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This Is What a Nuclear Explosion REALLY Looks Like - The Scale Is Unbelievable
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- Published on Mar 16, 2026
- Unlock the true scale of a nuclear explosion in this detailed breakdown of how nuclear blasts work, what determines their destructive power, and how shockwaves, heat, and radiation spread across vast distances.
In this video, we explore real scientific data, historical test footage, and expert analysis to reveal the shocking reality behind nuclear blast radius, megaton yields, and long-term environmental impact.
- How powerful modern nuclear weapons actually are
- The difference between kiloton and megaton explosions
- What happens during the first seconds after detonation
- How far heat, radiation, and shockwaves travel
- Why even “small” nuclear devices can devastate entire regions
Check out to our science channel ► Brain Impact: / brainimpact
I wish I still had my school desk.
😂😂😂
Yeah, that'll save ya. 😅
Bert's seal of approval.
The best place to be in this case is ground zero.
Agree
Agree - I'll take it on the chin, thanks. Literally.
Agree. Gone without we even know
Fact-Check True!
Nonsense. The best place to be...
New Zealand
If only humanity could focus on curing things like cancer rather than finding ways to wipe us all out because of misunderstandings.
Sadly, there will always be ruthless people who are so driven by their lust for control and power that they do not care about the lives of the millions beneath them. The only thing such people fear, is loss of their power and the destruction of the power structure that supports them. Treaties are just meaningless words on paper for them, the only language they understand and respect is the language of ruthless force, and it can only be spoken through the credible threat of taking all their power using whatever means necessary, including the most destructive weapons mankind ever conceived.
I hate to break this to you, but the safety and freedom for your idealism can only be maintained by constantly being willing and able to deprive its enemies, the Hitlers and Putins of this world, of their power by evaporating them and everyone upholding their repressive system. Liberty and Freedom requires the doctrine of Mutual Assured Destruction, sadly.
In my opinion , it is not the humanity that possesses nuclear weapons; it is an elite that controls the world , divided into two factions that protect their interests and manufacture these instruments of death.
This is the epitome, the essence and the ultimate destination of humanity. Darwinian natural selection is competition for the selfish gene. The more Alpha warrior, the more resource extraction, the more control and subjugation, the more successful. Alpha males are even selected for, with Dark Triads being the most seductive.
Well, Canada, for the most part does. We use nuclear energy for peaceful purposes where our CANDU-based generating plants make medical isotopes for hospitals across the planet and treating cancer but also help in the generation of electricity. Yes, we were involved in the study of nuclear bombs with other allies but we since officially oppose them. Ironically though, the reason we probably don't have them may be partly due to our closest ally (both proximity and co-operation) The United States having them instead.
They will NEVER cure cancer. Treating cancer is a $4 billion a year business.
"The only winning move is, not to play" says Joshua
I grew up in the '80s. I'm quite familiar with Mutually Assured Destruction.
It's a strange game
@mr.bill.8236 I too had the magazine. 😁
What the hell are we doing?
Killing each other.
humans are programmed to fight each other, so at least the MAD has put that on hold.. Hopefully forever.
But yeah, 1950s technology can destroy modern cities, so people perfected death a long time ago
Watching a video 😅
If you ask me, I'd say this is about as hellish mankind can become, and Satan is using mankind to do what he's had over a millenia time 10 a hard time doing.....killing of everything God created and throwing everything and everyone into oblivion. This is truly satanic, and man gave Satan the okay to destroy anything that lives.
I vote yes, corruption over. 1000 yrs of peace.
We should have dreams of space travel. Instead we are like nah let’s see who has the biggest blast
Ironically the primary goal of space travel for the government was to have the capability to deliver these anywhere at anytime.
If there is anything to invent or improve the government will weaponize it.
we never went to the moon
@biffbutowski2447go away
We wouldn't leave the Solar System even if we really tried
Ironically, to do space travel, humans need to learn nuclear knowledge before we can go deeper into quantum fuel and stuffs like that. But humans have other thoughts on its usage, which is to intimidate and use it if wish to, to show might and alpha strength on who is the most authoritative government of the world.
"It is in your nature to destroy yourselves. "
- The Terminator
Real shame we can't put the same amount of enthusiasm into Light Speed Travel, Cures and practical uses as opposed to obliterating each other, we might achieve so much more
точно
Remember in school if you proposed a positive, imaginative new idea? It was then when I was eleven that I realized that humanity is another failed species.
