8 Insane Nuclear Explosions
A nuclear explosion occurs as a result of the rapid release of energy from an intentionally high-speed nuclear reaction. Below is 8 examples of this occurrence. Whether it be for testing, or the real deal.
1.
These shots were taken July 3, 1970, by the French army in the Fangataufa atoll. Codenamed Canopus, it yielded 914 kt. Although this picture, like many of the series, is a work of the French Army (as far as I know) this is an original scan from a hardcopy, as processed to remove dust and scratches.
2.
Operation Upshot-Knothole, conducted at the Nevada Proving Ground between March 17 and June 4, 1953, consisted of 11 atmospheric tests: three airdrops, seven tower tests and one airburst. Upshot-Knothole involved the testing of new theories, using both fission and fusion devices.
House No. 1, located 3,500 feet from ground zero, was completely destroyed on the first day of testing. The elapsed time from the first picture to the last was 2⅔ seconds. The camera was completely enclosed in a 2-inch lead sheath as a protection against radiation. The only source of light was that from the detonation. Frame No. 1 (upper left) shows the house lighted by the blast. Frame No. 2 (upper right) shows the house on fire.
3. [below]
July 1, 1946, in the Marshall Islands: A mushroom cloud erupts in the North Pacific Ocean over the Bikini Lagoon during the first of the two detonations of Operation Crossroads. The series studied the effects of nuclear radiation on large ships, and the United States assembled a fleet of 90 obsolete naval vessels, including a few captured German and Japanese warships, for the test. Several ships can be seen here, silhouetted against the blast.
4. [below]
The Bravo test created the worst radiological disaster in US history. Due to failures in forecasting and analyzing weather patterns, failure to postpone the test following unfavorable changes in the weather, and combined with the unexpectedly high yield, the Marshallese Islanders on Rongelap, Ailinginae, and Utirik atolls were blanketed with the fallout plume along with U.S. servicemen stationed on Rongerik.
5. [below]
Trinity was the first test of technology for a nuclear weapon. It was conducted by the United States on July 16, 1945, at a location 35 miles southeast of Socorro, New Mexico, on what is now White Sands Missile Range, headquartered near Alamogordo. Trinity was a test of an implosion-design plutonium bomb. The Fat Man bomb, using the same conceptual design, was dropped on Nagasaki, Japan, a few weeks later. The Trinity detonation was equivalent to the explosion of around 20 kilotons of TNT and is usually considered as the beginning of the Atomic Age.
6. [below]
BADGER was a 23 kiloton tower shot that was fired on April 18, 1953 at the Nevada Test Site, as part of the Operation Upshot-Knothole nuclear test series.
7&8. [below]
For those living under a gigantic rock the size of an apartment building: via wikipedia
The atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were nuclear attacks at the end of World War II against the Empire of Japan by the United States at the order of U.S. President Harry S. Truman on August 6 and 9, 1945. After six months of intense firebombing of 67 other Japanese cities, the nuclear weapon “Little Boy” was dropped on the city of Hiroshima on Monday, August 6, 1945, followed on August 9 by the detonation of the “Fat Man” nuclear bomb over Nagasaki.
The bombs killed as many as 140,000 people in Hiroshima and 80,000 in Nagasaki by the end of 1945, roughly half on the days of the bombings.
Nagasaki [below]
The exact moment of detonation at Nagasaki is captured in this remarkable photograph. Notice the three people in the foreground, as yet unaware that anything has happened. The destruction of Nagasaki followed that of Hiroshima by three days and compelled Japan to surrender, ending World War II. [below]
The Nagasaki bomb: codename fat man. 10,200 lbs, and a height of 10.6 feet [below]
Hiroshima [below]
The Hiroshima bomb: codename little boy. 8,818 lbs and a height of 9 feet [below]
Extra pic:
Taken 1 millisecond after detonation, showing the “Rope Trick” The spikes seen at the bottom of the detonation are caused by thermal radiation (approx 20,000 degrees Kelvin, 3 1/2 times hotter than the surface of the sun) vaporizing cables that held the device in place. This is known as the “Rope Trick”
The mottling effect seen on the surface of the fireball is caused by clumps of vaporized bomb debris, traveling at several tens of kilometers/second, hitting the back of the slower expanding fireball.
On a related note: I found this other wikipedia entry to be quite interesting…
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Filed under: uncategorized | 141 Comments
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nice post.
