zzdcar
Home
/
Reviews
/
Beyond Cars
/
See What Would Happen If You Dropped A Nuke Right Onto Your Own Face
See What Would Happen If You Dropped A Nuke Right Onto Your Own Face-May 2024
2024-02-19 EST 22:14:24

That picture right there is what would happen if you dropped the world's largest nuke, the Soviet , in its theoretical 100 Megaton configuration onto the Foxtrot Alpha World Headquarters. Don't worry, if you only use the as-tested 50 MT configuration, Scranton might still make it.

We've seen other online widgets before that allow you model what would happen if you dropped nukes in various cities around the world, but Alex Wellerstein's is probably the best. Our friends over at covered it back in 2013, but it really is worth reminding yourself about every so often, as constant thoughts of the specter of instant vaporizing death really are the spice of life.

If you happen to be just caught up in the mushroom cloud, that is. If you aren't caught up in the cloud, and you manage to get hit by the shockwave and fallout only to either A) survive for a little bit, and then succumb to incredibly painful and horrific injuries or B) survive for longer, but still suffer a lot of pain and possible radiation sickness, then let those thoughts also provide some zest to your day-to-day mundanity.

The reason why Wellerstein's NUKEMAP is so good, beyond the 2D/3D options,is just how specific you can make your death. The Tsar Bomba too big for you? Why not try on the Littlest Nuke That Could, the Davy Crockett :

Back in the late 1950s and early 1960s, the American military had a dream. That dream was to create

Not bad. We here would all be toast, of course, but at least we could still all run to Katz's for a pastrami lunch. But the world isn't all about the biggest and the smallest, as both the Tsar Bomba and the Davy Crockett are both out of service, and furthermore, were never actually used in anger. One bomb that was used in anger, however, was Little Boy, the nuclear bomb first dropped on Hiroshima. A common perception of the first nuclear weapon used in warfare is that Little Boy was an all-encompassing, all-destroying bomb, capable of leveling an entire city in one fell swoop. And while it does do massive destruction, likely being an enormously tragic event were it ever to happen, from this map you can see the destruction is actually quite geographically limited:

Everything in the red ring in the middle would be completely, totally destroyed, likely even vaporized. Most buildings in the middle ring would be severely damaged, but in the outer ring only windows would break. And yes, I know breaking windows and all the flying glass that that entails is still highly dangerous, but save for the threat of fallout, Central Park would be relatively unscathed.

And for that main reason, plus a few others, is why single bombs like Little Boy aren't really considered the standard in strategic, city-destroying nuclear warfare anymore. Current practice tends toward placing multiple warheads on top of one land- or submarine-launched intercontinental ballistic missile, and having them fan out across a city for maximum destruction. Known as a Multiple Independent Re-entry Vehicle (MIRV) setup, it's primarily used by the US, France, the UK, and Russia to stack multiple warheads on one missile.

But since it's highly unlikely that the UK and France will want to re-enact the Battle of Agincourt with one another, let's stick to other highly-unlikely-yet-slightly-less-remote scenarios. Like North Korea nuking San Francisco:

I guess everyone can move to Alcatraz.

Head over to the , and play around with all the different variables, such as burst height, explosive power, thermal radiation, ionizing radiation, and fallout. All of it is fascinatingly morbid.

H/t to !

Comments
Welcome to zzdcar comments! Please keep conversations courteous and on-topic. To fosterproductive and respectful conversations, you may see comments from our Community Managers.
Sign up to post
Sort by
Show More Comments
Beyond Cars
String Of Boeing Failures Continues With 737-800 Flight Turning Back With Cracked Cockpit Windshield
String Of Boeing Failures Continues With 737-800 Flight Turning Back With Cracked Cockpit Windshield
In the wake of recent major , including , , and the debacle that was , it isn’t a good time for further failures by the company. that would , an unrelated 737-800 with a cracked windshield, became international news this weekend. The flight took off from Sapporo-New Chitose...
May 14, 2025
2023 Zero DSR/X: The Bike Of The Future, But Not Our Future
2023 Zero DSR/X: The Bike Of The Future, But Not Our Future
The world, in 2023, is cyberpunk. We’ve got the , the , and the that keeps the and the . But in cyberpunk media, people are always riding . Why are we stuck with the same bikes we’ve always had? , it seems, wants to address this grievous wrong....
May 14, 2025
Marshmallow Treats Ended Up On The Royal Air Force's No-Fly List
Marshmallow Treats Ended Up On The Royal Air Force's No-Fly List
Over in the United Kingdom, there’s a certain dessert known as a “teacake” — or, as a British friend kindly informed me, it’s more accurately known as a “Tunnock” in Scotland. Basically, the food in question for this particular story are actually a cookie base topped with marshmallow, coated...
May 14, 2025
Deadliest Train In America Kills 3 People In 2 Separate Collisions At The Same Crossing
Deadliest Train In America Kills 3 People In 2 Separate Collisions At The Same Crossing
operate between Orlando and Miami and hold the unwelcome distinction of being both the first intra-city high speed rail in the U.S. and the , by far. After three people died at a single grade crossing in two separate incidents last week it seems the feds are finally perking...
May 14, 2025
Aircraft Touch Tips During Blizzard At Japanese Airport
Aircraft Touch Tips During Blizzard At Japanese Airport
As at , its port side wing the starboard vertical stabilizer of bound for Hong Kong. This comes at Tokyo’s Haneda Airport, and . “Our aircraft, which was stationary at the time with no customers nor crew onboard, was struck by a Korean Air A330 which was taxiing past,”...
May 14, 2025
Crystal Chunks Are Bursting Through The Road In China
Crystal Chunks Are Bursting Through The Road In China
A video of what looks like quartz breaking through the surface of a is making the rounds on . I don’t get over there much, being suspicious of the Chinese over concerns of it spying on its users, as the reports. OK, fine. Actually, I just don’t get the humor...
May 14, 2025
Copyright 2023-2025 - www.zzdcar.com All Rights Reserved