What is the name of the most powerful nuclear weapon ever detonated?

Tsar Bomba (or Kuzma's Mother, in reference to to Nikita Khrushchev's phrase) is the nickname for the AN602 hydrogen bomb, the most powerful nuclear weapon in history. Its test on October 30, 1961, remains the most powerful man-made explosion in human history. Developed by the Soviet Union, the bomb had a yield of 50 megaton TNT (210 PJ). Only one bomb of this type was ever officially built and it was detonated in the Novaya Zemlya archipelago, at Sukhoy Nos. The bomb was constructed in only 15 weeks. The shock-wave after the detonation traveled the planet 3 times.

Tsar photo11.jpg

The mushroom cloud was seen from a 100 miles distance! Its crown was 35 miles high.

More Info: www.wikipedia.org

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12 Comments

Henry Rex Bils

I hope there aren't any more nucs like or larger than that one, lying around and getting stale. Somebody needs to clean-out the fridge!

ninakamwene

Lucky guess. WOW! Spacibo.

Rick Smith

Tsar Bomba was originally built as a 100 megaton device, but the Russians were afraid to set it off. They decided to reduce the yield by half before the test was conducted.

Robert Thompson

Got this one wrong. But it sure does figure.

Johnny C. Trader

Want let me get a hint for the question

Theresa White

I did not know the name.

Walter Howard

The Russians (and we too) have ways to "chain" fusion reactions onto bigger and bigger resevoirs of fusion fuel making virtually unlimited megatonnage possible. This bomb was designed to be 100 megatons but they "dialed it back" because they weren't completely crazy.

Larry Hughes

Much bigger and most of the force goes up into space,

Sarah Hearn-vonFoerster

Never knew the name, just that it was Russian. We need to remember the great Danish physicist Niels Bohr's warning still today.

George Oliver Prince

One of my college professors said the ground level actually depresssed several feet (not just a big hole in the ground) when that bomb exploded. The Soviets backed off on the size of their bombs after they saw what it did