Yep
I studied the two atomic bombs, and the damage they did to the structures, and (As much as I could, before the days of easy Internet information/Sources!) to the people. These were 15-20 kiloton blasts. Huge for the time. Nuclear weapons NOW are rated in MEGATONS, and the area/energy they affect and damage are vastly more. If we ever go to all-out nuclear war, move INTO any major city, or military base. Dying fast/instantly will be a *BLESSING* compared to what trying to survive after will be like.
Silly boy, you're just trying to cheer us up!
@benlesher9794
1st, not a 'Boy.' Woman, natural-bred-and-born, tyvm! ;-)
2nd, look on the 'Bright Side'- ALL our debts will be instantly erased! Time to throw a block party!
;-D
I have a bed and some tins of food underneath my basement I’ll be fine. Haha enjoy the nuclear blitz bitches
“Hydrogen Bombs”….Which are also called “Thermonuclear Weapons”, have been in the “Megaton Range” since the very first Test “Shot” of a Hydrogen Bomb in 1952…..Known as IVY “Mike”, where Mike is the phonetic alphabet word for the letter “M”, stood for “MEGATONS”…..Ivy “Mike” was a “Liquid Deuterium” Two Stage “Hydrogen” Device, it was Not a “Deliverable” Bomb, it was only intended to be a Full Scale “Proof of Concept” using the “Teller / Ulam” Principle of a Fusion “Secondary Stage”….With the Atomic / Fission “Primary Stage” as the “Initiator”…..It was so named after Edward Teller and Stanislaw (Stan) Ulam, who developed it…..When it was detonated on 01 November 1952, on the South Western Pacific Atoll of Enewetok……It exploded with an enormous yield of 10.4 Megatons….That’s 10.4 Million Tons of TNT Equivalent…This was nearly 800 x the explosive yield of “Little Boy”, dropped on Hiroshima in 1945…So, In just seven years, they went from a basic “Gun Type” Uranium “Fission” Bomb with an explosive yield of just 15 Kilotons….To Ivy “Mike”, which was a “Hydrogen” Bomb with an explosive yield of 10.4 Megatons…..The largest “Thermonuclear” Bomb ever detonated by the United States was the Infamous Castle “Bravo”….This was the first test of a “Dry Fuel” and “Deliverable” Thermonuclear Bomb…..”Bravo”was detonated on the 01 March 1954 on “Bikini Atoll”…..Castle “Bravo” exploded with an enormous yield of 15 Mt….It was supposed to be about 5-6 Mt, but due to an error regarding the Second Stage Fusion Fuel “Lithium 7” (considered Inert) actually fused with the Enriched “Lithium 6” and Deuterium….Only a relatively small amount of Lithium 6 and Deuterium was required for the 5 Mt yield, so the Uranium Tamper was mixed and topped up with Lithium 7, packing it out nicely….This mistake caused a massive Radiological Disaster…..Fallout was carried and fell on Populated Islands, considered to be “Outside” of the Danger Zone of a 5Mt Bomb….The Firing Party were only 30 Miles from Ground Zero….In reality, with a Bomb of 15Mt, they needed to be 50 miles away at least, to be safe…….That was nothing compared to the Soviet Union’s 50 Megaton Monster, the famous “Tzar Bomba”….Originally intended to be 100 Megatons, it was scaled down over safety concerns……That is well worth looking up and watching on YT……
@pikachu6031
That, is probably the MOST IMPRESSIVE reply I have ever read, in ALL the years I've been online, visiting and engaging in these videos/comments section!
Bravo! BRAVO!!
Yes, indeed!
Another nifty little creation was the 'Neutron Bomb,' which killed everything w/o causing the utter destruction of cities, bldgs./structures (ie, bridges).
Watching as the military tested all of their new 'Toys?' All of those personnel/Officers casually walking on the decks of ships that had just been irradiated, not realizing they were signing their own death warrants because 'Radiation' was NOT understood?
How about all those poor bastards they performed LIVE TESTS on, telling them they were 'Safe' huddled in their trenches, in close proximity to the detonation, only to be ordered to stand/move forward after the initial blast/light?
