It has been almost seven decades since mankind used nuclear force as a resource for war conflicts and dropped two atomic bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The impact of the devices was such that it killed at least 129,000 people, causing devastating long-term effects on the health of Japanese citizens.
Since then, a device of such magnitude has not been used again, however, the militia of different countries continue to experiment with nuclear force, positioning it as one of the greatest threats to humanity.
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Nuclear forces, one of the main threats
The Bulletin of the Board of Science and Safety of the Atomic Scientists itself sets the End of the World Clock at 100 seconds to midnight. This is a symbolic clock marking the latent threats of destruction to mankind, with midnight being a total disaster. To determine the seconds on it, potential threats to life on the planet such as global warming, the climate crisis, and also the threat of nuclear war are taken into account.
According to the Bulletin, the three world powers are engaged in an arms race that includes experimentation with nuclear energy for war purposes. The United States, Russia, and China are increasing the chances of a war breaking out and the threats are increasing with the recent military operation of the Russian forces that have entered Ukraine.
But what would be the impact in case of a nuclear bomb explosion? In a hypothetical situation, scientists are trying to answer this question that is on many people’s minds: how far away should we be from the blast to survive?
How far away do we have to be to survive a nuclear bomb?
The first thing to clarify is that there is no exact way to predict the behavior of a nuclear bomb since it depends on several uncontrollable factors such as the weather, the topographic region of the place, and whether the blast occurs in the air or on the ground. But there are predictable stages that give us an indication of how the explosion will develop.
For this hypothetical case, a nuclear bomb of 1 megaton of TNT was taken into account, which is 80 times bigger than the bomb called Little Boy detonated over Hiroshima. Although it must be taken into account that today there are much more powerful bombs, only the Soviet Union’s Tsar bomb that was detonated in 1961 as a demonstration, was equivalent to 50 megatons of TNT.
80 times bigger than Little Boy
For a 1-megaton bomb, the thermal radiation released, traveling at about the speed of light, would cause a perceptible shock wave in the form of a flash that would propagate up to 52 miles around. This flash would generate temporary flash blindness to those at this distance. Further toward the center, about 13 square miles from the focus of the explosion, blindness would suddenly appear.
But the most pressing situation would be for those at a distance of up to half a mile radius, as heat propagation would cause minor burns. The closer you get to the blast site, the greater the blast and 5 miles would be enough to generate extremely severe third-degree burns over a large part of the body.
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At a distance of 3 miles, the blast wave would generate 180 metric tons of force on building walls and wind speeds of up to 158 miles per hour. Buildings would collapse, although not immediately, as opposed to within a mile radius, where the maximum pressure would reach up to four times the previous one and winds would exceed 434 miles per hour.
An end of humanity war
In the only two cases of nuclear bomb detonation for war purposes, it was estimated that the Hiroshima bomb reached up to 13,800 ºF Approximately 300 times the temperature at which bodies are cremated.
Therefore, the region within the fireball, approximately 0.3 miles around would be reduced to ashes instantly. While buildings and structures would collapse because of the violent change in pressure and the blast wave, the bodies would be charred, reduced to ashes instantly.
Once the blast wave is over, it is still necessary to deal with the radioactive particles released in the process, contamination that we know is harmful to life. It is not known exactly what the extent of radioactive contamination would be, since in scenarios such as the Chernobyl nuclear accident, the deaths closest to the radiation were calculated, but not the long-term consequences on the health of those living near the region.
The destructive force of nuclear weapons is imminent, which is why there are international agreements limiting their use.
In addition, it has been calculated that a nuclear war between the United States and Russia would leave devastating consequences on the planet, plunging it into a nuclear winter due to smoke and dust. Therefore, before using this type of weaponry, governments should consider the damage not only to their opponents but also to their own citizens.
Story originally published in Ecoosfera