There was a small atoll near Bikini Island called Ronglap Atoll. The United States wanted to study the effects of fallout on a living population and chose Ronglap Atoll (at the time a US protectorate) for the test. Reading a survivors description almost took away my ability to deal with my fellow human beings.
Great post. Anyone interested in a great doc about this should check out Trinity and Beyond: The Atomic Bomb Movie…narrated by Shatner!
I just read the description of Bravo test… however there are many US navy staffers that have publicly stated that bravo was intended to have fallout land on the islands population.
And to think, this jag-off country tested the first two on cities, yes japanese cities packed with innocent people.
#4 Bravo was also worse because, being the first “hydrogen” bomb, the yield was 4 to 8 times more than expected. The island was completely missing after the blast. Much of the measuring equipment was destroyed. All of the island plus some of the ocean bed (the crater is still there) was thrown into the air, creating much more fallout.
BTW, has anyone ever driven I-40 between California and Arizona? Notice the curve around the Yucca Mt. range. The original intent was to use atomic bombs to open a pass through, but the SALT treaty stopped the plan.
Great shots! I was hoping to see one I remember from some documentary years ago, that shows the old Las Vegas strip of the 1950’s, with a mushroom cloud behind it off in the distance.
Seems China and Russia weren’t the only ones willing to experiment with human subjects in determining the real effects of Nuclear Fallout. Only difference is that they at least tried it on their own people and not some non-vocal, non-represented and npn-strategic South Seas island people. O well… Not like such thing could still happen…
“Below IS(?) 8….” hmmm
Much bigger pix or it didn’t happen.
For even more photos and information I would suggest visiting http://www.atomicarchive.com/Photos/index.shtml
A map of the fallout from the BRAVO test is here ( http://www.atomicarchive.com/Maps/BravoMap.shtml )
Enjoy!
Looks like a nuclear bomb is a shitty weapon. A single big blast, nothing more.
It looks like a big napalm bomb would do more damage to both people and buildings. Certainly 10 napalm bombs would cause devastation on a much larger scale.
Wow dude those are some cool pics.
JT
http://www.Ultimate-Anonymity.com
These nuclear tests stand as a monuments of shame to the !@#$%F-ingA-holes we elect into government. I just wonder what atrocities the current petty men of government are foisting upon us today.
propaganja…
If those bombs did not get dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, eventually, the US would of had to invade Japan, and knowing how crazy the Japanese people would of been to defend their homeland, millions, American and Japanese would of been dead.
So consider, drop 2 nukes and kill a few hudred thousand, or eventually invade, and have millions upon millions dead?
@Tom
Nuclear weapons are a bad idea, as they cause so much collateral damage. However, they are not a ’shitty weapon’. I think completely destroying an entire city/army/naval group is a pretty damn powerful weapon.
Awesome list! I’ve seen all the pics but I love seeing them again.
Reporter John Hersey wrote an amazing book (first as an article in the New Yorker) called “Hiroshima.” http://www.amazon.com/Hiroshima-John-Hersey/dp/0679721037/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1216686107&sr=1-1
It is a very spare recounting of what happened during the bombing and the aftermath as told by survivors.
Fascinating photos and information. You may enjoy my post concerning the end of the world, “End Times,” at http://www.phenomenaltruths.wordpress.com. A great webiste for more information on politics, Iran, and nuclear weapons/war is http://www.joelrosenberg.com. Serious stuff, isn’t it?
Incredible photos! Scary to think about those type of things
Combine that with this video and you’ve got a scary bedtime story: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8DkYe3sSDfA&feature=related
Humans. When are you going to learn? An absolutely monumental archive of brilliant imagery, but completely depressing how far some of us have fallen.
and now i am willing to sacrifice anything for PEACE, nice pict
It’s interesting to see people comment on such weaponry. I realize all to well how horrible it is\was that such weapons had to be used. This was mentioned before but one should consider more detail.
Before Truman made the decision to use the bomb he was given estimates on storming the island of Japan. The numbers were staggering. An estimated 1,000,000 casualties . . . not counting the effect on the civilian population. The two cities that were chosen were military targets, one was a shipyard while the other was manufacturing. Kyoto was on the list but the decision makers did not want to drop on Kyoto due to it’s cultural significance to the people of Japan.
During the decision process you also had Stalin’s Army marching across Eastern Europe. There is good evidence that the dropping of the bombs was just as much a message to Stalin as it was to Japan. Also people fail to mention that millions of leaflets were dropped on the two cities warning them of the impending attack.
