Why the Largest Nuclear Bomb was the Cleanest

Why the Largest Nuclear Bomb was the Cleanest

Why the Largest Nuclear Bomb was the Cleanest

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Why the Soviets built such a massive bomb to begin with, and how it became one of the cleanest nuclear bombs ever detonated, why the inventor of the largest nuclear bomb received a peace prize from the inventor of dynamite, how manufacturing the bomb allegedly caused a shortage of women’s stocking in the Soviet Union, and why the yield of the bomb was cut in half in a last minute decision, is #NotWhatYouThink #NWYT #long

Music:
Refined Enlightenment - Howard Harper-Barnes
Informal Parameters - Charles Holme
The Dropout - Guy Copeland
Particle Emission - Silver Maple
Bittersweet Lament - Max Anson
Subconscious - Nihoni
Serious Development - Blackout Memories
Inbound - Brendon Moeller

Footage:
Select images/videos from Getty Images
Shutterstock
Soviet Archives
Rosatom


Content

0.399 -> This railroad cart holds a cargo that changed the world forever – the most destructive
5.92 -> weapon that humans have ever built.
8.16 -> If it blew up in San Francisco, it would have shattered the glass on the building of Las
13.049 -> Vegas!
14.049 -> And of course, no more homeless people in San Francisco.
17 -> Or if detonated in Toronto, aside from solving the housing crisis there, all the people in
21.59 -> Buffalo, NY would have got a third-degree burn.
25.34 -> The Soviet Union was planning to build and test a nuclear bomb that was 3000 times more
30.769 -> powerful than the nuclear bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki at the end of WWII.
36.84 -> but thankfully … they didn’t.
38.39 -> Tsar Bomba was only half as powerful, and yet, it was still the most powerful nuclear
44.69 -> bomb ever detonated, with a yield of 50 megatons.
48.57 -> That’s the combined energy of all the conventional explosives used during the 6 years of World
53.969 -> War II … times 10.
57.3 -> But why the Soviets built such a massive bomb to begin with, and how it became one of the
63.199 -> cleanest nuclear bombs ever detonated, why the inventor of the largest nuclear bomb received
68.73 -> a peace prize from the inventor of dynamite, how manufacturing the bomb allegedly caused
73.61 -> a shortage of women’s stocking in the Soviet Union, and why the yield of the bomb was cut
78.46 -> in half in a last minute decision, is Not What You Think!
83.77 -> There are a variety of myths that exist around Tsar Bomba, the biggest of which is how it
90.1 -> was developed in only 112 days.
93 -> See, the United States of the 1950s was well ahead of the Soviet Union in the nuclear race.
99.409 -> So in 1956, the Kremlin ordered the development of a large nuclear bomb, which at first was
105.619 -> supposed to yield 38 megatons, then 50 and eventually 100 megatons.
111.799 -> But in 1958, Nikita Khrushchev put a stop to the development of this enormous nuclear
118.67 -> bomb.
119.99 -> Not only was a 100-Megaton nuclear bomb an outrageous idea, the Kremlin was hoping to
125.42 -> improve their relationship with the United States.
128.979 -> This is why the Soviets declared a unilateral moratorium in 1958, suspending the testing
135.019 -> of their nuclear weapons.
137.9 -> This was followed by Khrushchev's visit to the United States in September of 1959, marking
143.89 -> the first state visit of a Soviet or Russian leader to the US.
150.59 -> But that all changed when in 1960, the American U-2 plane was spotted and shot down while
156.16 -> spying over the Soviet Union.
159.569 -> The United States’ attempt to invade Cuba in 1961 in order to overthrow Fidel Castro’s
165.15 -> regime didn’t help the tensions either.
168.39 -> These events pushed Khrushchev to order the work on the superbomb to resume.
173.819 -> So even though it’s true that it took roughly 112 days to prepare the bomb for the final
178.31 -> stage of the testing, its design and development had begun nearly five years earlier.
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199.4 -> and terrain.
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209.05 -> modifications.
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217.739 -> With responsive RTS controls you can deploy tactics, respond to challenges, form counter
