'm not sure of the numbers, but I believe it takes about a 35 kiloton fission reaction to trigger the fusion reaction. The fission and fusion reactions work in tandem to feed each other, resulting in a blast that can be somewhere from 150 kilotons to upwards of a megaton (not really sure how high).

I don't know the blast radius, including the reach of the shockwave and heat blast, of even the biggest bombs, but I imagine that 30 miles' distance will keep you within the "hot-zone." The fallout has more reach of course, and is more deadly and long-lasting (upwards of a thousand years) if the bomb is laced with metals such as chromium or cesium. Nobody with a good head on their shoulders wants to see one used unless all other options are exhausted.

[MTAtech]

In the event of a nuclear exchnage, the living will envy the dead.

[Daft_Ghosty]

u got that right MTAtech.. it's better to be in the blast radios.. or safe in a bunker with 10 years of food, and water.. b/c if u live through it.. u will will suffer bad.. radiation sickness isn't nice.. hair falls out.. bruises show up all over your body.. then your organs start failing..