What If We Detonated All Nuclear Bombs at Once?
Kurzgesagt – In a Nutshell・6 minutes read
The world's 15,000 nuclear weapons could potentially wipe out every city on Earth, killing over three billion people, with the energy equivalent of three billion tons of TNT. If all uranium on Earth was mined to create an explosion equivalent to 10 billion Hiroshima bombs, it could lead to global devastation, nuclear winter, extinction of large animals, and potential human extinction.
Insights
- The combined nuclear arsenal of the US and Russia, totaling around 14,000 weapons, has the capacity to annihilate every city on Earth, resulting in the deaths of over three billion people, showcasing the catastrophic potential of these weapons.
- The hypothetical scenario of detonating all 15,000 nuclear bombs in the Amazon rainforest illustrates the immense destructive power of these weapons, capable of creating a fireball, flattening vast forested areas, and producing extreme radiation that renders significant regions uninhabitable, highlighting the grave consequences of nuclear warfare.
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Recent questions
How many nuclear weapons are on Earth?
15,000
How many nuclear bombs are needed to destroy a city?
Three
What is the energy equivalent of 15,000 nuclear bombs?
Three billion tons of TNT
What would happen if 15,000 nuclear bombs were detonated in the Amazon rainforest?
Fireball, radiation, and destruction
What would happen if all uranium on Earth was used for nuclear bombs?
Global devastation, nuclear winter, extinction
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Summary
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"Devastating Power: Earth's Nuclear Arsenal Revealed"
- Currently, there are 15,000 nuclear weapons on Earth, with the US and Russia possessing around 7,000 each, while other countries collectively own about 1,000.
- On average, it would take three nuclear bombs to obliterate a city with at least 100,000 inhabitants, meaning the world's nuclear arsenal could wipe out every city on Earth, killing over three billion people.
- A pile of all 15,000 nuclear bombs would contain the energy equivalent of three billion tons of TNT, surpassing the power of the Krakatoa volcanic eruption by 15 times.
- If all 15,000 nuclear bombs were detonated in the Amazon rainforest, it would create a fireball vaporizing everything in its path, flattening thousands of square kilometers of forest, and rendering a large area uninhabitable due to extreme radiation.
- Hypothetically, if humanity mined all uranium on Earth to create a pile with the energy of 10 billion Hiroshima bombs, the resulting explosion would cause global devastation, leading to a nuclear winter, extinction of large animal species, and potential human extinction.