War is a nasty and ugly thing, I think it’s wrong to sit back and think that there were white men in smoking jackets enjoying the deaths of thousands of people in some DC bunker. Not to mention the fact that if that decision had not been made, then many of those who proclaim how wrong it was probably would not be here as our fathers and grandfathers would have died on the beaches of Japan long before having any children of their own.
(snoring)….old news, old news…
I wonder at the lack of being aware of it.
Just land on earth recently or something?
Human life should be respected. These pix make me realize how fragile we as a species are, and also how cruel we can be when there is an agenda.
I read all the replies and tend to agree with Tom,it seems like a pretty shitty weapon,sure there is a lot of destruction but it ruins everything for a long time.I think a much more fearsome a devastating thing to do is massive firebombing of all known civilian areas done very quick and late at night.the enemy id completely destoyed and rebuilding is simple,provided the Americans are not involved. I mean going around scarring the crap out of each other with these atomic bombs sure hasn’t done anything positive in the world that I can recall and I’ve been around since the 40’s.
“Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds.”
– J. Robert Oppenheimer
War, war never changes…
I love these pics. I have seen them before online. I used a few for a one of my videos on youtube.com and people like them. Thanks for these and the article.
Who cares! Blow them up! All of them. Every one who has a mental problem too. I dislike people. Let me tell you something, if the world blows up its not my problem and if I die, well then I will be liberated from this hell hole. let’s not take this so serious now! Stuff happens. That’s life. Yes, let’s surrender every thing so all communist can come and rule us. I’m not into the slavery stuff. Sorry! The article is well written regardless of if it is new or old or how fragile we are. Let’s talk about how strong the human race is. What’s this crap about have labor pains and taking medicine for it? Never had it back in the day. We species are tough also. HA-HA! The joys of me! Sue me! Just another D. Black opinion.
One question for the bomb-supporters. Why couldn’t Truman have dropped a warning bomb right off the coast of Japan? Even if it didn’t provoke surrender, at least we could say we tried to avoid the horrible loss of human life at Hiroshima and Nagasaki. You can’t necessarily say that a ground-war with Japan would have been inevitable unless other options were explored and attempted… it’s a false dilemma to assume that bombing a city or invading were the only options on the table.
Truman did not drop a warning bomb, because the Japs didn’t drop a warning on Pearl Harbor, on Nanking, on Bataan, on Buma, etc, etc. They were an extremely ruthless nation at the time and very cruel in their warfare. The FIRST Atomic Bomb did not cause them to surrender. The second one was dropped about 2 weeks later. If the FIRST BOMB didn’t cause them to surrender, why would you think they would surrender on a “Warning Bomb” off the coast? Sorry Bud, you haven’t got a clue.
These weren’t even the worst bombings of world war II. The fire bombing of Tokyo cost more lives (124,000) and caused more damage than either of the atomic bombs individually.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bombing_of_Tokyo_in_World_War_II
And following the invasion of Okinawa in Operation ICEBURG, Truman pretty much realized that the invasion of Japan would come at a cost the American public could not bear and so used the atomic bomb as a means to force Japan to surrender.
>During the decision process you also had Stalin’s Army
>marching across Eastern Europe.
yeah, same as with the taliban. who made stalin this strong throught lend-and-lease? right. i wonder if the war had cost this many lives if the germans succeded and conquered britain (of course a britain without the assistence of the us). maybe the war was ended in 1940 or 1941 then. you never know. another option could have been to NOT invade japan at all – that would be avery christian way btw – and i think a lot of us citizens consider themselves as christians (i am not a believer in any religion – i actually find it kind of funny to see ppl around the world preach water and drink wine – yeah, the german soldiers had belt buckles with “gott mit uns” – “god with us” *haha* – and military chaplains – the biggest joke – okay us has these, too).
wow… thx for the info men….
Great post, thanks for sharing these photos.
God damn what a huge explosion,…
what about nuclear power plant???
That is friggin sweet!
Face of devil unleashed.. whoever looks at this as “awesome pics” do not have sensitivity. This is similar to feeding a tiger by going inside a cage and admiring it. The fire within burns you out before it burns others.
God only knows how many thousand times the world now has in stockpile of this monstrous weapon.
Thank God that HE IS not only a Creator but a Sustainer when He worked in human hearts that had AVERTED nuclear confrontations many times in history.
