The largest explosion in the world. The most powerful nuclear explosions
This small explosion with a TNT equivalent capacity of 24 tons (in fact, there were two explosions - the first three tons, the second 21 tons) is already in full swing as the largest non-nuclear explosion in the history of mankind. Which of course is absolute nonsense.
There have been many explosions in history, an order of magnitude, two orders of magnitude, and even three orders of magnitude stronger than what happened at night. Officially, the most powerful, pre-planned non-nuclear explosion is considered to be the British bombing of the fortifications of the German island of Heligoland on April 18, 1947, when 6,700 tons of explosives were used (4,000 torpedo warheads, 9,000 depth charges, 91,000 various artillery shells). The power of the explosion was 3.2 kt TNT
Thus, the power of the Helgoland explosion was four times less than the power of the atomic bomb in Hiroshima. It is clear that no one was injured in the explosion, and the explosion itself was documented in detail. The island was returned to Germany in 1952. Now this is a resort place where, please note, the use of bicycles is prohibited.
However, in 1985-93 in the United States, a series of 5 non-nuclear explosions were carried out at the White Sands test site in New Mexico, the power of two of which, known as Minority Scale and Minority Picture, exceeded the power of the explosion at Heligoland: 4,304 kt June 27, 1985 years and 4.25 kt on May 14, 1987.
But the very “bagaboom”, which had nothing to do with the fission reaction of uranium nuclei, occurred in the USSR, at the Baikonur Cosmodrome on July 3, 1969, during the second launch of the Soviet “lunar” launch vehicle N-1. The launch of the rocket went normally, but at an altitude of 200 meters, the engines of the first stage began to turn off one after another, the last, 18th, turned the rocket 90 degrees and at the 23rd second of the flight it fell flat on the launch pad. As a result of the explosion, the power of which is estimated at 5 kt of TNT equivalent in our country, and in the west (based on the amount of fuel on board the rocket) at 7 kt, the launch pad was destroyed and the neighboring one was severely damaged.
It should be noted that all four N-1 launches ended in accidents, but only in the second case did the explosion of the entire rocket occur directly on the ground.
What’s interesting is that during the four most powerful non-nuclear explosions in human history, not a single person was injured.
The largest "unorganized" explosions in peacetime are the explosion of ammonium nitrate cargo on the cargo ship "Grandcamp", which occurred in Texas City on April 16, 1947 (just two days before the explosion in Heligoland), the power of which is estimated at 2.7-3.2 ct TNT, as a result of which and subsequent fires in the city on the Gulf Coast killed 581 people and injured another 8,451, as well as a series of explosions at the Cyprus naval base Evangelos Florakis on July 11, 2011, with a total of approximately the same power. In the case of the recent explosion, during which 13 people were killed and another 62 were injured, there was enchanting carelessness - 98 containers of explosives were stored in the bright sun, where they were heated in 40 degree heat for several days.
In wartime, the most terrible explosion was the famous explosion in Halifax, Canada on December 6, 1917, when the French transport Mont Blanc, filled to capacity with explosives, collided with the Norwegian ship Imo. The force of the explosion was 2.9 kt TNT. 2,000 people were killed and another 9,000 were injured. For information, the population of the city of Halifax at that time was 50 thousand people.
A column of smoke after an explosion in Halifax.
Interestingly, this city had to experience something similar again when, on July 18, 1945, ammunition detonated at the Bedford Arsenal in the outskirts of the city. However, in this case there were only a few lightly wounded.
However, the Halifax explosion is far from the deadliest of all non-nuclear explosions in history.
If we talk about a separate explosion, then the explosion of the Turkish arsenal in the Rhodes Fortress on April 4, 1856 is certainly one of them. The Turks used the Orthodox churches located on the palace grounds as gunpowder warehouses. One fine morning, as the church bells rang, the gunpowder detonated. Approximately 4,000 people died.
But the most terrible non-nuclear explosion in terms of consequences was carried out by the British on June 7, 1917 on the hills of Messina, when during the Battle of Passchendaele under German positions 22 charges with a capacity of 9.1 to 43.4 tons of explosives (455 tons in total) were simultaneously detonated. The total German losses amounted to 10 thousand people.
The first truly Big Bang apparently occurred on April 4, 1585 during the Spanish siege of Anteverp. At that time, the Spaniards occupied a large stone bridge at the entrance to the city, which prevented the Dutch (they later became Belgians) from receiving supplies along the Scheldt. Then the besieged equipped four huge fireships, each displacing 800 tons. Three did not reach the target, but the last fourth one swam to the bridge, but did not immediately explode. The Spaniards decided to capture it and at that moment the explosives detonated. Up to 800 Castilians died, a small tsunami went up the Scheldt, and a black cloud covered the city. The earth shook noticeably 35 kilometers from Antwerp, in Ghent.
