In August 1945, in order to force Japan to surrender, the United States dropped an atomic bomb codenamed "Little Boy" on Hiroshima, killing at least 200,000 Japanese**, which was the first time that mankind used nuclear weapons in war**.
However, from today's point of view, the power of "Little Boy" seems unremarkable.
At present, the most powerful nuclear ** of mankind, the equivalent is equivalent to 3333 times that of the "little boy".It is the terrible "Tsar Bomba".
With the dropping of atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki by the U.S. military, the terrifying power of nuclear weapons has made countries realize that it will becomeA big killer that changes the strategic balance of the world
As a result, after the end of World War II, various military powers have launched technical research on nuclear weapons. Among them, the Soviet Union successfully tested the first atomic bomb in August 1949, becoming the second country to develop an atomic bomb.
At this time, the international pattern had developed towards the trend of the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union, and the socialist camp led by the Soviet Union needed to confront the capitalist camp represented by the United States and Western Europe.
After the establishment of NATO and the Warsaw Pact, the Cold War pattern was formally formed, which led to the United States and the Soviet Union increasing their investment in the nuclear fieldThe two sides have started a nuclear arms race in which you are catching up
By 1959, the Soviet Union had more than 1,400 nuclear warheads, while the United States had more than 3,500.
In this nuclear arms race, the Soviet leadership realized a problem: since the United States had a first-mover advantage over the Soviet Union, if it was to compete purely with the number of nuclear warheads, it was unlikely that the Soviet Union would overtake the United States, but the Soviet Union could pass itIncrease the power of nuclear warheadsto make up for the lack of quantity.
Therefore, under the guidance of this line of thinking, the Soviet Union began to focus its research on improving the power of nuclear weapons.
In July 1961, Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev summoned Soviet nuclear physicist Sakharov and others and asked them to develop themThe world's most powerful nuclear**
In view of the fact that the United States has already tested a nuclear warhead with a yield of 15 million tons, Khrushchev believes that the Soviet Union should test and detonate a super nuclear warhead with a yield of 100 million tons to deter the United States with overwhelming power.
It has to be admitted that under the national mobilization system of the Soviet Union, all state resources can be invested in the required projects in the shortest possible time.
Immediately after Khrushchev's order, Sakharov and other nuclear physicists threw themselves into the project of developing a super-nuclear warhead.
In the end, it took them only 14 weeks to develop a nuclear warhead, codenamed AN602, with a design yield of 100 million tonsThe Soviets named it "Tsar Bomba".
According to Khrushchev's request, this super nuclear bomb will be test-detonated at a revolutionary celebration ceremony to demonstrate to the world the Soviet Union's powerful scientific and military strength.
However, before the test explosion, Soviet nuclear experts were also a little uneasy about the 100 million ton yield nuclear warhead, so they decided to temporarily change the yield of the "Tsar Bomba".down to 50 million tonsto prevent certain unpredictable effects on the global environment.
On October 30, 1961, the Soviet Tu-95 strategic bomber carrying the "Tsar Bomba" flew towards the Novaya Zemlya Island in the Arctic Ocean.
Due to the size of this nuclear warhead is too large,The dead weight alone reached 27 tonsTherefore, the Soviet ground crew specially modified this Tu-95 before departure, removing part of the fuel tank, so that the Tu-95 could barely be installed.
And in order to mitigate the effects of nuclear radiation, not only was the fuselage of the Tu-95 painted with special white paint, but all crew members wore heavy radiation protection suits.
In addition, the "Tsar Bomba" is equipped with a parachute, which can buy more time for the Tu-95 to escape from the scene.
But even with such careful preparations, the crew members who participated in the mission still wrote a suicide note in advanceIt can be seen that the danger level of this mission is extremely high
After a period of flight, at 11 a.m., the Tu-95 in charge of the bombing mission had arrived over Novaya Zemlya Island, and then the crew opened the bomb bay and dropped the huge nuclear warhead.
In the case that the "Tsar Bomba" flew forward along the inertia, the Tu-95 immediately made a sharp turn and turned back, leaving the scene at the fastest speed.
After all, according to the calculations of Soviet experts,The Tu-95's escape time was only a short 180 seconds
Just 3 minutes later, the nuclear fusion reaction inside the "Tsar Bomba" was officially launched, at 0Within 001 seconds, the terrifying energy equivalent to 3,333 Hiroshima atomic bombs** was released.
With a dazzling flash of light, a huge mushroom cloud quickly rose into the sky on Novaya Zemlya IslandIts altitude reaches a staggering 65 km, which is more than 7 times higher than the height of Mount Everest, the highest point on Earth.
And as the ** shock wave spreads around,The area around Novaya Zemlya was in a panic
At a distance of 50 km from the center of **, the hot air generated by the "Tsar Bomba" can still cause third-degree burns;
Wooden houses 100 kilometres away were badly damaged by the shock wave;
Radio communications were not available within 1,000 kilometres, and even in Finland radio communications were interrupted for 20 hours.
After the "Tsar Bomba"**, the American Alaska ** monitor, which is 4,000 kilometers away, found that although the Soviet nuclear test was carried out in the air, it still caused itEquivalent to 5 on the Richter scale**, and most of the radio channels have also been out of touch for a while.
If it weren't for the Soviet Union's advance notice of the "Tsar Bomba", I am afraid that the United States would have regarded it as a nuclear attack on the homeland.
Since then, the terrifying power of the "Tsar Bomba" has made all countries aware of the threat of nuclear power to mankind, and reducing the power and scale of nuclear power has gradually become a global consensus.
However, it is worth mentioning that the Soviet Union built a total of two "Tsar Bomba", and the other is still in Russia's nuclear arsenal and was exhibited in 2015.
We really hope that this horror of **There will never be a day when you will be put into real combat
Knowledge explosion training camp
1] The replica of the strongest nuclear ** "Tsar Bomba" in history is exhibited on the global network.
2] The most powerful nuclear bomb test explosion in human history**!The fireball is nearly 20 kilometers in diameter and can be seen from 1,000 kilometers away.