Bertrand Russell was right if what he’d said includes what I added (in brackets)
Russell said, MANKIND (if left to themselves) HAS NO FUTURE WHATSOEVER.
Mind staggering photos, it’s simply mind staggering.
mmmmmmmmmmm…. Nuclear Mushrooms….
@The Friar,
nerver heard such a stupid talk in my life! Whats with all the handicaped and dead people effected in Japan by the fallout? Did you count them in as casualties?The side affects are *still* there. You have no respect or whatsoever for humanity you are a shame advocating for such a bullshit thing like the drop of a nuclear weapon! I’d like to see you suffering from radiation sickness and still talking nonsense like this.
It’s a shame you were not alive during this period of time. Because you haven’t got a clue. You talk like we just walked over to Japan and blew innocent people up for no reason… Japan was the most ruthless Nation of warriors on the face of the earth. It was common to take over entire towns and rape and kill women and children for weeks and kill every male as their spoil. Try reading, “The Rape of Nanking” sometime, if you have the guts and the brains. That was the NORM for Japan and it had been going on for over 50 years around the world, before they started the fight with us. They were bent on world domination and were totally dedicated to their ruler, the Emperor. They killed MILLIONS of INNOCENT people all over the world. So tell me, how we should have held hands and sang Campfire songs with the biggest murders of that century. They even gave the germans a run for the title as Mass Murderers of history.
O God, the collection is just blasting. Its real great to see the pics and the notes along with them. Aesthetically the detonations also look great
not a single shot of the tsar bomba ?
50 megatons of pure destruction.
http://www.atomicforum.org/russia/tsarbomba.html
ALL Nuclear explosions are Insane….
Insane! Humans can create the best and worst things.
More images here: http://www.collthings.co.uk/2008/06/nuclear-test-pictures.html
I possibly wouldn’t have been born if Japan had not surrendered as a result of the two atomic bombs. My father, having served in the European theatre in WWII, was on a military transport heading toward Japan when the weapons were used. In a bloody invasion, as noted by some others above, the casualties could have been immense, and my father might not have survived to meet my mother. Also, by some reports the Americans, ignorant about radiation injury, considered using multiple atomic bombs to blast their way through the formidable Japanese defenses that they expected. These A-bombs led to horrific casualties, but I may owe my existence to Truman’s decision to use these weapons.
Wow. What an awesome power contained in a bomb of considerably smaller size.
Crazy stuff…
the smoke at the second pic looks like statue of liberty…
@The Friar and all the others talking about how the bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki saved lives: I grew up believing that too, but it turns out to be a lie.
Japan was ready to surrender and was in the process of trying to negotiate that surrender. They had one demand, that their emporer remained in charge. After the bombs, they had only one demand… that their emporer remain in charge. The one truth is that the bomb was more about Stalin than it was Japan.
Something even more scary is that this ended a World War. And despite this happening and people gaining their freedom and losing a fear, the new youth of today are total ignorant, some have never heard of the bomb of Hiroshima, why? This is surely the most important piece of history in that happened to the world, as it near enough saved, yet also is so close to destroying the entire world, it should be learned from
I found this post very interesting.
The photos demonstrate the level of destruction, while the words are informative.
Really, its a great source of History of Nuclear weapon. Physists and students of physics will enjoy this article very much. Others too…
But we should remember that, this technology can destroy the whole planet Earth!!! several times. Then, no body will be left to read this article.
We should enjoy this article, but not enjoy the event of destruction powered by it.
Let’s make it usefull for our life by turning it to source of electricity and other usable energy.
Please, don’t forget its side affect on environment.
The argument that we saved millions of lives by dropping the bombs on Japan is very flawed. Yes, in the short term we saved millions of Japanese and American lives, but we set a very, very, very bad precedent. The next time that a nuclear weapon is used on a civilian population, the cost of life will far outweigh those that we supposedly saved in 1945.
We are all sitting on a gigantic powder keg. The next World War will last all but a few hours.
Quote: “Scott Says: If those bombs did not get dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, eventually, the US would of had to invade Japan, and knowing how crazy the Japanese people would of been to defend their homeland, millions, American and Japanese would of been dead.”
Not true. The blockade would have worked. Absolutely none of the generals thought an invasion or nukes were necessary. Truman, Hitler’s blood brother, dropped the bombs so that the Soviet Union didn’t get a chance to enter the field of battle and claim spoils of war.
Dropping the atomic bombs was a war crime, plain and simple. If Japan had done that to the US, we’d sure as hell had demanded they be tried along side the Nazis.
