The most powerful bomb in the world. Which bomb is stronger: vacuum or thermonuclear? Hydrogen (thermonuclear) bomb: testing weapons of mass destruction
The period of the late 1940s and early 1950s was marked for the Soviet Union by a furious “nuclear race”. The Cold War with its former allies in the anti-Hitler coalition threatened to go into a “hot” stage at any moment due to the fact that the United States had atomic weapons, but the USSR did not.
In August 1949, the Soviet Union tested its first atomic bomb, breaking the US monopoly on this type of weapon.
But this, however, did not mean that the threat had passed. The United States was ahead of the USSR both in the number of charges produced and in quality, being at least one step ahead in the technical improvement of the new type of weapon.
On November 1, 1952, the United States conducted the first test of a megaton-class thermonuclear device, called Eevee Mike, at Eniwetak Atoll.
The Soviet Union's response came on August 12, 1953, when the RDS-6s device was tested at the Semipalatinsk test site - the first domestic hydrogen bomb, which also became the world's first bomb of this class, ready for combat use.
Castle Bravo Shock
The race continued. Scientists in both countries were looking for ways to increase the power of bombs. On March 1, 1954, on Bikini Atoll, the Americans tested a device codenamed Castle Bravo. We were talking about a bomb with a so-called two-stage charge, in which a solid substance, lithium deuteride, was used as a thermonuclear fuel for the first time in American practice. The explosive device was made according to the Ulam-Teller scheme, in which the first phase is an explosion of an atomic charge of uranium or plutonium, and during the second stage a thermonuclear reaction occurs in a container compressed by the energy of the first explosion through radiation implosion.
The estimated power of the explosion was estimated in the range of 4-8 megatons, with the most likely 6 megatons.
The American specialists missed the mark. The power of the explosion was 2.5 times higher than calculated and amounted to 15 megatons, making it the most powerful in the history of nuclear weapons tests in the United States. Experts who took refuge in the bunker later wrote that it wavered “like a ship on a stormy sea.” Due to the strong radioactivity, it became possible to leave the bunker only after 11 hours.
Dangerous doses of radiation were received by the American military and residents of nearby inhabited islands, who were not warned about the danger.
Radioactive dust falling from the explosion cloud showered the Japanese fishing vessel Fukuryu Maru, located 170 km from Bikini. The infection caused severe radiation sickness in all crew members, who received a radiation dose of about 300 roentgens each and became severely disabled, and the ship's radio operator Aikichi Kuboyama he died six months later.
Despite all these consequences, the military declared the test a success.
The Americans received their high-power thermonuclear charge, and Soviet Union again it was necessary to catch up with the opponent who had gone ahead.
Work on the Soviet “superbomb” had been going on since 1953, but it was only in 1954 that the basic principles of the new principle underlying the two-stage design were finally formulated.
On December 24, 1954, the scientific and technical council of KB-11 was held under the chairmanship of Igor Kurchatov. The Minister of Medium Engineering took part in the work of the council Vyacheslav Malyshev, management of KB-11, scientists and designers and developers of atomic charges. At the meeting, the problem of creating a high-power hydrogen bomb using a new principle (radiation implosion scheme) was discussed. As a result, it was decided to begin work on a new hydrogen bomb, which received the code name “RDS-37”.
In October 1955, the USSR Council of Ministers decided that the test of the new bomb would take place at test site No. 2, located in Semipalatinsk. It was supposed to test the new weapon by targeted bombing from an airplane. In order to allow the bomber crew to escape to a safe distance, it was planned to drop the RDS-37 by parachute.
The best landing of Major Golovashko
The test of the “superbomb” was scheduled for November 20, 1955. That morning, scientists carried out a final check on the munition and handed it over to the military to be attached to an aircraft. At 9:30 a Tu-16 carrier aircraft with a crew under the command of a major Fedora Golovashko took off from Zhana-Semey airfield.
