[C19fan]

I highly recommend seeing the movie "Trinity and Beyond". Gorgeous, awe inspiring, and chilling documentary about nuclear tests. There is a segment about the Tsar Bomba. It was one of the cleanest nuclear tests ever. The Ruskies to keep the yield down used non-fissionable materials like lead in place of uranium that would usually fission from the fast neutrons from the thermonuclear 2nd stage.

[SpeakerToAnimals]

Trinity and beyond should be shown in high schools. I also recommend a book called 15 minutes. It is a history of SAC. It has lots of info on Castle Bravo, Americas 15 megaton bomb test.

[Fiji Hill]

[If the bomb were dropped over the Library Tower in downtown LA] Within five miles of ground zero, everyone not killed by the blast and heat would receive a lethal dose of 500 rems of high-energy radiation. Up to 20 miles away from the detonation, the blast wave would gut every building — even concrete and steel reinforced buildings.

USC, UCLA, Occidental College, and even Whittier College--home of the Fighting Poets--would all be gone.

[gaijin]

Later

[jjotto]

Tsar Bomba weighed 27 tons!? 1400 times combined power of Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombs. Tsar Bomba was ‘detuned’ by half to rein in fallout. Amazing!

http://gizmodo.com/5977824/the-biggest-bomb-in-the-history-of-the-world

[stboz]

The Sovs were sending us a message:

We have a big one AND WE CAN DELIVER IT. If we miss by a mile or two, ...meh.

[Constitution Day]

"Trinity and Beyond" is a fantastic documentary.

I follow the YouTube channel (atomcentral) that was created by the maker of "Trinity" (Peter Kuran).

Recently he posted that he wants to update the documentary for the 70th anniversary of the first atomic bomb. There is a Kickstarter page set up for this.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1891773321/trinity-and-beyond-special-70th-anniversary-of-the

[Ruy Dias de Bivar]

I remember when it was dropped. American military poo-pooed it by saying it would be better to drop several smaller bombs than one big one.

[doorgunner69]

I know the actual construction of these things is still highly classified, but hardware geeks like me would love to see how a few were actually constructed. The theoretical drawings are all great, it is the actual hardware that fascinates.

[X Fretensis]

The Soviet air crew that dropped the bomb were volunteers.
They were told before hand that the aircraft may not be able to clear the fireball.