Cool
Lesson to fascist countries:
Dont start something you cant finish.
I think perhaps something is being read into my comment that is not there. I never said I thought using a Nuclear weapon was wise, I’m simply commenting on what intel the people had on their hands at the time and how they responded.
I wasn’t in the Oval Office in 1945 . . .
Nor am I discounting the thousands upon thousands of deformities and far reaching ramifications of the decision.
One said, “A very Christian thing to do” . . . where in my comment did I bring up faith?
Again I wasn’t there, it would have been great if this didn’t happen. The fact is that it did. As far as ruining the land, people are living in Hiroshima today; the reason you detonate a nuke in the air is so it won’t spoil the ground and make it unlivable for decades to come.
The pictures are an amazingly awesome site . . . a lot of power, frightening what we do when we’re left to our own devices. Horrific the results, tragic the circumstances, but it still happened and no amount of modern morality will change that.
A positive that comes out of this is that once the world saw how destructive these types of weapons were no one dared use them again. Sure there are stockpiles and the threat is ever present; M.A.D. has so far worked out. The real danger comes when you have a people group that doesn’t care . . . in fact longs to cause this type of destruction.
That’s what is really frightening . . .
You forgot Tsara Bomba, “King Bomb”, a 50+ MEGAton nuclear device, the largest ever detonated, by the Russians. That was an INSANE nuclear explosion, far surpassing those listed here.
this is flippin awsom. these p[ictures are so cool. nice post
I guess I’ll never know the horrors brought about by times like that.
Yeah they look awesome, at least from a scientific point of view, and perhaps in some twisted artistic way of looking at things.
I had done a similar (although different) post years back.
I think this was back before blogs.
http://www.vitalbodies.com/ap/nav/go_organic.shtml?7page0
This has the image that Kevin (above) was asking for. The site is old but much of the images and links are still working…
Shows maps and images and links.
I forgot to say: This is a really interesting post. Thanks.
Hello, I’m Liverig from the Brazilian Blog ‘O Blog do Dissidente’, I want to say that your post is excelent so the pictures.
Congratulations, and maybe I will translate to Portuguese some parts of this article.
Ow, If you want to visit my Blog, it is in Portuguese but you can use a translator like Google http://liverig.wordpress.com
Michael Says:
July 22, 2008 at 11:47 am
“I possibly wouldn’t have been born if Japan had not surrendered as a result of the two atomic bombs.”
Well, perhaps. But how many Japanese children _would_ have been born had the bombs not been dropped? And how many Japanese children _would_ have lived?
The dropping of the A-bombs easily qualifiy as a terrorist act, because it almost exclusively targeted civilian lives, not military units.
Oh I forgot something:
http://www.csi.ad.jp/ABOMB/children.html
Never forget the tens of thousands of children who never grew up to become adults because of the bomb that deliberately targeted them.
The link I gave are accounts of children who did survive it.
Are all these pictures real?
http://suburbanconnoisseurs.wordpress.com/
Do you have higher res pics for download? I really liked them and would look nice as desktop background.
Now, could we please have 8 Sane Nuclear Explosions?
These are exactly what the pics I would not want to be seen…hmmm…
The world is going to end in our own hands…
Its the end of the world as we know it…and I feel fine…
NMRK
Awesome pictures. But they scare the hell out of me.
Scary stuff.
Nuclear power is good when you use it for something good. But it can be evil if you use it for something destructive.
Two things missing Tzar Bomb.
.
The most devastating tool created by human hand. 100 MTon of pure destructive energy.
And Cobalt Bomb, one of most interesting weapon. Only weapon capable of destrooing all live on earth
Those 2 bombs could be droped somewhere else to show the power, [perhaps some military base ... ], not directly over Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
They actualy decided to kill inocente people for testing purposes. 10k – 150k, never mind, those are just numbers.
‘Never forget the tens of thousands of children who never grew up to become adults because of the bomb that deliberately targeted them.’
… human is the worst animal ever …
Thank you for reminding me where I live, I just keep asking myself how someone can decide to do something like that, I would rather die 100 times then to kill some inocente kid
You forgot to put ideologies. In reality both communism, nazism and islam killed many times more people than any atomic bomb ever will.
The Soviet union had no need for atomic bombs to kill, and in fact killed many more without atomic bombs. So did Mao. So did the mughal (muslim) emperors in India.