And here unforeseen difficulties began. Contrary to meteorologists' forecasts, the test site was covered with dense clouds. Then it turned out that the radar sight was out of order and targeted bombing was impossible.
In such conditions, it was necessary to recall the Tu-16 to the base, but no one had yet to land a plane with a thermonuclear bomb on board.
There were no people willing to take responsibility for such an order, and the Tu-16 had less and less fuel left.
To make a decision, two leading specialists in thermonuclear devices were urgently involved - Andrey Sakharov And Yakov Zeldovich, who gave written guarantees that the charge would not explode during landing.
The commander of the Tu-16 crew, Fyodor Golovashko, made probably his most ideal landing that day. A year later, for his participation in nuclear weapons tests, he would be awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. And that day the pilots, and not only them, were happy that everything ended well.
November "heat"
After analyzing the emergency situation, test leaders announced a new date - November 22, 1955.
At 6:55 am on November 22, the RDS-37 was again suspended from the Tu-16. At 8:34 the plane's crew received the order to take off. This time the situation in the area of the test site turned out to be favorable. At 9:47 a.m. a bomb was dropped from a height of 12 thousand meters. The parachute system worked successfully, the bomb exploded at an altitude of 1550 meters.
Despite the fact that the Tu-16 managed to move to a safe distance, the pilots in the cockpit felt open areas the skin has a greater thermal effect than what happens in the open sun, even in the hottest weather.
Observers who were 35 kilometers from the epicenter, wearing special glasses, lying on the ground surface, felt a strong influx of heat at the moment of the flash, and when the shock wave approached, a twofold strong and sharp sound, reminiscent of a lightning discharge.
5-7 minutes after the explosion, the height of the radioactive cloud reached 13-14 kilometers, and the diameter of the “mushroom” of the cloud at that moment was 25-30 kilometers.
People were injured tens of kilometers from the epicenter
The commission to determine the power of the explosion found that the actual power of the RDS-37 was 1.6 megatons. The magnitude would seem to be incomparable to the power of Castle Bravo, but the Soviet “superbomb” was tested by being dropped from an airplane, while the American one was detonated on the surface. RDS-37 became the first bomb in the world with a yield of more than 1 megaton, dropped from an airplane.
The explosion of RDS-37, like Castle Bravo, caused a lot of trouble. At the time of the collapse of the dugout in waiting area No. 1, located 36 kilometers from the center of the explosion, six soldiers of the security battalion were covered with earth, one of whom died from suffocation, the rest received minor bruises. In the village of Semiyarskoye, due to the collapse of ceilings in specially equipped premises, one woman received closed fracture hips and two suffered spinal bruises. In different populated areas within a radius of several tens of kilometers, more than 40 people were injured by glass shards and building debris. Against this background, the fact that windows were broken in houses within a radius of up to 200 km looks like a trifle.
The successful test of the RDS-37 “superbomb” allowed the Soviet Union to take a decisive step towards creating its own “nuclear shield”, and the principle used in this bomb formed the basis for the creation of subsequent thermonuclear charges.
The hydrogen bomb (Hydrogen Bomb, HB) is a weapon of mass destruction with incredible destructive power (its power is estimated at megatons of TNT). The principle of operation of the bomb and its structure are based on the use of the energy of thermonuclear fusion of hydrogen nuclei. The processes occurring during the explosion are similar to those occurring on stars (including the Sun). The first test of a VB suitable for long-distance transportation (designed by A.D. Sakharov) was carried out in the Soviet Union at a test site near Semipalatinsk.
Thermonuclear reaction
The sun contains huge reserves of hydrogen under constant action ultra-high pressure and temperature (about 15 million degrees Kelvin). At such an extreme plasma density and temperature, the nuclei of hydrogen atoms randomly collide with each other. The result of collisions is the fusion of nuclei, and as a consequence, the formation of nuclei of a heavier element - helium.