Explosion in Antwerp. French engraving from 1727.
Just like that, and you are Tianjin, Tianjin...
Seventy years ago, on July 16, 1945, the United States conducted the first nuclear weapons tests in human history. Since that time, we have made a lot of progress: at the moment, more than two thousand tests of this incredibly destructive means of destruction have been officially recorded on Earth. Before you are ten of the largest explosions of nuclear bombs, each of which shook the entire planet.
Soviet tests No. 158 and No. 168
On August 25 and September 19, 1962, with a break of just a month, the USSR conducted nuclear tests over the Novaya Zemlya archipelago. Naturally, no video or photography was taken. It is now known that both bombs had a TNT equivalent of 10 megatons. The explosion of one charge would destroy all life within four square kilometers. 
Castle Bravo
The world's largest nuclear weapon was tested at Bikini Atoll on March 1, 1954. The explosion was three times stronger than the scientists themselves expected. The cloud of radioactive waste drifted towards the inhabited atolls, and numerous cases of radiation sickness were subsequently recorded among the population. 
Evie Mike
This was the world's first test of a thermonuclear explosive device. The United States decided to test a hydrogen bomb near the Marshall Islands. Eevee Mike's detonation was so powerful that it simply vaporized the island of Elugelab, where the tests took place. 
Castle Romero
They decided to take Romero out to the open sea on a barge and blow him up there. Not for the sake of any new discoveries, the United States simply no longer had free islands where it could safely test nuclear weapons. The explosion of Castle Romero amounted to 11 megatons of TNT. If a detonation had occurred on land, a scorched wasteland would have spread around within a radius of three kilometers. 
Test No. 123
On October 23, 1961, the Soviet Union conducted a nuclear test code number 123. A poisonous flower of a 12.5 megaton radioactive explosion bloomed over Novaya Zemlya. Such an explosion could cause third-degree burns to people over an area of 2,700 square kilometers. 
Castle Yankee
The second launch of the Castle series nuclear device occurred on May 4, 1954. The TNT equivalent of the bomb was 13.5 megatons, and four days later the consequences of the explosion hit Mexico City - the city was 15 thousand kilometers from the test site. 
Tsar bomb
Engineers and physicists of the Soviet Union managed to create the most powerful nuclear device ever tested. The explosion energy of the Tsar Bomb was 58.6 megatons of TNT. On October 30, 1961, the nuclear mushroom rose to a height of 67 kilometers, and the fireball from the explosion reached a radius of 4.7 kilometers. 
Soviet tests No. 173, No. 174 and No. 147
From September 5 to September 27, 1962, the USSR conducted a series of nuclear tests on Novaya Zemlya. Tests No. 173, No. 174 and No. 147 are in fifth, fourth and third places on the list of the strongest nuclear explosions in history. All three devices were equal to 200 megatons of TNT. 
Test No. 219
Another test with serial number No. 219 took place there, on Novaya Zemlya. The bomb had a yield of 24.2 megatons. An explosion of such force would have burned everything within 8 square kilometers. 
The Big One
One of America's biggest military failures occurred during the testing of the hydrogen bomb The Big One. The force of the explosion exceeded the power expected by scientists by five times. Radioactive contamination was observed across large parts of the United States. The diameter of the crater from the explosion was 75 meters deep and two kilometers in diameter. If such a thing fell on Manhattan, all that would be left of all of New York would be memories.
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Liquid oxygen and kerosene from the operating engines of the Atlas LV-3C Centaur-C rocket combined in a cloud of fire and destroyed the rocket and the launch facility at Cape Canaveral, Florida.
2. Operation Sailor Hat, 1965
A series of tests by the US Navy that were carried out in 1965 on Kahoolawe Island, Hawaii. During the tests, the impact of nuclear explosions on warships was simulated. Charges with a capacity of 450 tons were used as explosives.
The explosion of one of the four N1 rockets that the USSR planned to launch to the moon. The explosion of 680 tons of liquid oxygen and kerosene released about 29 TeraJules of energy, equal to the power of the Hiroshima explosion. It was the largest non-nuclear man-made explosion in history.
113,000 liters of liquid propane and isobutane explode after a train crash in Murdock, Illinois, USA.
One of the worst man-made disasters in history was caused by a series of explosions at Petroleos Mexicanos (PEMEX). This is a liquefied petroleum gas plant in San Juanico, Mexico. The explosion destroyed everything on an area of 11,000 m3. The plant was located within the city. The explosion devastated the city. More than five hundred people died and thousands suffered severe burns.
The US Department of Defense and the Nuclear Energy Agency conducted a test that simulated the explosion of a nuclear weapon by detonating 4.8 kilotons of ammonium nitrate and fuel oil in New Mexico. It was the largest planned, non-nuclear explosion in history.