This goes far beyond 'Just nuclear weapon' testing. Militaries (Yes, including the U.S.!), has been performing some very shady/heinous crap against both their personnel AND civilians, for a long, long time.
". . . a solid-fuel Hwasong-18 can sit ready, move on roads, and be concealed among civilian traffic . . ."
What kind of cars are THEY driving?!
You mean that you don't drive around with a rocket on your car once in a while?
What do you do when you need to get your rockets washed and cleaned?
People these days ...😀
😂😂😂
I'm pretty sure they could camouflage it to look like a normal commercial lorry if it needed to move amongst civilian traffic.
That’s a huge inconspicuous hood ornament … nothing to see here
The first ICBMs that don't get shot down will go off high in the atmosphere , the electromagnetic energy depending what yield will shutdown all electronics that aren't shielded, cars, major power grids, computers, ects.. it will leave us in the dark ages.. lines are left open between the two super powers for negotiation and if nothing can come to terms then the ground targets are struck as shown in the video but it won't be 1 or 2 it will be hundreds with multiple re-entry vehicles and near the 1 to 2 megaton not kt.. it would creat nuclear winter, crops dies, no food, and fallout.. that goes both sides... Let's pray that this never happens! All we have is the small blue dot in space that were living on that's it!
Kind of funny, but when I don’t get perfect cell service I immediately think about a nuclear or an atomic attack has happened close by.
I have T-mobile so I'm used to that.
@garyda1yup same
My cat would still meow for wet food by 5:30AM
Im a bit of a history buff and WW2 and the following cold war is my strong point. God help us if ever we have an exchange of strategic weapons. The damage and de-th toll would be biblical. On a side note there are people who don't believe nuclear weapons exist. They think its a made up weapon that we've all been duped. Ive read that they say big bombs exist but they're more like the MOABs not nuclear. I imagine these people are also insistent that the earth is essentially a large dinner plate shaped world. Literally there are people who believe the earth is flat still to this day. Amazing 👏
Mutually assured destruction that’s for sure
be proud of being the only living kind on this planet that is able to destoy themselve's we think we are so smart..........
Jokes on you, bub. The "elite" have fully stocked and self-sufficient bunkers built with our tax dollars for when we get to uppity. Billions of angry enemies? No problem. All gone with the push of a button!
@mockingbbirdkilla1771yup. Thats the most infuriating part about it. We all die, while the purveyors of greed and evil survive.
Someone has to hunt them down and makes them suffered when the apocalypse happened
It's the politicians, the deep state that start wars
One single thermonuclear warhead could turn a city back to the stone age
At ground zero, not even stones would be left.
"I know humanity has been completely destroyed, but could you still come in to work?"
Haha! So true
"People still want their fast food"
Actually since many of your coworkers are ya know incinerated we're a little short staffed we're gonna need you to come in 2 hours early.
🤣
Not Me I'm taking a vacation day😊
So basically every nation has the same Nukes just a different name
They're not that complicated. The first ones were built with 1940s technology.
realistically we are all using the same initiation of critical mass , its just the tube of fire delivery systems that's now evolving, its a race to see who can survive long enough to retaliate. Smartest of our people working out how to kill us all.
Разные носители😉
Not really a sarmat 2 has 15 warheads in the 1 to 3 megaton range ours a mostly just under a megaton. The sarmat 2 for example can spread out all 15 warheads a pepper a target aka the target and around the target with 2,000 kilo tons he keeps showing 750 kilo ton warheads as a single detonation. in reality your talking about multiple simultaneous detonations in these areas resulting in total destruction of entire regions around these citys before even talking about fallout that blankets a entire areas. You are also talking about effects that have never been seen before with say 10 to 15 detonations near each other simultaneously and atmospheric conflaguration effects that are not possible to even predict.
If you think this is crazy you should see the first strike scenarios that have been written and some of the papers were these nuts believe they can pull of a first strike successfully with acceptable losses in retaliation.
I'd rather end like this than of hunger and or drowning
At ground zero.
You could do MUCH worse than being at ground zero in a nuclear strike. You would be gone without having felt a thing. A secondary benefit is your family wouldn’t have to worry about burial or cremation costs.
Dark but true.
If your family will survive
One alone will never be fired.. but likely all. The end of all life as we know it...
