How many nukes would it take to destroy a city?, page 3
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ATS Members have flagged this thread 2 times


reply posted on 24-4-2008 @ 06:12 PM by ShatteredSkies
reply to post by eagledriver


Once again and I do stress this point severely...

WHO has a 100 megaton warhead?

Shattered OUT...



reply posted on 27-4-2008 @ 06:41 PM by eagledriver
reply to post by ShatteredSkies



I did not say 100 Megaton. I said 100 Kiloton. Besides, the largest production bomb is widely beleived to be in the 40-50 Megaton, which are considered overkill by todays strategists, because a relatively small area devoid of infastructure would cripple a fery large regional area.

Just image a small air burst (20 Kiloton) over Pasadena. It would fry all of the city, but all of Southern California would grind to a halt shortly after. The water utilities, electricity and roads grids would cease to exist. Civil unrest would soon take hold.


reply posted on 27-4-2008 @ 10:25 PM by battlestargalactica
reply to post by Anderi


My thread with some good images with blast radius, fallout zone and affected areas for some major cities. Thanks for looking.

www.abovetopsecret.com...


reply posted on 28-4-2008 @ 08:06 AM by ShatteredSkies
reply to post by TheRealYoda7



I think we all agree that 52 megatons is not enough to achieve a 120 mile blast radius. Maybe that's how far the fallout went, but for an initial blast radius, it was more like 15 miles.

120 miles is a LONG way, if you look at a map of the east coast, a 120 miles is half the way from NYC to the southern tip of New Jersey.

Shattered OUT...


reply posted on 14-7-2008 @ 03:08 AM by xmotex
I think with megaton range & up airburst weapons, the thermal effects begin to outrange the blast effects by a significant degree. Structures largely untouched by blast will ignite from the initial thermal pulse.

You'll note most of the available blast mappers do not model thermal effects, only blast.

I'm not sure a 52MT weapon would set fires at 120 miles, but might well result in burns to exposed skin.

From
Encarta: Nuclear Weapons:
The very high temperatures attained in a nuclear explosion result in the formation of an extremely hot incandescent mass of gas called a fireball. For a 10-kiloton explosion in the air, the fireball will attain a maximum diameter of about 300 m (about 1,000 ft); for a 10-megaton weapon the fireball may be 4.8 km (3 mi) across. A flash of thermal (or heat) radiation is emitted from the fireball and spreads out over a large area, but with steadily decreasing intensity. The amount of heat energy received a certain distance from the nuclear explosion depends on the power of the weapon and the state of the atmosphere. If the visibility is poor or the explosion takes place above clouds, the effectiveness of the heat flash is decreased. The thermal radiation falling on exposed skin can cause what are called flash burns. A 10-kiloton explosion in the air can produce moderate (second-degree) flash burns, which require some medical attention, as far as 2.4 km (1.5 mi) from ground zero; for a 10-megaton bomb, the corresponding distance would be more than 32 km (more than 20 mi). Milder burns of bare skin would be experienced even farther out. Most ordinary clothing provides protection from the heat radiation, as does almost any opaque object. Flash burns occur only when the bare skin is directly exposed, or if the clothing is too thin to absorb the thermal radiation.



reply posted on 22-9-2008 @ 11:32 PM by Nebka
reply to post by LDragonFire


Can someone say what is being targeted in Jefferson County Missouri for a nuke?
What is there for a nuke to hit?


reply posted on 23-9-2008 @ 10:10 AM by zero lift
The UK Government have recently declassified (albeit in a very low-key manner) their 1967-1972 List of Probable Nuclear Targets In The UK. It was produced by the Joint Intelligence Committe (JIC) and approved for planning use by the UK Chiefs of Staff.

Although it is now some years out of date, it gives us an idea of the expected scale of a nuclear attack on the UK - and in particular, the expected scale and type of attacks on major cities within the UK.

As you would imagine, it makes very grim reading; especially the part which details the number and type of bursts expected over major UK cities.





[Sorry the pic is on its side, but it was the only way I could post it in a manner which shows the full information.]


The JIC forecast that a few major cities - Glasgow, Birmingham, Liverpool - would have be hit by 4 x 1 MT (missile delivered) airbursts, followed by 2 x 500 KT (aircraft delivered) airbursts.

The rest of the major target cities in the UK - Cardiff, Manchester, Southampton, Leeds, Newcastle, Bristol, Sheffield, Swansea, Hull, Middlesborough, Coventry, Wolverhampton, Leicester, Stoke-on-Trent, Belfast, Edinburgh, Nottingham - would have each been hit with 2 x 1 MT (missile delivered) airbursts, followed by 2 x 500 KT (aircraft delivered) airbursts.

As you can see, counter-city strikes were always assumed by the JIC to be of a massive scale. Interestingly, it was assumed that the attacks would comprise of at least two separate waves - estimates I've seen have stated they would be up to 17 hours apart - just enough time to take down any rescue/relocation attempts by survivors of the first wave.



zero lift

[edit on 23-9-2008 by zero lift]
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