Almost 5 million liters of rocket fuel + ammonium perchlorate + oxidizer exploded at a rocket fuel plant in Nevada. As a result, 2.7 kilotons of energy in TNT equivalent were released. In total there were two large and five smaller explosions. The disaster killed two people and injured 372.
8. Test "MOAB", 2003
MOAB - Mother Of All Bombs or mother of all bombs. This is the most powerful explosion of the largest non-nuclear bomb produced by the United States.
A series of major explosions at one of the largest oil depots in the UK. About 270 million liters of fuel burned and exploded. Explosions were felt even in France and the Netherlands. Fortunately, no one died.
Zenit 3SL, an unmanned rocket loaded with liquid oxygen and kerosene, would carry the satellite into orbit from the Odysey platform in the open sea. Needless to say, this did not happen, everything is visible.
FOAB - Father of all bombs. The father of all bombs. Russia's most powerful non-nuclear bomb, which was calculated to be four times more powerful than the MOAB.
Nuclear weapons are the most destructive and absolute in the world. Beginning in 1945, the largest nuclear explosion tests in history were carried out, which showed the horrific consequences of a nuclear explosion.
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Since the first nuclear test on July 15, 1945, more than 2,051 other nuclear weapons tests have been recorded around the world.
No other force represents such absolute destruction as nuclear weapons. And this type of weapon quickly becomes even more powerful over the decades after the first test.
The nuclear bomb test in 1945 had a yield of 20 kilotons, meaning the bomb had an explosive force of 20,000 tons of TNT. Over the course of 20 years, the United States and the USSR tested nuclear weapons with a total mass of more than 10 megatons, or 10 million tons of TNT. For scale, this is at least 500 times stronger than the first atomic bomb. To bring the size of the largest nuclear explosions in history to scale, the data was derived using Alex Wellerstein's Nukemap, a tool for visualizing the horrific effects of a nuclear explosion in the real world.
In the maps shown, the first explosion ring is a fireball, followed by a radiation radius. The pink radius displays almost all building destruction and 100% fatalities. In the gray radius, stronger buildings will withstand the explosion. In the orange radius, people will suffer third-degree burns and flammable materials will ignite, leading to possible firestorms.
Soviet tests 158 and 168
On August 25 and September 19, 1962, less than a month apart, the USSR conducted nuclear tests over the Novaya Zemlya region of Russia, an archipelago in northern Russia near the Arctic Ocean.
No videos or photographs of the tests remain, but both tests involved the use of 10-megaton atomic bombs. These explosions would have burned everything within 1.77 square miles at ground zero, causing third-degree burns to victims in an area of 1,090 square miles.
Ivy Mike
On November 1, 1952, the United States conducted an Ivy Mike test over the Marshall Islands. Ivy Mike was the world's first hydrogen bomb and had a yield of 10.4 megatons, 700 times more powerful than the first atomic bomb.
Ivy Mike's explosion was so powerful that it vaporized the island of Elugelab where it was blown up, leaving a 164-foot deep crater in its place.
Castle Romeo
Romeo was the second nuclear explosion in a series of tests carried out by the United States in 1954. All explosions took place at Bikini Atoll. Romeo was the third most powerful test of the series and had a yield of approximately 11 megatons.
Romeo was the first to be tested on a barge in open waters rather than on a reef, as the US was quickly running out of islands on which to test nuclear weapons. The explosion will burn everything within 1.91 square miles.
Soviet Test 123
On October 23, 1961, the Soviet Union conducted nuclear test No. 123 over Novaya Zemlya. Test 123 was a 12.5 megaton nuclear bomb. A bomb this size would burn everything within 2.11 square miles, causing third-degree burns to people over an area of 1,309 square miles. This test also left no records.
Castle Yankee
Castle Yankee, the second most powerful of the series of tests, was conducted on May 4, 1954. The bomb had a yield of 13.5 megatons. Four days later, its radioactive fallout reached Mexico City, a distance of about 7,100 miles.
Castle Bravo
Castle Bravo was carried out on February 28, 1954, was the first of a series of Castle tests and the largest US nuclear explosion of all time.
Bravo was originally intended to be a 6-megaton explosion. Instead, the bomb produced a 15-megaton explosion. His mushroom reached 114,000 feet in the air.
The US military's miscalculation resulted in the radiation exposure of approximately 665 Marshallese residents and the death from radiation exposure of a Japanese fisherman who was 80 miles from the explosion site.
Soviet tests 173, 174 and 147
From August 5 to September 27, 1962, the USSR conducted a series of nuclear tests over Novaya Zemlya. Test 173, 174, 147 and all stand out as the fifth, fourth, and third strongest nuclear explosions in history.
All three explosions produced had a power of 20 Megatons, or about 1000 times stronger than the Trinity nuclear bomb. A bomb of this strength would destroy everything within three square miles in its path.
