How many kilotons is a nuclear bomb

The final 10 percent of the total fission energy represents that of the residual or delayed nuclear radiation, which is emitted over a period of time. This is largely due to the radioactivity of the fission products present in the weapon residues, or debris, and fallout after the explosion. The "yield" of a nuclear weapon is a measure of the amount of explosive energy it can produce.

The yield is given in terms of the quantity of TNT that would generate the same amount of energy when it explodes.

Thus, a 1 kiloton nuclear weapon is one which produces the same amount of energy in an explosion as does 1 kiloton 1, tons of TNT. Similarly, a 1 megaton weapon would have the energy equivalent of 1 million tons of TNT. One megaton is equivalent to 4. In evaluating the destructive power of a weapons system, it is customary to use the concept of equivalent megatons EMT. Nuclear weapons, such as the bomb dropped on Hiroshima , which was 15 kilotons of chemical explosives, produced lethal ionizing radiation in addition to a shock wave and massive amounts of heat.

Nuclear weapons also have radioactive fallout, where debris is picked up by winds into the atmosphere and then settles back to Earth days later. Nuclear weapons produce more death, destruction, injury, and sickness than any other single weapon.

The Cold War between the Soviet Union and the United States caused both countries to increase the number of their nuclear weapons. At their peak, the Soviet Union had a total of 33, operational warheads and the United States had 32, After the Soviet Union disintegrated, thousands of nuclear weapons on both sides were dismantled. Because of the broad lethality and destruction of these weapons, governments have negotiated arms control agreements such as the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty NPT of Densely-populated megacities of the 21st century mean a nuclear attack could wreak even more horrific damage than inflicted on Japan, as signs point to the development of more sophisticated weaponry.

The first atomic bomb dropped 75 years ago leveled Hiroshima on Aug. Three days later, the US dropped another atomic bomb on Nagasaki, ending World War II, with threats posed by war weaponry forever changing the world. When the bombs were unleashed in , the US was the only nation known to have fully developed the A-bomb.

South Africa is the only country to have ceded its atomic weaponry. The nuclear threat stays in the global public consciousness due to recent tensions around UN non-security council nuclear states such as North Korea, Iran, Israel, India and Pakistan over Kashmir, as well as those between the big powers.

Kile said reliable information on the status of nuclear arsenals and nuclear-armed states' capabilities varies considerably.

The UK and France have also declared some information," he said. China publicly displays its nuclear forces more frequently than in the past, but it releases little information about force numbers or future development plans. Israel has a long-standing policy of not commenting on its nuclear arsenal. Overall, inventories of nuclear warheads, however, continue to decline, primarily due to the US and Russia dismantling retired warheads.