221.88 -> attacks and gain superiority on the ever shifting battlefield using Army groups, artillery,
226.98 -> flanking, and air support.
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240.2 -> Equip sniper and assault rifles to mow down enemies in a variety of situations where you
244.28 -> use clever solutions to take out enemy targets in extreme conditions.
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253.34 -> is a great Military Strategy Mobile Game to test your courage and tactics in battle against
257.67 -> other brilliant commanders from around the world.
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266.83 -> Detonating the most powerful nuclear bomb in the world comes with its own challenges.
272.05 -> For example, the delivery.
274.5 -> Tsar Bomba was meant to be airdropped and detonated 13,000 ft above the cape Sukhoy
280.81 -> Nos of Severny Island, located in the Arctic ocean in northern Russia.
286.72 -> But weighing at 26.5 tons meant that there was only one airplane in the Soviet fleet
292.729 -> that could carry such a payload.
294.76 -> The Tu-95V.
296.97 -> And even then, the airplane had to be modified because the bomb was 26 ft long with a diameter
302.72 -> of almost 7 feet, and would not fit inside the aircraft.
307.75 -> The bomb bay door had to be removed so the bomb could be attached underneath the aircraft.
313.78 -> This meant that the Soviet Union had a long way before they could use such a bomb as a
318.37 -> practical weapon.
320.38 -> Nevertheless, the Tu-95V was sufficient for the test drop … except for, after dropping
327.31 -> the bomb, the airplane would not have enough time to escape the nuclear blast, which meant
332.85 -> the crew wouldn’t survive.
337 -> That issue was solved by attaching a parachute to the bomb that would slow down its descent,
341.97 -> giving the airplane more time to get to a safer distance.
346.28 -> Even then, the crew was estimated to only have a 50% chance of survival.
352.56 -> In order to increase the odds, the aircraft was painted with a white reflective paint
357.15 -> to minimize heat damage from the detonation.
361.509 -> About that parachute: It was no ordinary parachute.
364.98 -> It weighed 1,800 lb, covering an area of 17,000 sq ft, and was made from a nylon that was
371.78 -> used to make women stockings.
374.509 -> The running joke was that the shortage of women’s stockings in the Soviet Union in
378.37 -> the months leading up to the testing of the bomb, was due to the building of the parachute!
383.87 -> THE EXPLOSION
386.4 -> On October 30th, 1961, two airplanes took off from an airfield in Kola Peninsula.
392.72 -> The first aircraft which was carrying the bomb consisted of a crew of 9.
397.48 -> The second airplane was a flying laboratory, equipped with measuring devices and cameras.
404.06 -> The Tu-95V released the bomb from an altitude of 34,000 feet.
408.97 -> The parachute immediately deployed, slowing down its descent to 13,000 feet, and at 11:32
415.509 -> Moscow time, the bomb exploded over the Mityushikha Bay nuclear testing range.
422.5 -> By this time, the Tu-95V had already escaped to 24 miles away, but the shock wave eventually
429.069 -> caught up with the airplane at a distance of 71 miles.
433.539 -> The blast reportedly increased the speed of the aircraft by roughly 60 miles per hour
438.75 -> which dropped the airplane down by about half a mile, but pilots were able to recover from
443.47 -> it.
445.5 -> Ground control was unaware of all this, because the ionization from the explosion had created
450.379 -> a radio blackout that cut communications between ground control and both aircraft for about
456.16 -> 40 minutes.
458.759 -> The light flash from the detonation was visible from as far as Norway and even Greenland.
464.65 -> The shockwave from the explosion destroyed windows in a village located 485 miles away.
471.949 -> The seismic wave went around the Earth … three times.
476.61 -> The fireball was visible from 620 miles away, which had one bizarre side effect.
482.699 -> Several tribes of Nenets people in Siberia believed the blinding light to be the anger
487.659 -> of an ancient spirit and reverted back to shamanism in order to atone their sins.
494.979 -> But why was the yield of the bomb cut in half from its originally planned 100 megatons?
