How far should we be to survive the detonation of a nuclear pump?

In the event that, fortunately, still unlikely, that a nuclear explosion happens in our surroundings, how safe would it be? And what clothing would our probability of survive increase? And would that advance something?

Next month they mark 80 years Since the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki have been for nuclear attacks.

More than 200,000 people – Mainly civilians – died until the end of this year, as a direct consequence of the explosions, and many survivors are linked with long -term health problems.

So far, these are the only cases of Nuclear weapons used in a war. But the truth is that at this moment there is a little over 12,200 nuclear warheads around the world, detained by various countries.

So far, none of these countries have remembered to use one of their bombs-namely the arch-inmates India and Pakistanwhich recently were whose outcome would be unpredictable.

In recent weeks, the United States and Israel have launched Iran’s military facilities, allegedly to prevent the Islamic country, a well -known terrorist organizations financier, conclude the work of creating its nuclear bomb.

Although no nuclear bomb has been detonated against civil targets in the last 80 years, the likelihood that this is not null. But if this happens, what distance we would have to be to be able to survive this event?

In the “Fallout” series, based on the homonymous game and streaming on Amazon Prime, the character Cooper Howard, played by Walton Goggins, teaches his daughter, Janey, who The size of the famous “mushroom” Created by the nuclear explosion for smaller than our thumbwe are safe.

“Is it your thumb, or mine?” Asks the girl when the bomb really explodes.

Using the size of the thumb is probably a slightly rudimentary to measure the distance to which we are safe from the (immediate) effects of the explosion of an atomic bomb.

A few years ago, the Asapscience team on YouTube analyzed the science of nuclear bombs to try to predict how likely we survive at a nearby place, and published one with its conclusions. But don’t panic, this is just a hypothetical scenario.

It matters first of all to clarify that There is no clear way to estimate the impact of a single nuclear pump, because it depends on many factors, including weather conditions and the time the pump detonates, the geographical arrangement of the site, and explodes no only ou no arstresses the.

But in general, There are some predictable phases of the explosion of a nuclear pump that may affect the likelihood of survival.

As the video explains, about 35 % of the energy of a nuclear explosion is released in the form of thermal radiation. As it travels at the speed of light, the first thing that will reach us is A flash of blinding light – and a lot of heat.

The light itself is sufficient To cause instant blindness – a generally temporary form of vision loss that can last a few minutes.

Asapscience analysis considers a 1 megatonelada pumpwhich is 80 times larger than the detonated bomb over Hiroshima, but much smaller than many modern nuclear weapons.

For a pump of this size, people who were up to 21 km away would experience Instant blindness on a clear dayand up to 85 km would be temporarily blinded on a clear night.

Heat is a problem for those closest to the explosion. Light Burns of the First Degree They may occur up to 11 km away, and third -degree burns – the type that destroys and forms bubbles on the skin tissue – could affect anyone up to 8 km away.

Third degree burns, which cover more than 24 % of the body, would be probably fatal If affected people did not receive medical care immediately.

These distances are variabledepending not only on time, but also on the clothing used at the time: White clothes may reflect part of the energy From an explosion, while darker clothes will absorb it. But it is unlikely that clothing makes a lot of difference to the unfortunates who are near the explosion.

It is estimated that the center of the explosion of a nuclear weapon of 1 megatonnlado can generate temperatures close to 100 million degrees Celsiusor about Five times the temperature in the core of the sun – More than enough to reduce a human body to its most basic elements, such as carbon.

But for those who are slightly farther away from the center of the explosion, there Other effects to consider beyond heat. The explosion of a nuclear detonation also pushes the air away from the explosion sitecreating sudden changes in air pressure that can crush objects and overthrow buildings.

Within a radius of 6 km of a 1 megatononelate bomb, the shock waves would produce 180 tons of force metrics On the walls of all two -story buildings, and 255 kilometers/hour wind speeds.

Within 1 km, The maximum pressure is four times this amountand wind speeds can reach 756 kilometers/hour. Technically, humans can support this pressure, but most people would be killed by dropping buildings.

If we can survive all this in any way, we still have to deal with a “small problem”: the radiation poisoning.

The explosions that devastated Hiroshima and Nagasaki were aerial explosions, with each explosion occurring hundreds of meters above the two cities. If the detonations had occurred at ground level, the surface material could have been strongly radiated, and radiation would be designed for the atmosphere.

Asapscience addresses the consequences of thisnuclear precipitation‘, but the continuous effects on the planet are more lasting what you could expect.

A simulation created in 2019 found that a nuclear war between the United States and Russia on days due to smoking and soot levels released in the atmosphere.

We also know that radioactive particles can travel notably far away; a recent study found that radioactive carbon remains of nuclear pump tests were found Even in the Marian pitthe deepest point of the oceans of the world.

Thus, in the event of a nuclear bomb exploding somewhere in the world, probably No distance is sufficient to protect us from its immediate or future effects.

In fact, we are only protected from the bombs that exploded to a Distance from… 80 years in the past.

But All this is hypothetical – There are international treaties in force with the objective of trying lock the proliferation and use of nuclear weaponsand apparently countries willing to prevent by force other countries obtain their nuclear weapons.

Like this, Do not panicdon’t even run to the supermarket to exhaust the stocks of toilet paper. Everything will be fine.