#Today in 1961, Tsar Bomba, the single most physically powerful device ever deployed on Earth, was detonated. It produced the largest human-made explosion in history, with a mushroom reaching 37 miles of altitude (60 km).

The bomb had an estimated yield of 50 megatons, which is more than 3,000 times the power of the bomb dropped on Hiroshima during World War II. The bomb weighed around 27 tons and was about 8 meters long. The shockwave from the explosion circled the Earth three times. Despite its massive yield, the bomb was designed to produce limited fallout, as it used a lead tamper instead of one made from uranium. Windows were reportedly shattered up to 900 kilometers (over 550 miles) away from the blast. The pilot who dropped the bomb had only a 50% estimated chance of survival due to the explosion’s magnitude. He did survive.

This is the only metric that matters

How much pollution did this cause? We are against the use of plastic bags, but what about such nuclear tests and bombing in wars? Are these things eco-friendly?

Question for any clever people out there: If every force has an equal and opposite reaction explosions of this magnitude, how much has this changed Earth's Orbit? Or how much larger does it have to be to have a measurable effect?

Tsar Bomba, officially known as RDS-220, was the most powerful nuclear weapon ever detonated. It was developed by the Soviet Union in the late 1950s and tested on October 30, 1961, over the Novaya Zemlya archipelago in the Arctic Ocean. The bomb had a yield of 50 megatons, equivalent to about 3,800 Hiroshima bombs. The explosion created a fireball that was visible from 1,000 kilometers away and a mushroom cloud that reached 64 kilometers in height. The shockwave circled the Earth three times and caused widespread damage and radiation effects.

For size comparison and reference. Source:

Worthwhile in context

Like we had nothing smarter to do with nuclear energy... 😶

The pilot had only 50% chance to survive, due to the magnitude of that explosion. Ngl, that’s a brave mf

Wow, 37 miles… What an awful invention💔