503.229 -> According to one theory, the nuclear scientists in charge were afraid that a 100 megaton explosion
509.729 -> would result in a self-sustaining thermonuclear reaction in the atmosphere, which would end
514.82 -> life on Earth.
517.13 -> Another theory was that after this nuclear test, all the ice in the Arctic ocean would
522.029 -> melt and flood the planet, or that Earth’s axial tilt may shift.
527.019 -> These, however, all turned out to be myths.
530.85 -> That said, there were two valid reasons to reduce the size of the explosion.
535.47 -> If the Tsar bomba was to yield a 100 megaton explosion, it was almost certain that the
542.39 -> crew would not be able to outrun the blast, even considering the additional time that
547.16 -> the parachute would buy them.
549.07 -> But the primary reason for cutting the yield of the explosion in half was that it would
553.649 -> create unacceptable levels of radioactive pollution.
559.03 -> The bomb was multi-stage and modular, and that meant that adding or removing certain
564.04 -> elements would allow the nuclear scientists to control the size of the explosion.
570.74 -> Andrei Sakharov, the scientist in charge of the design and overseeing the project suggested
576.05 -> that instead of the Uranium-238, they use lead tamper in the secondary bomb module,
581.67 -> which reduced the bomb's energy to 50 megatons.
585.75 -> This reduced the amount of radioactive fission products, avoided the fireball's contact with
590.8 -> the Earth's surface, which eliminated radioactive contamination of the soil and the distribution
595.97 -> of large amounts of fallout into the atmosphere.
599.61 -> There was a strong incentive for this modification, since most of the fallout from a test would
605.63 -> have probably descended on populated Soviet territory.
610.37 -> Tsar Bomba arguably produced the cleanest nuclear test in history.
615.529 -> It generated incredibly low amounts of fallout relative to the size of the explosion.
621.029 -> 97% of the explosion power resulted in no significant radiation fall out, since the
627.55 -> explosion was caused by thermonuclear fusion reaction.
631.22 -> In fact, only 2 hours after the explosion the Soviets landed a helicopter in the epicenter
637.72 -> of the test area, since the amount of radioactive contamination practically posed no danger
643.86 -> to the people on the ground.
645.66 -> But why would someone like Andrei Sakharov, who was heavily involved in the development
650.98 -> and testing of the most powerful nuclear bomb in the world, receive a Nobel Peace Prize?
659.38 -> In case you didn’t know, Alfred Nobel, which the Nobel prizes are named after, was the
663.35 -> inventor of dynamite.
665.3 -> Sakharov understood and feared that the Cold War nuclear arms race between the United States
670.72 -> and the Soviet Union would inevitably lead to mass human casualties.
675.81 -> His concern influenced leading Soviet officials, including Khrushchev, which eventually contributed
682.17 -> to the signing of the 1963 Partial Test Ban Treaty by the United States, the Soviet Union
687.769 -> and the United Kingdom, prohibiting testing of nuclear weapons under water, in the atmosphere,
693.47 -> or in outer space.
695.01 -> He was honored with a Nobel Peace Prize in 1975, although the Soviet regime did not allow
701.8 -> him to leave the country to collect his award.
704.8 -> That’s because Sakharov was also a strong advocate for human rights in the Soviet Union
710.07 -> and voiced his opposition to political oppression and censorship.
715.57 -> At the end of the day, Tsar Bomba was in the same class as Tsar Cannon, the largest cannon
721.899 -> in the world by caliber, and Tsar Bell, the largest bell in the world.
728.209 -> And just like how Tsar cannon never fired a single shot, and Tsar bell was never suspended
733.73 -> or rung, Tsar Bomba was also never intended to be used as a weapon.
739.18 -> It was a showpiece designed to demonstrate the might of the Soviet Union.
744.3 -> But given that the Partial Test Ban Treaty is still in place to this day and signed by
749.34 -> more than a hundred countries, it is not unreasonable to suggest that the detonation of the largest
755.29 -> nuclear bomb in the world has had a long lasting impact on world peace … at least so far.

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nsqc4fkEWc8