The explosion of the "Fallout" series has made the world refocus on the huge impact and harm of nuclear war, as the most terrifying single weapon ever developed by mankind, nuclear weapons have laid the foundation for today's international landscape.
[Stills from "Fallout"]
But also because of the amazing power of nuclear weapons, how to use them rationally and how to survive a nuclear explosion has become the focus of discussion in the world.
The lethality of nuclear weapons
The energy release process of nuclear weapons is completely different from that of ordinary conventional bombs, and its release is much shorter and more intense, which makes nuclear weapons have far more explosive power than conventional weapons.
【Nuclear Explosion】
At present, all the nuclear powers in the world are equipped with thermonuclear weapons, and although modern nuclear weapons no longer emphasize explosive yield as they did during the Cold War, and there will no longer be a super nuclear bomb with a design yield of 100 million tons like the Tsar Bomba, it is enough to completely destroy all mankind several times.
The lethality of a nuclear bomb does not only come from the so-called nuclear radiation, the shock wave after the explosion is enough to flatten an area within a radius of several kilometers, and the high temperature of up to hundreds of thousands of degrees will instantly vaporize the organisms around the explosion center, and the violent combustion will even burn a short vacuum in the center of the explosion.
Even from a few kilometers away, the heat can cause severe burns to exposed people, and many people who have experienced a nuclear explosion are often unrecognizable, in fact, because of the effects of the heat.
[Survivors of nuclear bombings often suffer all their lives]
In addition to shock waves and high temperatures, flashes of light during explosions can also cause harm to people, and we all find that when we watch a nuclear test documentary, the experimenters wear special sunglasses during the explosion test.
This is because if you look directly at the flash of the explosion, you will even directly burn your eyes and cause blindness, and the light radiation is strong enough to be negligible, so almost all tutorials on dodging a nuclear explosion require you to find shelter in the first place.
In fact, modern nuclear weapons are relatively clean, and most of the nuclear radiation will be completely reactive during the nuclear explosion, and will not leave behind strong radiation like the early atomic bombs.
【Nuclear Explosion】
Of course, this does not mean that nuclear radiation is not dangerous, large doses of radiation will directly destroy human cells, once suffering from radiation sickness, people will die in extreme pain, and existing medical means cannot prevent this process, after all, there is no radiation elimination in "Radiation" in reality.
Of course, if it is attacked by a nuclear weapon, it is not completely impossible to survive, and the United States once promoted a simple nuclear explosion evasion technique during the Cold War.
If the mushroom cloud is smaller than the size of your thumb, it means that you are far enough away from the center of the explosion, and you should quickly find shelter, as long as there is a high probability of surviving as long as there is shelter.
【Nuclear Warhead】
If the mushroom cloud is larger than the projection of the thumb, then there is no need to dodge, any shelter that is too close has lost its meaning.
Survived a nuclear explosion
However, things are not all so absolute, in fact, the explosive power of nuclear weapons has a considerable relationship with the explosion environment.
Modern cities are mostly made of reinforced concrete, and they are quite dense, and the explosive power of nuclear weapons will be greatly reduced.
This means that even if you are close to the blast center, it is possible to survive with the right shelter.
【After the Nagasaki Nuclear Bombing】
This is not a theoretical probability, there have been cases in history where someone has survived the explosion location.
During the U.S. nuclear strike on Japan during World War II, a bank clerk survived the explosion.
At that time, the bank he was working in was only a few kilometers away from the heart of the explosion, and theoretically the probability of survival was infinitely close to zero.
But unlike other traditional Japanese wooden buildings, the bank is built with sturdy reinforced concrete, which can withstand the shock wave of a nuclear explosion.
【Nagasaki Nuclear Explosion】
And the thick walls helped the bank staff block the light radiation and high temperature radiation after the explosion, which made him lucky to survive.
It was a Japanese city during World War II, and today almost all cities in various countries have become concrete forests, and as long as they can be concealed in time, there is a high chance that they will survive a nuclear explosion.
In addition to the fact that a sturdy structure can act as shelter, one might ask if you can survive if you jump into the water in an explosion? Under the right conditions, this is really possible.
Also in the U.S. nuclear attack on Japan, a Japanese girl named Mitsuo Futama created a miracle.
She was sketching by a pond when she didn't notice that a U.S. bomber was dropping bombs not far behind her.
Before Eryu Mitsuo could react, she was directly overturned by the shock wave and fell into the pond, Eryu Mitsuo didn't know how to swim, but she suddenly fell into the water, and the whole person was very panicked, and she fluttered for a while before she surfaced.
When she climbed back onto land, she found that the entire city had been wiped out, a huge mushroom cloud was rising in the distance, the temperature had risen considerably, and there was a purgatory scene everywhere.
Many scientists around the world were surprised by Mitsuo Nitama's example, and Mitsuo Nitama later believed that he had escaped the deadly photothermal radiation because he had fallen into a pond.
【Mitsuo Nitamama】
However, after research, scientists said that Mitsuo Eryu's survival was actually an accident, and water was not the key to protecting her, but the position of Mitsuo Eryu at that time.
Although Mitsuo Eryu is not far from the heart of the explosion, it happens to be on the mountain next to the city, and the pond she fell into is also relatively deep, and the mountain and the pond water have become the double protection of Mitsuo Eryu, which allowed her to survive.
If you are close to the blast, the best place to take refuge is a sturdy building, and hiding in water is not effective in avoiding deadly light and heat radiation.
【Terrible Nuclear Explosion】
Sources:
[1] What is a nuclear weapon.Sichuan Provincial Office of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense.2011-05-17 [cited 2023-08-30]
[2] The United States adjusts its strategy for the use of nuclear weapons.中国军网.2013-12-19 [Citation date:2023-08-30]