What is nuclear war going to feel like?

With all that is going on in the world today...be it the mess between US/Russia/Ukraine, Syria, Egypt, Iraq and Afghanistan...I have been hearing more and more about a possible nuclear war/WW3.

Now I am too young to remember actual first-hand experience from Cold War, but what am I supposed to expect when the bombs fall? will it be quick and painless? Will there be agony ?

most likely if I go by the accounts from the survivors of Hiroshima and Nagaski. Yet over the years, the militaries have developed bombs more powerful than Fat Man and Little Boy, some i havr heard having more force than 100 hiroshimas (?)

How will it be then and how will we prepare?

And for those who do survive, how are we going to adapt?

Will it be a future of dust and kipple or a wasteland beyond knowing.

There have been so many fictions accounts, so i want to know your takes

Well, I think it would feel a bit like this...

Did you get that?

reply to post by TheToastmanCometh


Like this.


Minus the rebuilding of Vegas......

I would not worry about it, if there is total nuclear war then only the puppet masters will survive in their deep underground cities and bunkers. Personally I would rather go in a flash than live like the rats that they are.

reply to post by TheToastmanCometh


Though it's grim, you might want to watch the film The Road.

reply to post by TheToastmanCometh


It all depends. If only a few nukes went off the world could recover and life could potentially go on in a somewhat normal fashion. If a whole bunch went off it would be hell on earth, and if enough of them went off it would be the end of all life on this planet.

As for if it would hurt or not, if you were at the epicenter of a nuclear blast you'd probably be incinerated instantly. Further out and your skin could be falling off and you'd have an excruciating and painfully slow death. Even further out and you'd die of radiation poisoning. Further still and you'd have to deal with nuclear winter, famine, disease, and all the other terrible things that come with the total collapse of modern civilization. It really all depends on where you are in the world relevant to any nukes going off, and how many of them are used in such a scenario. If enough of them fly nobody is walking away from it (not even the people comfy in their state of the art government bunkers. They'll be ok for however long their provisions hold out and then they will have no choice but to die there or return to the surface of a scorched earth).

If you aren't the one with your finger on the button, there isn't much sense in worrying about it. It doesn't hurt to prepare for the worst, but in this situation the worst possible case scenario means no amount of prepping will save you. It might prolong your life for a little while but you will eventually die.

Personally I think life is too short as it is to live in fear of such things. If it happens then we will have to deal with it. In the meantime I'd rather pray for peace, and enjoy the time I have here.

Can't wait to see what others will post about this although i think these question are on all of our minds.
To be honest i think if a nuclear war would break out on a large scale the planet will be destroyed within
a month.I don't think there will be much left that is of use on the planet due all the radiation that come's free.
Only people that prepare way ahead of time have a little chance on survival but then again i doubt how long
would u survive in a hazardous world.If you remember the damage done to Hiroshima which is a pretty long time ago
then you can also imagine how strong the new nuclear weapons would be.I personally never got why anyone would
make weapons like these in the world.Cause at the end of the day everyone would have trouble when there's a
nuclear war.Then again i wonder if these people ( certain world leaders) haven't already thought about that and
made a backup plan for when something happens like that to go underground or leave the planet(yes i said it tinfoil style).
In short i think we are all $*&!^$!$@ if something happens like WW3 so lets hope these greedy people can keep themselves under control.

reply to post by On the level


Ditto.

But I'd add that the rats probably won't risk it either. They are far happier with their genocides and their wars of choice for profit.

Hell, so it happens. Make it the first month you might have a chance if things go your way. Odds are most will not make it though. As for the rest that do, rebuild.

Although knowing even the upper masses would not want this to happen since worst case all is lost so money, power would not mean anything anymore. Everything would have to change, since Trust went out the window with Gov, who would want such a thing again?

So you make it through and later some come out of underground bunkers; Gov who would give a rats @? One might just hang around and see to it they stay there and cause no more trouble.

If they got out then what start the same crap all over again? No Way!