In reality these bombs are not a real threat, they will never cause the death of millions. Given proper responses you will likely survive a 100 megaton blast at 1 km range. In a city, in between skyskrapers probably 50% of people at 150 meters of the center of the blast would survive. If they move correctly out of the way of the fallout they would survive indefineately.
Together, little boy and big boy caused less than 100.000 deaths. The very highest estimates put this number at 300.000 people. By comparison, the muslims killed 300 million in India (over a millenium). Mao killed over 100 million. And Communism killed some 350-400 million people (at least 200 million during a time they could have used atomic weapons, but clearly they decided that it was easier to not use them)
This is a so humiliating and shameful.
Japan was about as powerful as the Taliban at the end of the war. Their navy was obliterated, the islands blockaded. Germany and Italy were finished. The US didn’t have to invade at all or nuke the entire populous of two cities. They could have just sat in their ships and waited. The only “reasonable” explanation for these events is that the US was testing a weapon on a nation which the US considered culturally, and ethnically inferior. This is inethical and should have been followed by war-crime hearings, beginning with Harry S. Truman, who should then have been hung.
Another mad Democrat. When Pearl Harbor was bombed, war was declared on us. We were ushered into WWII. The emperor of Japan wouldn’t surrender after the first bomb was dropped, so another followed. There were seven more bombs waiting but the emperor finally sorta kinda of spoke up. The sitting in ships and waiting idea would have cost more lives than the bombs dropped.
It is not in the makeup of humans to live peacefully…Ultimately they shall be the cause of destruction of this planet. There is only one other species that are akin to Humans, Virus. They occupy a space, procreate, consume all the resources there till nothing is left,then move on…Totally callous, self centered. Not all, yes. But the ones who are far outweighs the ones who aren’t. Virus don’t think. Man does. Power, greed….Humans are the worst kind.
A misogynist…
Nice numbers … the point is not who killed more, some ideology or if some ’sun blast’ in other galaxy that killed 500 billions of some kind of creatures, there is no comparation by any number.
If someone killed 50 man, does not mean that if I kill just 1 – my ‘crime’ is small. Hey, he killed 50, let me out …
They were inocent kids, guilty for born in the wrong area at this planet and definitely not the military target.
- Image no.2, house at 3,500 feets = 1,066.8 meters without skyskrapers.
- ‘In a city, in between skyskrapers probably 50% of people at 150 meters of the center of the blast would survive.’
Perhaps for a half a day, after that comes radiation, and skyscrapers can fall … we should wait a little more to see those images here.
Oh, yes, Japan was about as powerful as the Taliban at the end of the war.
In one of BBC documentary it says that they could just wait for 10 more days for Japan to surrender. US was testing a weapon … is that one of the bigest war-crime ever, Yes.
very very exciting information. Thanks
For the “Friar”,
they actually detonate the a-bombs in the air to create a maximum blast radius, not to ensure that the city will be able to recover more quickly. Look at photos of the after effects; clearly recovery was not a goal.
For those who say they owe their existence to the dropping of the a-bombs,
an invasion of japan was not the only other option. dropping the bomb on an unpopulated target, simply waiting for the government to surrender (they had nothing left)
dropping leaflets warning of an attack would not have meant anything to a society that had never seen an atomic explosion
the US government raised the predicted number of US casualties in the case of an invasion of japan after having dropped the atomic bombs and seen the effects. and the predicted number was definetly never millions upon millions
the hiroshima bomb killed an estimated 200,000 people, and if anything the actual number is larger, considering so many people died in the years following the attack. the nagasaki bomb killed an estimated 100,000.
-So Tom, 300,000 is not the maximum possible number of deaths
and by the way, who killed more people is a disgusting debate to be having, they are all horrible
targeting innocent civilians is always wrong, no matter what the situation
IF IT WERE’NT FOR THE TESTS, WE’D BE TALKING JAPANESE NOW.
michael schmitz why would we be speaking japanese right now? please explain
It was 100 % Necesery For The great united states of america to create a strong weapon to deafete the Japinees danger in War World : 2 that purhapes cause a more damage for that country Im a teenager of 14 years old and i’ am absolutly with attacking Hirochima and nakazaki by the american nuclear weapon and if not in that time propebly The japon caused big damage to the us and the world by a dictatoriale way and i advice the central intelligence agency The -CIA- TO BE MORE CAREFUL IN THE FUTURE BY WATCHING CARFULY The moves and steps of that country.