Sure
It wont be "alll ife" but life as we know it will be gone. The US ,China and Russia will cease to be super powers. New fighting will erupt ushering in a new era of super powers from the southern hemisphere
Almost every single one with the same power. Plus, not all factors were shown. The true is a few ones destroys 90% of animals + 99,9% of humans. Have a nice weekend everyone!
10 years of non perishables deep inside cave system. Plenty of food and shelter here😂
Chicago is always catching it 😅
Yeah. Good point l. 😅🤣🤣
man oh man where we have came from since the days of cain and abel. mind blowing.
SOOOO, YOU'RE SAYING WE SHOULDN'T START A NUCLEAR WAR??
I don't know man, it looks pretty cool.
Party pooper.
It’s suicidal. For you and everyone else. Is that what any sane human would want
😆😆😆
But putin is a desperate man
The animation for the blast wave is oddly satisfying.
Lol but only untill it happens. Then fear would kick in for everyone.
Humanity can prove the ultimate in being dumb at anytime.
Funny, people don't think the United States can't track large vehicles by satellite when we know they can track a single car.....
Tracking is one thing, intercepting is the real challenge.
nope they cant, none satellite can see trought cloud, satellite need to move fast to stay in orbit and geostationary satellite resolution are too bad to spot something smaller than 3 km square
so if you know satellite orbit you can move the truck and hide them in another place before the satellite back, also you can wait cloudy time for that
@vkobevkI imagine those. Satellites have thermal vision capability enabling them to see through clouds and forest cover.
@vkobevk I imagine those satellites have thermal vision,enabling them to see through clouds and forest covering.
@hubertwalters4300 not working, because truck turn off are cold like their environment and cloud themselves emit infrared, sorry but cloud emit more infrared than any truck, water vapor are greenhouse gas, excellent to block infrared
and for infrared camera not working at this distance, except if they carry freezing liquid like liquid nitrogen or liquid helium, they are good enough to see rocket launch plume and maybe plane in afterburning at high altitude
It's funny though in all Hollywood movies someone's on an airliner and there's nukes going off all around and the plane continues to fly. The EMP from a nuke would fritz the electrical system on any aircraft in the area
Those who survived would envy the dead...
because they'd still have to come in to work the next day. 😜
@ZuluRomeo lol 😂
@ZuluRomeo Call in and take a sick day!👍
Right! What could go worng?
2:26 I just know one kid is gonna say 6 7 oml ✌️🤦🏿
Istg
...0:47..."a 9 axle transporter"?
You mean that 11 axle transporter pictured?
Not a good start.
This video has more holes in it than a cheese grater!
Let's hope WW3 isn't run by this AI.
@richardstaples8621 if WW3 was run by AI, 99% we would all die because of its stupidity LOL
@richardstaples8621 i think we hope this, with luck AI just nuke desert place or middle ocean
Ai sucks
There is a purpose why this planet was meant for us humans, but some humans are so determine in destroying the only breathing planet.
the scary thing is nuclear weapons are made for civilians and soilders, completely indiscriminate, if you are there, you are dead. awful
If it happens, that's war.
True, but if you’re close enough it’s quick.
It’s crazy. Life is short enough as it is yet we’re still trying to end it in an instant.
They don't need multi megaton 'City Busters' anymore. The accuracy is so much better. I know other commenters say they are only 475 kilotons, but that is HUGE. Just watch RDS6 PROJECT JOE 4 Russian test in 1955 to see what that looks like. 3 or 4 of those can turn a city to rubble.
Did nobody mention to this creator that the booster stage does not make it to space & fly like a scifi ship ?
Yes, I know, this only for purpose to show missile itself and not accurate! Thank you for your comment! I will try to improve this aspect over time
It's an ai narrator
Actually shadows don't burn into anything. It's actually the opposite, the area around the object is burned into the object it reflects on making it look like a person's body burned into the landscape.
This is scary shit
I lived through the 80s, when the leader of the USSR’s and President Reagan’s respective handlers had their hands full trying to keep them both away from The Button. The fact that nuclear war never happened then pretty much means that nuclear war is impossible.
@gwugluud we now have a madman in the Whitehouse.
@gwugluud we now have a madman in the Whitehouse.
@garyda1l think you mean we " HAD " a madman in the whitehouse!
