The Biggest and most Powerful Nuclear Weapons ever Built

Nuclear Weapon (Tsar Bomb)

A Nuclear weapon (also known as nuclear bomb, nuke, atomic bomb) is an extremely explosive device that derives its destructive force from nuclear reactions, either fission or fusion or combination of both. Nuclear weapons technology was developed during 1930s and 1940s. The first nuclear bombs were detonated during World War II over Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945. The atomic bomb contained only about 64 kg (140 pounds) of highly enriched Uranium, released energy equaling about 15 kilotons of chemical explosive. The blast immediately produced a strong shock wave, enormous amounts of heat and lethal ionizing radiation. The devastating power of bombs dropped on Japan forced the surrender of the Japanese.

Since then, controlling the proliferation of nuclear weapons has been an important issue in international relations and the two detonations in Japan remained the only ever usage in warfare till now.

Tsar Bomb:

The RDS-220 Hydrogen bomb, also known as the Tsar Bomba, is the biggest and most powerful thermonuclear bomb ever made. It was tested by the Soviet Union on 30 October 1961 over Novaya Zemlya Island in the Russian Arctic Sea. The Tsar bomb was air dropped by a Tu-95 bomber using huge fall-retardation parachute. The detonation occurred 4 km above the ground producing a yield of 50 Mt, which is supposed to be equivalent to the explosive power from the simultaneous detonation of 3,800 Hiroshima bombs.

Tsar Bomb contained three stages, unlike normal thermonuclear weapons that explode in just two stages. While the addition of third stage increased the explosive power of the thermonuclear, the bomb’s actual yield of 100 Mt was reduced by 50% to limit the radioactive dust. According to initial data, the Tsar bomb had a nuclear yield of 58.6 Mt (245 PJ), and was overestimated at values all the way up to 75 Mt (310 PJ). 

Some major data of explosion:

Ø  The 8 km fireball reached nearly as high as the altitude of the release plane and was visible at almost 1,000 km away from where it ascended,

Ø  The mushroom cloud was about 67 km (42 mi) high,

Ø  The cap of the mushroom cloud had a peak width of 95 km and its base was 40 km wide,

Ø  Its seismic body wave magnitude was estimated at 5-5.25,

Ø  The bomb, weighing 27 metric tons, was so large (8 meter long by 2.1 meter in diameter),

Ø  The bomb was attached to an 800 kilogram, 1600 square meter parachute, which gave the release and observer planes time to fly about 45 kilometers away from ground zero, giving them a 50% chance of survival.

List of Most Powerful Nuclear Weapons:

a.      B41 nuclear bomb – 25 Mt

b.      TX-21 “Shrimp” (Castle Bravo) – 14.8 Mt

c.      MK-17/EC-17 – 10 Mt to 15 Mt

d.      MK 24/B-24 – 10 Mt to 15 Mt

e.      Ivy Mike H-Bomb – 10.4 Mt

f.       Mk-36 nuclear bomb – 10 Mt

g.      B53 (MK-53) – 9 Mt

h.      MK-16 (TX-16/ EC-16) nuclear bomb – 7 Mt

i.        MK-14/ TX-14 – 6.9 Mt