The world should be more careful in the futur And stop doing a nuclear tries To secuire The world continue because the armagedon Chronomètre is aproching day after day with all that pollution.
It’s a shame that so many young and politically correct people suffer from the debilitating physical deformity of headupyerassiosis! In some cases, it goes in so far in – it actually pops back out of their shoulders and allows them to type.
You should see the REAL toys we play with! Some can’t even be tested.
So, you just keep “bloggggggggggggging” and petting your poodles and leave the deep, dark, ugly real world to us war mongers!
These pictures are of what would be today very small or low yield weapons..
The one picture of the French explosion is of 914 Kt. is just under 1 Megaton so a big bomb, but we have bombs that are from 3-7 megaton mostly many of them and even larger and Russia set off the largest ever in a famous test that you can find on-line of a whopping 58 Megatons….Russia in general has larger yield or greater Megatonage to it’s bombs as they lack the accuracy of American missiles or delivery systems as they call them…
So if you find these frightening they are nothing to what would be used if we were to see an all out nuclear war fought today..!
Also what we would use today are Hydrogen or Thermo-Nuclear Weapons so again much more destructive as they create huge fireballs that suck things into the blast from even miles away..
1 Megaton is equal to the explosion of 1 million tons of TNT…
The Hiroshima bomb was 14 Kilotons so equal to 140,000 tons of TNT…
Nice blog!
Bombing the cities in Japan unfortunately was the RIGHT thing to do. If the US havent done that, millions more of innocient civlilans that the Japanese militaries invaded would have been slaughtered. Im chinese and I know the pain and torture China had to go through at the hands of the Japanese miltary. They raped, mutilated, experimented and slaughtered us for sport. Not only in China but also Korea, Vietnam and other asian countries. They are worst than the nazis in my opinion. Dont beleive me? Buy the book, ‘Rape of Nanking’ and see for yourself..you will graphic photos of what they done to us. 140k of instant death japanese civilians seems fair for what they did to millions of us consider we’ve been tortured, raped, mutilated….
Friars first comment was the best anybody had written and the fact that people bashed him when he in no way condoned the attacks, just gave us the same facts i remember hearing back in middle school.
Japan had it coming. Learn your history, jerk off…
To all those saying we didn’t have to drop the bomb you have to put yourself in that time. Intelligence isn’t nearly what it is now…for all we know the japanese could’ve been days away from making their own atomic bomb. Would you really want to wait and see if they might attack with an atomic bomb themselves?
It surprises me that so many who chose to comment here are so ill informed on the subject of the war with Japan. Especially with recent documentaries – like “The War” by Ken Burns – which have shed so much light on the effect of the war on the people more than anything else.
The loss of lives in Hiroshima and Nagasaki are appalling of course, but then everything about war is. The awesome power of an atomic bomb almost pales in comparison to the devastating force of HUMANS. The slaughter of 6 million innocent Jews by the Germans (Allies of the Japanese during the war, remember?) was the most appalling act in human history. Don’t forget that the Japanese willingly allied themselves with the Nazis and committed some of the most horrific war crimes EVER. Neither army dropped a single atomic bomb. The Imperial Japanese army is responsible for the MURDER of over 6 MILLION Chinese citizens as well as roughly 5 MILLION more people in Asia between 1937 and 1945. Oh, and don’t forget that the war the Japanese and Germans STARTED cost the world nearly 60 MILLION lives.
Getting the picture yet? The Japanese killed thousands of innocent peacetime American citizens at Pearl Harbor. They started a war with us and committed countless unspeakable atrocities that most would deem worthy of atomic force alone. I’m not condoning the ‘They started it, we finished it’ mentality, but don’t turn a blind eye to the horror of the Imperial Japanese Army.
How many innocent lives of the enemies of Japan were spared? None. Had the Japanese found the technology they would have done MUCH worse with the atomic bomb. Do some research on the practices of the Japanese army at the time. Japanese citizens were trained to fight and women and children were being thrown into their army. There was no forthcoming surrender before the atomic bombs were dropped. That is completely untrue.
The Japanese planned to fight to the death (check and see how they armed and trained their civilians) and millions of Japanese soldiers (were not even counting civilians yet) would have died as well as millions of allied soldiers. Oh and as for the option of a siege on Japan? Completely ludicrous. It is impossible to lay siege to an island country like Japan, any Japanese citizen can attest to that.