Test 219, Soviet Union
On December 24, 1962, the USSR conducted test No. 219, with a yield of 24.2 megatons, over Novaya Zemlya. A bomb of this strength can burn everything within 3.58 square miles, causing third-degree burns in an area of up to 2,250 square miles.
Tsar bomb
On October 30, 1961, the USSR detonated the largest nuclear weapon ever tested and created the largest man-made explosion in history. The result was an explosion 3,000 times stronger than the bomb dropped on Hiroshima.
The flash of light from the explosion was visible 620 miles away.
The Tsar Bomba ultimately had a yield of between 50 and 58 megatons, twice the size of the second largest nuclear explosion.
A bomb of this size would create a fireball measuring 6.4 square miles and would be capable of causing third degree burns within 4,080 square miles of the bomb's epicenter.
There is no artificial explosion in the world more powerful than the explosion of an atomic bomb. And although many countries around the world tested atomic weapons, only the USA and the USSR exploded bombs with a yield of more than 10 megatons of TNT.
In order to clearly see the destruction and casualties that such bombs can cause, you should use the service Nukemap. The inner ring is the epicenter where everything will burn in fire. In the pink circle, almost all buildings will be destroyed, and the percentage of casualties will be almost 100%. In the green circle, the mortality rate will be from 50 to 90%, with most of those killed dying from the resulting radiation over the next few weeks. In the gray circle, the strongest buildings will stand, but the wounds for the most part will be fatal. In orange, people with exposed skin will receive third-degree burns, and flammable materials will ignite, leading to massive fires.
And here are the 12 most powerful explosions in human history:
Photo: Publicitātes attēli
On August 25 and September 19, 1962, with an interval of less than a month, atomic bombs with a yield of 10 megatons were tested on Novaya Zemlya. The area of the epicenter of the explosion, in which everything living and inanimate would be destroyed, was 4.5 square meters. kilometer Third degree burns would await everyone within a radius of almost three kilometers. Photos and videos of test materials, at least in the public domain, have not been preserved.
10. Evie Mike
On November 1, 1952, the United States was the first in the world to test a thermonuclear explosive device with a yield of 10.4-12 megatons of TNT - almost 700 times more than the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima. The power of the explosion was sufficient to completely destroy the Elugelab atoll, on the site of which a crater with a diameter of 2 kilometers and a depth of 50 meters formed. Heavily contaminated fragments of coral reefs were scattered over a distance of 50 kilometers. The explosion was captured on video.
9.Castle Romeo
Photo: Wikipedia
In 1954, the United States launched a whole series of tests of thermonuclear bombs of a fundamentally different design than “Evie Mike” (more practical, although still inapplicable as weapons). The power of "Romeo" was 11 megatons and it was the first bomb detonated on a barge in the open ocean - this would later become the standard for American nuclear tests, since bombs of this power, as it turned out with the rest of the Castle test series, simply wipe out small ones from the face of the earth islands where nuclear weapons were initially tested.
Photo: Publicitātes attēli
On October 23, 1961, the USSR tested another nuclear bomb, this time with a yield of 12.5 megatons of TNT equivalent. On an area of 5 sq. kilometers it destroyed everything, and within a radius of three kilometers it burned everything that could burn.
7Castle Yankee
Photo: Kadrs no video
In 1954, the United States successively tested "locks". The next one was detonated on May 4 - with a power of 13.5 megatons and the infected clouds reached Mexico City, which was more than 11 thousand kilometers away, in just four days.
6.Castle Bravo
Photo: Wikipedia
The most powerful of the “castles” - also the most powerful American nuclear warhead - was detonated on February 28, 1954 on Bikini Atoll, before the other “castles”. It was assumed that its power would be only 6 megatons, but in fact, due to an error in calculations, it reached 15 Mt, exceeding the calculated one by 2.5 times. As a result of the explosion, the Japanese fishing vessel "Fukuryu-Maru" was covered with radioactive ash, which led to severe illness and disability of the crew members (one person died soon after). This incident with the "fisherman", as well as the fact that several hundred residents of the Marshall Islands were exposed to radiation in the direction of which the wind was blowing on the day of the tests, led to serious protests around the world and forced politicians and scientists to talk about the need to limit nuclear weapons testing .
Photo: Publicitātes attēli
From August 5 to September 27, 1962, a whole series of tests of nuclear charges with a capacity of 20 megatons of TNT each was carried out on Novaya Zemlya - 1000 times more powerful than the bomb dropped on Nagasaki.
Photo: Publicitātes attēli
A series of Soviet tests in 1962 ended with the detonation of a charge with a capacity of 24.2 megatons of TNT, this is the second most powerful explosion. It was produced at a training ground on the same Novaya Zemlya.
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