The Tsar – the hydrogen bomb was too powerful to ignite you

January 27, 2019

1164

In 1945 were the United States two atomic bombs on Japan. So you saved your troops to a landing on the Japanese main Islands, and they showed the rulers of the USSR, Joseph Stalin, that his vast army was helpless before the Power of the bomb.

A ruthless race to catch up began at the 29. August 1949, and could ignite Soviets their first atomic bomb in Kazakhstan. According to the nuclear arms race was followed by the hydrogen bomb. In this type, the nuclear explosion served only as a detonator, which should trigger the fusion of hydrogen atoms. The real challenge of the atomic bomb, the production of sufficient fissile Material is the Explosion itself could be imitated by rather brutal methods. The construction of a functioning fusion weapon was much more complicated. However, the H-bomb had a unique advantage. The force of the explosion of an atomic bomb could not be arbitrarily increased, otherwise in the case of the hydrogen bomb. Here, there is no theoretical limit, the weapons could always be stronger.

in 1961, the most powerful bomb in the world was ready for use. In the USSR the monster bomb was officially called project 27000. A nickname was “Kuzkas mother” – she became known as the “Tsar-bomb”.

The “Czar” was to big for the bombers

It was a monstrous construction. The Layout of the case saw the U.S. bombs “Little Boy” and “Fat Man”, in a similar way. If these weapons would have devastated Hiroshima and Nagasaki, would you believe, given the plump body, she came from a Theatre wardrobe. The Czar, however, was much greater. The bomb was eight meters long and had a diameter of 2.6 metres. The device was 27 tonnes. The bomb didn’t fit in the bomb Bay of a Soviet strategic Bomber of type Tu-95. You had to overboard are to be transported.

super bomb father of all bombs – the most powerful conventional weapon in the world is Gernot Kramper

Allegedly, it was developed the bomb, on the orders of Nikita Khrushchev, who wanted to impress the US with the most powerful weapon in the world. A Reputation Project. For military targets, such as a vertex or a Panzer group, this weapon was oversized – it should not devastate a city centre, as it happened in Hiroshima, the “Tsar” would wipe out an entire city including the suburbs completely. The “Tsar-bomb” was built for the end of the world.

risk occupation

In a real war would not have been able to survive the crew of the Tupolev, you would be in the fire ball of the Explosion with burns up. For the Test-use 30. October 1961 on an archipelago in the Barents sea, it was believed that the two aircraft and their crew would have at least a 50 percent Chance to survive the drop. The risk to lose the men, you went to the time of the Cold war, without hesitation. Also, the crews should have known the risk. In addition to the Tu-95, a smaller Bomber was used to film the Test.

Fullscreen

Here, the effect of the bomb is shown in Paris. The red circle marks the area of total destruction.

©Wiki Commons

The Pilot of the bomber, Andrei Durnovtsev, threw the “Tsar-bomb” from about a height of ten kilometres. Thus, the machines were able to escape, floated the bomb attached to a huge parachute from the sky, until they detonated in 3940 meters in height. Since the aircraft were already 50 kilometers away. The Explosion led to an eight-kilometre wide ball of fire, the flash of light was seen in 1000 miles. The bomb mushroom was 64 kilometres high. On the ground, the effects were as expected: apocalyptic. In a village, 55 km far from the center of the blast away all of the buildings were immediately destroyed. Hundreds of kilometers further damage such as collapsing roofs have been identified.

The Tupolev had trouble escaping the Inferno, the bombers dropped 1000 feet before the Pilot regained control of the machine.

A Soviet camera man later said:

“the clouds beneath The aircraft and in the distance were illuminated by the strong flash. The sea of light spread under the hatch and even clouds began to glow and became transparent. In this Moment, our aircraft emerged from between two cloud layers and down below in the gap a huge bright orange popped up ball. The Ball was powerful and large as Jupiter. Slowly and quietly he crept up to the top …. After they had broken through the thick layer of clouds, it grew more. It seemed the whole earth to absorb. The spectacle was fantastic, unreal, supernatural.”

– Reduced explosive force

The “Tsar-bomb” unleashed the energy of about 60 million tons of TNT. This is more than 4000 Times that of the bomb of Hiroshima. However, originally, the “Tsar-bomb” is much stronger. The Design was a coat of three layers of uranium – the explosive force would have been twice as large. However, the Soviet scientists were afraid that this energy and the associated radiation would have made the Northern part of the country uninhabitable. Even the Soviets, the “Tsar” was scary, and they started to replace parts of the uranium shell, by using lead plates. In fact, only the stripped down Version was ignited.

Even before the “Tsar-bomb” was ready to set up a military rethinking. Instead of ever-larger bombs, which had to be brought by the vulnerable aircraft to the target, won the rocket in the following years. Because at the time, a ballistic missile could not be intercepted, rather than the explosive force, the target accuracy was important. Today, a case of the “Tsar-bomb” is in the Museum.

sources: war is Boring, Nuclear Weapon archives, BBC