Peace

reply to post by drwill


Threads was one of the most horrific movies I have ever seen. To think it was sprung onto the British people in 1984 still amazes me.

Be warned... it is very depressing and I shall not give away anything.

But if any movie puts into film what nuclear war and the run up to it can bring, this is it. Bar none.



Enjoy though you may not...

I don't think everyone will be immediately destroyed so besides all of the dead

You will have destruction like this



Death all around you



Hospitals will look like this



The luckiest most successful average family will look like this

reply to post by TheToastmanCometh

You can do a lot of things...but cant really "prepare" for it. If it happens, there are no winners...and no matter if you survive or not...in the area destroyed or the others...it will never be the same.

What will it feel like? Death. Horrible and suffering death for all and everyone you know or love. The one expected will be in multiples, wide spread, and millions if not dead already...will be suffering and in pain.

Those "winners" left alive on both sides...wont have much of a prize left.

reply to post by TheToastmanCometh


Depends on where you are when it goes off. How close to "ground zero"? Indoors or out? Line of sight to the fireball or behind a wall?

I have some allegory…

Up close and personal (within the blast radius and line of sight to the fireball):

Set an empty soda can upright on a table top. That can is you. First expose the can to searing heat from a large blow torch for a few seconds. Hot enough to catch the paint on fire on the whole can at once. Then squeeze the can in your hand collapsing it and driving out all the air. Then send it flying across the room by slapping it with your hand as hard as you can.

Sometimes it helps to get a "feel" for destructive power by reviewing what the bomb does to things.

This bronze Buddha was melted by heat from the Hiroshima bomb. Bronze melts at around 1600 degrees F. The temperature on the ground beneath the exploding Hiroshima bomb reached about 7000 degrees. Hiroshima Peace Museum, Hiroshima, Japan. November 13, 1984.

Photo Gallery

I am old enough to remember the cold war (and some of the "public information" films that came with it...

Where I live I doubt there'd be much left (including myself and my family) as, assuming an all-out launch by the Russians, we'd have about 4 to 6 minutes warning before the missiles hit (a hell of a lot less in the case of submarine launches) and live within 10 minutes drive of several fairly large RAF bases.

For the rest of you I'd imagine, if you were far enough away to avoid being killed by direct thermal effects or overpressure then watching a film called "when the wind blows" might give you some idea of what to expect.

As for the yield of current weapons... Although ridiculously large yield devices were built and tested during the cold war (an example being the Tsar Bomba), these weren't practical for general deployment and were more of a proof of concept or super power "willy waving" competition, modern delivery systems are so accurate that the massive yield devices are just not needed any more (multi-gigaton thermonuclear weapons were designed so you could obliterate a city without having to drop the bomb right in the middle) - though the fallout and other delayed effects would still be an issue for anyone within the radius and for thousands of miles downwind.

I forgot about Threads... wasn't that based in Sheffield or something?

I remember reading that if the electric grid gets seriously compromised in any way (nukes), nuclear reactors around the country will go into meltdown due to insufficient cooling. Therefor if the blast of the nuke doesn't kill you, eventually the radiation from water and food and the nuclear winter will. Those who survive are very wealthy and well prepared for such scenarios.

reply to post by TheToastmanCometh


It would be hot and bright.

Momentarily.

Thereafter we'd be worm food or hangin with Jesus/other gods/nothing.

reply to post by Elysarian


Yea.. That is where my ex old lady works. Sheffield. Though a lot of the landmarks in the movie are gone now.

I guess you would want to be as close as possible to the actual explosion. To far away and you might start growing a Kardashian. Never the less I would guess there is no pain or time to think. Though some say nuclear weapons can destroy the soul.

Just watch this movie:en.wikipedia.org...(film)

It is a bit harsh but accurate. Earth will be a frozen lightless hell,spinning into a death spiral for all higher species.
Cockroaches will be ok so I guess PETA would be happy.

Or just play a bit of Fallout and i think you will get a pretty good picture of how it would go down.


en.wikipedia.org...(video_game)