• Question: Are there different sizes for nuclear bombs?

    Asked by WoofWoof to Steven, Sarah, Lidunka, Jillian, Connor on 15 Jun 2015.
    • Photo: Steven Thomson

      Steven Thomson answered on 15 Jun 2015:

      Yes, nuclear bombs come in different sizes. They’re classified in terms of megatons. A one megaton nuclear bomb has the destructive force of one million tonnes of TNT, a non-nuclear conventional explosive, but would only weigh a few hundred kilograms.

      When they were first invented, nuclear bombs were equivalent to a few thousands of tonnes of TNT, but modern ones are much more powerful than the early ones. This is one of the reasons why nuclear weapons are so dangerous.

    • Photo: Jillian Scudder

      Jillian Scudder answered on 23 Jun 2015:

      Steven’s got this one – different bombs are different sizes. They’ve grown in power since their invention, but even when they were first used, there were two different sizes based on the detonation mechanism. It turns out that it doesn’t matter that much, because the devastation is extraordinary no matter the mechanism.

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