The portrayal of the American government gleefully snuffing out thousands of lives is ridiculous. It was a tough decision which and most involved with it thought it horrific and were haunted by it for the rest of their lives. Before commenting about history such as this, you should READ A BOOK. Do some actual research! Hell, peruse a Wikipedia page, anything!
Don’t be foolish enough to comment on what should have happened in hindsight. We were at war. Be happy that such a killing machine was only used once, and that the Americans and Japanese became strong allies afterward and are to this day. Our cultures are now intertwined in ways that most people from that time could never imagine. We found peace.
And I just love portobello Mushrooms
Finally, a little common sense. I believe the phrase “those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it” is the one that should be used. If we want to go and talk about Truman being a terrorist how about the rest of history? Should all white people be called terrosrists for slavery? Europeans for the genocide of the Indigenous American peoples? And that is just 2 examples of many more from history. Unless you were there it is impossible to judge what and why at the time. It seems like most people here are (somewhat) aware of history. Learn from it and do not repeat the same mistakes! Nuclear power is awesome…for both good and bad. That can be said for just about everthing. Planes allow quick travel, but can also be used to drop a bomb (or be a bomb)…Drugs can ruin lives, and cure cancer…
I LOVE NUCULAR EXPLOSIONS!!! so gorgeous… i have that first one as a poster on my wall.
here’s a kickass collection of video footage set to the sweet melodies of strapping young lad:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ULSA5wktywI
enjoy
“It worked”
J. Robert Oppenheimer
what about the russian tsar bomba the worlds biggest nuclear explosion in history it was 50 mega tons
Hey propaganja,
Remember that we were at war with Japan. Also remember that the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor without warning on December 7, 1941, killing thousands of innocent Americans. On top of that, an all out war with the fanatical Japanese after Germany surrendered would have claimed many more American lives had we not dropped the bombs and forced them to surrender. Trust me, if they had nuclear weapons at the time, they would have used them on us.
Go hug a tree and get out of the U.S. if you don’t like it.
We stopped at 2 that may not be diplomacy, maybe even overkill, but it was effective. It was hardly insanity, it was more desperation on America’s part. Its like two perfectly equally matched boxers the only thing that could be done to prevent more severe damage is to cut the match short by one of the two kicking the other in the balls. You do realize there really are not rules in war–the balls are fair game.
hey… those pictures of the nuclear bombs blowing up where really kewl… how did you get that close?
The Japs started the war not the us. We ended it however. The Atomic bomb saved a lot more lives then it took. It was thought that it would of cost as many as 1 million allied solders and 10 million jap lives to subdue Japan. Using the bomb was the right thing to do. The Japs were drilling there civilians to use bamboo spears. There leadership told the people that if you did not kill at least 7 american soldiers, you were not worthy to die.
Are all these pictures real?
I think nuclear energy is useful, but some people want to use this, for evil
There is no doubt that Nuclear weapons are devious devices.
yes they killed a lot of lives and yes they could do so in the future,
maybe the detonations at Hiroshima and Nagasaki saved lives maybe not. Be glad that you were not directly influenced. Be glad that you did not grow up in the war.
it seems that there is two different arguments on this site. just remember that each report and each little bit of information about the detonations is influenced by the writer’s own personal opinion.
The Nuclear Blast was an incredible sight. Dr.N. Hernandez of the N.B.I told citizens to evacuate as fast as they could becuase they bomb had a time sequence built in.
All the atoms in our bodies were forged in supermassive stars.These nuclear reactions took place over billions of years.The force that gave us life can now be utilized in a blink of an eye to destroy all life.Does anyone else find this horrific?
The killing of the innocent is horrible, but those “innocent” would have defended their country to the death………just as we would have defended our country had someone invaded. Notice I said would have. Most of the people in this country will not defend their country these days. As a matter of fact, many (as you can see by comments on this site) apparently think our country was in the wrong. You weren’t there so you do not know what you would have done. You weren’t hugging dirt on a beach with bullets and shells ripping your friends apart. The men that WERE in that position think the atomic bombs were a GREAT idea! It is not what you see on movies, I promise. All that being said, it is really scary to see the lack of brains and knowledge of historical FACTS as is displayed here time and again. The “Greatest Generation” fought (and died) for people who now sit back and type ignorant rants against them. One more thing; these “cool” pictures ARE real and they are NOT “cool”.
really cool pictures
I pooped on your face!
wow, the first one is insane!!!! I can’t believe people would create such a harmful bomb like that. If they wanted to blow up A house the end up killing poeple miles aroung it!!