Reactions of this type are called thermonuclear fusion; they are characterized by the release of colossal amounts of energy.
The laws of physics explain the energy release during a thermonuclear reaction as follows: part of the mass of light nuclei involved in the formation of heavier elements remains unused and is converted into pure energy in colossal quantities. That is why our celestial body loses approximately 4 million tons of matter per second, while releasing a continuous flow of energy into outer space.
The simplest of all existing atoms is the hydrogen atom. It consists of just one proton, which forms the nucleus, and a single electron orbiting around it. As a result scientific research water (H2O), it was found that so-called “heavy” water is present in small quantities. It contains “heavy” isotopes of hydrogen (2H or deuterium), the nuclei of which, in addition to one proton, also contain one neutron (a particle close in mass to a proton, but devoid of charge).
Science also knows tritium, the third isotope of hydrogen, the nucleus of which contains 1 proton and 2 neutrons. Tritium is characterized by instability and constant spontaneous decay with the release of energy (radiation), resulting in the formation of a helium isotope. Traces of tritium are found in the upper layers of the Earth's atmosphere: it is there, under the influence of cosmic rays, that the molecules of gases that form air undergo similar changes. Tritium can also be produced in a nuclear reactor by irradiating the lithium-6 isotope with a powerful neutron flux.
Development and first tests of the hydrogen bomb
As a result of a thorough theoretical analysis, experts from the USSR and the USA came to the conclusion that a mixture of deuterium and tritium makes it easiest to launch a thermonuclear fusion reaction. Armed with this knowledge, scientists from the United States in the 50s of the last century began to create a hydrogen bomb. And already in the spring of 1951, a test test was carried out at the Enewetak test site (an atoll in the Pacific Ocean), but then only partial thermonuclear fusion was achieved.
A little more than a year passed, and in November 1952 the second test of a hydrogen bomb with a yield of about 10 Mt of TNT was carried out. However, that explosion can hardly be called an explosion of a thermonuclear bomb in the modern sense: in fact, the device was a large container (the size of a three-story building) filled with liquid deuterium.
Russia also took up the task of improving atomic weapons, and the first hydrogen bomb of the A.D. project. Sakharov was tested at the Semipalatinsk test site on August 12, 1953. RDS-6 (this type of weapon of mass destruction was nicknamed Sakharov’s “puff”, since its design involved the sequential placement of layers of deuterium surrounding the initiator charge) had a power of 10 Mt. However, unlike the American “three-story house,” the Soviet bomb was compact, and it could be quickly delivered to the drop site on enemy territory on a strategic bomber.
Accepting the challenge, in March 1954 the United States exploded a more powerful aerial bomb (15 Mt) at a test site on Bikini Atoll (Pacific Ocean). The test caused a release into the atmosphere large quantity radioactive substances, some of which fell in precipitation hundreds of kilometers from the epicenter of the explosion.
The Japanese ship "Lucky Dragon" and instruments installed on Rogelap Island recorded a sharp increase in radiation.
Since the processes that occur during the detonation of a hydrogen bomb produce stable, harmless helium, it was expected that radioactive emissions should not exceed the level of contamination from an atomic fusion detonator. But calculations and measurements of actual radioactive fallout varied greatly, both in quantity and composition. Therefore, the US leadership decided to temporarily suspend the design of this weapon until its impact on the environment and humans is fully studied.
Video: tests in the USSR
Tsar Bomba - thermonuclear bomb of the USSR The USSR marked the final point in the chain of hydrogen bomb production when, on October 30, 1961, a 50-megaton (the largest in history) “Tsar Bomb” was tested on Novaya Zemlya - the result of many years of work by A.D.’s research group. Sakharov. The explosion thundered at an altitude of 4 kilometers, and the shock wave was recorded three times by instruments throughout. to the globe Despite the fact that the test did not reveal any failures, the bomb never entered service.