You forgot how pedo joe ( his own son nicknamed him that btw ), escalated the situation with the Russians in Ukraine right after heels up harris lost!
No doubt
One big mistake with all of your ICBM. The ICBM has multiple warheads, so you would have several smaller explosions that combined together are far more dangerous.
All the terretory that is in between the warhead explosions will burn down. So many of the animations are wrong.
One ohio class sub carries 144 nuclear bombs. Enough to delete every major city on the planey
The strange irony is that one of the safest places to be in tye event would be The Marshall Islands - where tye original H bomb tests were carried out in tye 50s and 60s.
Something none of these video's mention is that modern nuclear weapons tactics doctrine is to hit a target city with 3 separate warheads impacting equidistance apart and timed to go off simultaneously. These created a synergistic blast effect.
Oh 😮😮😮!🤯🤯🤯😢
Yeah if they hit DC, NYC and Boston you can pretty much say goodbye to the northeast corridor. The new england states would be gone.
I don't know? I think it should be.... POINTIER!!!!!😂
I got “Spies Like Us” vibes @ 9:00 😎
Another thing to bear in mind: assuming that the Russian Federation has retained Soviet nuclear targeting policy, each high value target like Washington DC, Cheyenne Mountain, or NYC will receive multiple warheads because the Soviets typically assigned multiple warheads-staggered so as not to arrive over the target at the same time in order to avoid “fratricide”-so as to increase the chances of destroying said high value target. Also, high value targets within high value targets probably also have their own warheads assigned; the Pentagon is sure to be individually targeted, as is the White House, and the nearby Andrews Air Force Base, which is where the president would board the National Emergency Airborne Command Post (NEACP, pronounced “kneecap”). Basically, Washington DC, and other parts of the United States that contain agglomerations of important military and military-industrial installations, will briefly be roiling seas of nuclear fire.
The US does the same thing. Target planners figure that some percentage of weapons will fail or be shot down (say, 25%) plus high value targets (Moscow, DC) get multiple weapons because…well just to make sure.
Good thing they're putting AI in control of them all
😊👍
I hope not. That would be a bad mistake.
Well what I'm hoping for is a blinding light for a split second and then..... maybe I can get some sleep.
Explain your math. How is it that a 750kt explosion, has the same fireball as one more than half the size?
One thing is for sure, the next war after a nuclear war will be fought with bow and arrows again.
Einstein said "sticks and stones" of which there would be many......everywhere.
Das glaube ich nicht mehr,alles höhere Lebewesen würde verschwinden!
Way to incorrectly quote Einstein. 😂🎉
There will be no more war after that since there will be nothing left
Nukes are so much weaker than i imagine everytime i watch one of these. I'm thinking the fireball covers like 100-200 miles. and it barely covers 1
Das Video schenke ich mir das ich das bald in live ansehen kann😂
I used to live close to the Livermore Nuclear Lab. At least I’d be vaporized. 👍🏼👍🏼
I live next to sandia labs. I'm done for certain lol. Won't have to worry about drinking erratiated water or having all my skin burnt off
Notice how China uses American letters on there ICBMs DF 61.. instead of Chinese writing .. in other words this is for you Daniel Son
american letters? 🤣
I thought the EMP came first then a blast?
It comes at the same time
the emp is part of the blast
I wish these videos used the standard measurements instead of kilometers.
If concrete vaporizes why those woods still stand strong? 0:05
The fireball is. Except, it's not fire, it's plasma, same stuff that our sun is made of, only It's several times hotter than the surface of our sun due to the exponential rate the energy it needs is converted. That is what has the capability to atomize what it engulfs.
Great video. All countries should be working toward reducing nuclear weapons and eventually banning them globally. Using the excuse of "mutually assured destruction" is like 2 people working in a fireworks factory, one says "well if you're going to smoke in here then so am I." It's just a matter of time. Or mistake.
With that logic, the US has to pay a huge amount of price for the compensation of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
They tried in Ukraine. They exchanged their nukes for Russian promises of security and sovereignty. I don’t think that kind of a deal is going to be made by any neighboring countries ever again…
Thanks, that reminds me to put my recycling bin out.
