Most powerful nuke ever built?

Ma Deuce · Post by **Ma Deuce** » 2004-03-17 02:11pm

Okay, we know the most powerful nuke actually detonated was the 58 megaton device the Russians exploded over Novaya Zemla(sp?) around 1960 (don't remember exact year), but have more powerful devices actually been built, even if never detonated?

phongn · Post by **phongn** » 2004-03-17 02:20pm

Tsar Bomba had a theoretical yield of 100MT with a U238 tamper. That still remains the largest bomb ever built.

aphexmonster · Post by **aphexmonster** » 2004-03-17 02:23pm

phongn wrote:Tsar Bomba had a theoretical yield of 100MT with a U238 tamper. That still remains the largest bomb ever built.

thats nothing, i have a bomb 3 times that size in my toilet

Post by **Sea Skimmer** » 2004-03-17 06:27pm

I feel the need to note that the yield of Tsar Bomba's detonation does not seem to have ever been settled, almost all estimates are from 50-60 megatons with 50, 57 and 58 being the most common, however you may occasionally encounter ones as low as 45 and high as 70. I have no idea if the Russians have ever given an official yield.

If anyones woundering, the largest the US exploded was 15 megatons, but about six hundred twenty five megaton bombs where produced for SAC bombers to use.

phongn · Post by **phongn** » 2004-03-17 06:31pm

Sea Skimmer wrote:If anyones woundering, the largest the US exploded was 15 megatons, but about six hundred twenty five megaton bombs where produced for SAC bombers to use.

Yes. They also thought that 15MT detonation was going to be a lot weaker, too.

Post by **Sea Skimmer** » 2004-03-17 06:38pm

phongn wrote: Yes. They also thought that 15MT detonation was going to be a lot weaker, too.

IIRC 8 megatons was the upper limit of the pretest yield estimates.

Luke Starkiller · Post by **Luke Starkiller** » 2004-03-17 08:31pm

Sea Skimmer wrote:
phongn wrote: Yes. They also thought that 15MT detonation was going to be a lot weaker, too.
IIRC 8 megatons was the upper limit of the pretest yield estimates.

How did that happen?

phongn · Post by **phongn** » 2004-03-17 08:35pm

Luke Starkiller wrote:
Sea Skimmer wrote:
phongn wrote: Yes. They also thought that 15MT detonation was going to be a lot weaker, too.
IIRC 8 megatons was the upper limit of the pretest yield estimates.
How did that happen?

Back In The Day, we weren't really able to model nuclear detonations very well, so we'd have to detonate a bunch and see how well the model held up. As you can see, it didn't in that case.

Nowadays the computer models work pretty well, so they only have to test it once or twice to verify a new design.

Post by **Sea Skimmer** » 2004-03-17 08:55pm

phongn wrote: Back In The Day, we weren't really able to model nuclear detonations very well, so we'd have to detonate a bunch and see how well the model held up. As you can see, it didn't in that case.

Nowadays the computer models work pretty well, so they only have to test it once or twice to verify a new design.

Yup, and the test in question (Castle Bravo) was one of the first hydrogen bomb tests ever conducted; so we basically knew almost nothing about the weapons efficiency.

Luke Starkiller · Post by **Luke Starkiller** » 2004-03-17 09:21pm

Ah, I suppose that makes sense; the models have to come from somewhere.

darthdavid · Post by **darthdavid** » 2004-03-17 11:38pm

*shifts eyes back in forth* come here and i'll show you one twice that size *fades into shadows*