But the very fact that the Soviets possessed such weapons made an indelible impression on the whole world, and the United States stopped accumulating the tonnage of its nuclear arsenal. Russia, in turn, decided to abandon the introduction of warheads with hydrogen charges into combat duty.
A hydrogen bomb is a complex technical device, the explosion of which requires the sequential occurrence of a number of processes. First, the initiator charge located inside the shell of the VB (miniature atomic bomb) detonates, resulting in a powerful emission of neutrons and the creation high temperature
required to initiate thermonuclear fusion in the main charge. Massive neutron bombardment of the lithium deuteride insert (obtained by combining deuterium with the lithium-6 isotope) begins.
A mixture of tritium and deuterium triggers a thermonuclear reaction, causing the temperature inside the bomb to rapidly increase, and more and more hydrogen is involved in the process.
The principle of operation of a hydrogen bomb implies the ultra-fast occurrence of these processes (the charge device and the arrangement of the main elements contribute to this), which to the observer appear instantaneous.
Superbomb: fission, fusion, fission
The sequence of processes described above ends after the start of the reaction of deuterium with tritium. Next, it was decided to use nuclear fission rather than fusion of heavier ones. After the fusion of tritium and deuterium nuclei, free helium and fast neutrons are released, the energy of which is sufficient to initiate the fission of uranium-238 nuclei. Fast neutrons are capable of splitting atoms from the uranium shell of a superbomb. The fission of a ton of uranium generates energy of about 18 Mt. In this case, energy is spent not only on creating a blast wave and releasing a colossal amount of heat. Each uranium atom decays into two radioactive “fragments.” A whole “bouquet” of different chemical elements
(up to 36) and about two hundred radioactive isotopes. It is for this reason that numerous radioactive fallouts are formed, recorded hundreds of kilometers from the epicenter of the explosion.
After the fall of the Iron Curtain, it became known that the USSR was planning to develop a “Tsar Bomb” with a capacity of 100 Mt. Due to the fact that at that time there was no aircraft capable of carrying such a massive charge, the idea was abandoned in favor of a 50 Mt bomb.
Consequences of a hydrogen bomb explosion
Shock wave
The explosion of a hydrogen bomb entails large-scale destruction and consequences, and the primary (obvious, direct) impact is threefold. The most obvious of all direct impacts is a shock wave of ultra-high intensity. Its destructive ability decreases with distance from the epicenter of the explosion, and also depends on the power of the bomb itself and the height at which the charge detonated.
The effect of the thermal impact of an explosion depends on the same factors as the power of the shock wave. But one more thing is added to them - the degree of transparency of air masses. Fog or even slight cloudiness sharply reduces the radius of damage over which a thermal flash can cause serious burns and loss of vision. The explosion of a hydrogen bomb (more than 20 Mt) generates an incredible amount of thermal energy, sufficient to melt concrete at a distance of 5 km, evaporate almost all the water from a small lake at a distance of 10 km, destroy enemy personnel, equipment and buildings at the same distance .
A funnel with a diameter of 1-2 km and a depth of up to 50 m is formed in the center, covered with a thick layer of glassy mass (several meters of rocks with a high sand content melt almost instantly, turning into glass).
- According to calculations based on real-life tests, people have a 50% chance of surviving if they:
- They are located in a reinforced concrete shelter (underground) 8 km from the epicenter of the explosion (EV);
- They are located in residential buildings at a distance of 15 km from the EV;
They will find themselves in an open area at a distance of more than 20 km from the EV with poor visibility (for a “clean” atmosphere, the minimum distance in this case will be 25 km).
With distance from EVs, the likelihood of surviving in people who find themselves in open areas increases sharply. So, at a distance of 32 km it will be 90-95%. A radius of 40-45 km is the limit for the primary impact of an explosion.
for tens of kilometers around.