Yep, but at least it a dry heat.😊
Ok Walter 😂😂
Il sarmat è un'altra cosa. È un multitestate
The North Korean missile that is shown is the liquid fueled Hwasong 17 ICBM. The voice even says that Hwasong 18 is canisterized. There is no canister in the video. Solid fuel rockets leave a long trail of thick white smoke. Liquid fueled rockets do not leave a trail, they just have flame coming out of the nozzles.
Scary shit.
Got it… 1.2 meter crater for all bombs
We used to have missiles that yielded megaton warheads. What happened to those?
Merry Christmas!
one question wgen they shoot it they obviously try to just get enemies in war zones right or they just want to end everything wtf
Wow cool meteor shower I'm watching right now 🎉😮
Extinction machine is the number 1 term. It scares the ever living hell out of me. And there's thousands of them.........
The French warheads carried on M51 have higher yield than 100kt, also keep in mind that France has an air launched nuclear missiles
When you target a city, an air burst is the way to maximize casualties and damage. Surface bursts are used to target hardened targets such as missile silos...also surface blasts cause fallout, which air bursts don't
There's a formula used so the fireball just touches the ground. This produces maximum destruction.
No shit sherlock...your point being?
You forgot about under ground SAC bases like NORAD!
SATAN 2😂 sarmat ICBM missile 😂😂
Humans intent on destroying the earth 🌎 they were born on 😢
Depende de la potencia,,en kilotones las pequeñas,,o tácticas,,(hiroshima)y las de destrucción masiva que serían en megatones,,( castle bravo y tzar)
LOUD NOISES!!!
Imagine if humanity came together to spend as much time, resources, and brain power to better our species as we do to destroy it.
For some reason I think rouge terrorist are more likely to get their hands on the nuke controls.
So with all of the new technology in our world, you mean to tell me there no country that has the ability to shoot down or destroy the nuke before it reaches it's destination?
It’s annoying that nearly every example has almost the exact same statistics.
I am going to do, what I was trained to do. hide under my desk
Wir brauchen nicht mehr wegrennen,es erwischt uns auf jeden Fall!
Why does the cloud have a mushroom shape?
So, when do those things fly and glide?
Soooooo the fireball doesn't count on what yield the bomb is?
These weapons were thought up by the devil himself. Can't we all just get along
Nearly every one of those examples regardless of yield seem to have almost the exact same damage radii in every category. Literally the 100kt missile at the beginning and the 750kt Sarmat have the exact same 0.62mi fireball coverage and the same 2.8-3mi shockwave damage? Come on, mayn.
exactly now how would one of these be negated in attack against a comet and why ? thats my question ! and that was an eleven axle weapon not 9 . just saying !
The theoretical one for Las Angeles would also cause a nuke-quake along a massive section of the San Andreas fault or any others that are nearby. Reference the two fictional nukes in one of the Christopher Reeves Superman movies in the late 70s and 80s.
Good video and Thank You...Now i know what it will be to die one of these Nukes....Peace🕊
Welp Dat Wuz Fonn!!!
Alien : well done and congratulations human being...save us from wasting our weapons.
The thought of being able to hear an air raid siren is amusing!
Just ask the population of the marshall islands about nuclear testing
its not a fun thing., if you live within horizon of targets even if ur away from them blast wize it will be like a few old fashioned cameras taking flashes. u wont hear the click so m uch as see the brightness . but it will register. (my dad played with this stuff)
If you keep using the same killer tonnage they're gonna end up with the same results
Wars are horrible,mere words cannot describe
Poseidon is basically an underwater Tsar Bomba…..😲😲
What is the one thing that has never changed since a civilization was created: Men/ Women seek Power and power comes in many forms from protection of a lineage (families) to simply being the strongest. The Value in money changed the dynamics of power forever once we put such a high value on something such as a mineral or a scalp etc. and made it the sole purpose of not only surviving/existing but also how to gain more Power and continue the cycle. Greed and Money are bad but Power is much worse but they all dance the same Tango I guess.
Well that’s something to look forward to.
I think the scariest part is you know our leaders are thinking "we could survive a limited nuclear war"
Sorry but my homework was burned in a nuke fire … can I get another 1000 years to turn it in
Pretty accurate report.
The Trident II has a new fuse. Much more accurate then he reports. They are suitable for first striking Russian silos now.
Damnation alley 😂1977