World’s Biggest Nuclear Blast Was Going To Be Much Bigger – Here’s What It Could Have Done

Tsar.

The Cold War was a time of great fear for the United States as it quarreled back and forth with Russia. Although there was never any direct fighting between the two nations, the threat of war was the most intimidating part. There were few weapons more feared than the world’s biggest bomb the Tsar Bomba but as powerful as it was it could have been a lot bigger.

In October 1961 when the Russians detonated Tsar Bomba it left a trail of destruction the likes of which never seen before or since. The mushroom cloud stretched 40 miles into the sky and created a blast 63 miles wide. The world had witnessed the biggest bomb in history but this was only a fraction of what they originally planned.

Tsar Bomba clocked in at an explosive power of 57 Megatons which was roughly 3,300 times more powerful than the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima. It is shocking to hear that the original design of the Tsar Bomba had an explosive yield of 100 Megatons. The bomb was reduced from its original size because its creator Andrei Sakharov did not want to cause damage to the world from excessive radiation.

“He was really apprehensive about the amount of radioactivity it would create and the genetic effects that could have on future generations.”

– Frank von Hippel (Public and International Affairs at Princeton University)

After witnessing the destructive power of the Tsar Bomba, Sakharov declared that he could no longer be involved with developing weapons and dedicated the rest of his life to peace. Check out this clip that shows just how powerful Tsar Bomba was upon its detonation.