Fallout
Coarse dust settles quite quickly, but fine dust is carried by air currents over vast distances, gradually falling out of the newly formed cloud. Large and most charged particles settle in the immediate vicinity of the EC; ash particles visible to the eye can still be found hundreds of kilometers away. They form a deadly cover, several centimeters thick. Anyone who gets close to him risks receiving a serious dose of radiation.
Smaller, more indistinguishable particles can float in the atmosphere long years, repeatedly circling the Earth. By the time they fall to the surface, they have lost a fair amount of radioactivity. The most dangerous is strontium-90, which has a half-life of 28 years and generates stable radiation throughout this time. Its appearance is detected by instruments around the world. “Landing” on grass and foliage, it becomes involved in food chains. For this reason, examinations of people located thousands of kilometers from the testing sites reveal strontium-90 accumulated in the bones. Even if its content is extremely low, the prospect of being a “landfill for storing radioactive waste” does not bode well for a person, leading to the development of bone malignancies. In regions of Russia (as well as other countries) close to the sites of test launches of hydrogen bombs, an increased radioactive background is still observed, which once again proves the ability of this type of weapon to leave significant consequences.
Video about the hydrogen bomb
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MOSCOW, April 14 – RIA Novosti. The US Air Force has released video footage of tests of the most powerful non-nuclear bomb GBU-43/B. She is also known as the "mother of all bombs".
The tests, a recording of which appeared on the Internet, took place back in 2003. The US Air Force decided to make them public only after “field” tests - the day before they dropped the GBU-43/B on the positions of the “Islamic State”* in Afghanistan.
What is GBU-43/B
The American high-explosive aerial bomb GBU-43/B was created in 2002-2003. According to open sources, one bomb of this type was once sent to Iraq, but was not used during military operations.
The bomb contains 8.4 tons of special Australian-made explosives: a mixture of hexogen, TNT and aluminum powder. According to experts, the United States may have about 15 such shells in its arsenals.
The bomb has a second official name: Massive Ordnance Air Blast (MOAB), a heavy high-explosive munition. The abbreviation gave birth to the nickname Mother Of All Bombs - “mother of all bombs”.
The radius of complete damage after the GBU-43/B explosion is 140 meters, partial destruction occurs at a distance of up to one and a half kilometers from the epicenter.
Strike in Afghanistan
The first combat test of the super-bomb took place in Afghanistan. The American Air Force dropped it on the positions of IS militants; the main target of the bombing was the tunnels that the terrorists used to travel.
Military expert on the GBU-43 bomb in Afghanistan: The United States is the “master of advertising”The use of the GBU-43 bomb by the Americans in the Afghan province of Nangarhar was primarily a political message from the United States to other countries. This opinion was expressed on radio Sputnik by military expert Mikhail Khodarenok.The Afghan Ministry of Defense said that 36 militants were killed as a result of the airstrike. However, there is no data on civilian casualties.
US President Donald Trump called the US military's strike against IS "another very, very successful mission."
"I'm giving orders to the military. We have the greatest military in the world, and they did their job as usual. We gave them every right (to do that), and that's what they're doing now," Trump told reporters.
Questionable effectiveness
Even American experts doubted the effectiveness of using such weapons in Afghanistan.
“The strike on the cave complex in Afghanistan probably killed 150-200 members of the Afghan unit of the terrorist group ISIS *. In this sense, it was a modest tactical success,” military historian Doug McGregor told RIA Novosti.
As it turned out later, the damage caused to the militants was even less.
"From a strategic perspective, the strike had no impact on the war in Afghanistan, where 40,000 Taliban fighters are regaining ground lost over the past few years and overwhelming the US-trained and armed Afghan army and police," McGregor added.
According to the expert, the only reasonable conclusion that can be drawn from Washington's actions is that "the president is being given bad advice."
Military analyst at the Brookings Institution in Washington, Michael O'Hanlon, also believes that the capabilities of the “mother of all bombs” are exaggerated.
"This is a weapon without the deep effect that folklore often ascribes to it. It's not super big and not super bad," O'Hanlon said.
"Effective Gesture"
Deputy Director National Institute development modern ideology Igor Shatrov, commenting on the use of the “mother of all bombs” in Afghanistan, noted that the United States is becoming prone to “spectacular gestures.”
“In fact, it really was a test of a bomb, because it was its first combat use. In this regard, we saw a certain position, a certain new trait of Trump. He is prone to spectacular, “beautiful” gestures using the armed forces,” the political scientist noted in broadcast on Sputnik radio.
He did not rule out that there will be many more similar “gestures” from Trump.
“The United States has shown that it has the most powerful weapons, the emphasis is on the fact that this is a powerful non-nuclear bomb - of course, this is a signal to the whole world and Russia, in particular. All this is called “saber rattling,” Shatrov said.
Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Committee on Defense Yuri Shvytkin also agrees with the political scientist. According to the deputy, the use of a super-powerful non-nuclear bomb indicates Washington's desire to show its power.
“Here, it seems to me, the blow is less aimed at the Islamic State*, although it is clear that physical and material damage has been caused. But to a greater extent, here we are talking about showing other states its power. Washington’s attempt to show the power of its power ", Shvytkin told RIA Novosti.
According to him, the bombing once again proved the impulsiveness and unpredictability of American President Donald Trump.
“It is important to understand that this damages not only the Islamic State itself*, but also the territory of the state where the militants are located. There must be comparability of actions. It is especially important to prevent losses among civilians, but, unfortunately, the United States does not have this It always works out,” Shvytkin said.
*Terrorist organization" Islamic State"(IS) is banned in Russia
Non-profit organization The Outrider Foundation has developed an interactive map where you can check the consequences of a nuclear strike on any city on the planet. The service shows in detail how far the shock wave will spread, how many people will die, how radiation will spread and other characteristics of the explosion. In addition to the city, you can also choose the type of bomb. The whole world is in ruins.
Nuclear bombing simulator organization The Outrider Foundation developed because “nuclear war is considered one of the greatest threats to the future.” The director of the foundation, Tara Drozdenko, told Gizmodo about this.
We live in dangerous world. Nuclear weapons do not make it safer, but on the contrary. Understanding the hazards is the first step towards a safer future.
In order for anyone to be able to calculate the consequences of a nuclear strike on their city, an interactive map was developed. With its help, you can see what will happen if an explosion occurs literally in your yard; you need to enter the name of the city and zip code.
In the service, you can select the address where to drop the bomb, as well as its type. There are four types of deadly weapons available: from the small bomb that was dropped on Hiroshima to the Tsar Bomba, developed in the USSR in 1954-1961 and considered the most powerful of all that have been tested on the planet.
You can also choose how the bomb will explode: in the air (which is more deadly), or when it hits the ground (with less consequences).
For example, this is what will happen if you drop a Hwangsong 14 missile on the Medialeaks editorial office.
As the service shows, 418,371 people will die from a strike from such a missile, and another 928,074 people will be injured. The fireball from the explosion will be four hundred meters in diameter, the shock wave will spread more than 21 kilometers. An area with a diameter of almost six kilometers will be contaminated with radiation. It is worth considering that this is still far from the most powerful bomb.
If you've ever dreamed of dropping a nuclear bomb on a city, you can try it yourself.
As Tara Drozdenko said, the disadvantage of this simulator is that it looks too beautiful, like a toy. Even when the man tested it himself at home, his wife, looking at the monitor, compared nuclear explosions with flowers.
When I said that it was a simulator of the deaths of several million people, she said that now it looks less pretty.
About the new cold war and the arms race in particular came up after the message of Russian President Vladimir Putin to the Federal Assembly. Most Putin dedicated his speech to new Russian nuclear weapons, including. In the video that demonstrated the new weapon, bombed Florida was seen on the Internet.
