Unfortunately, humanity has the power to destroy itself without much effort if some leaders decide to start a nuclear war. It’s certainly not a pleasant thought, but we have to be aware of it.
The Tsar Bomba was an aerial hydrogen bomb and also the most powerful nuclear weapon that was ever created by mankind and tested. The Soviet Union (USSR) was responsible for its creation – nuclear physicists under the leadership of Igor Kurchatov, to be more precise. The monster was unleashed in October 1961, being detonated autonomously 4,000 meters above the cape Sukhoy Nos of Severny Island, Novaya Zemlya, meaning 15 km away from Mityushikha Bay, north of the Matochkin Strai. The Tsar Bomba was roughly 3,300 times more powerful than the bomb dropped on Hiroshima in 1945. In other words, the military usage of nuclear weapons was practically only a show of fireworks compared to the power of a hydrogen bomb such as the Tsar Bomba.
But even so, it seems that nature itself still has the upper hand when it comes to generating more energy.
The 2022 Tonga volcanic eruption was more powerful
The eruption of the Tonga volcano that occurred back in January produced even more energy than the Tsar Bomba did over 50 years ago. That was an underwater volcano that unleashed so much material that it reached the stratosphere. The discovery that the eruption was even more powerful than the detonation of the Tsar Bomba in 1961 was made by researchers from the University of Sheffield.
Dr. Sam Rigby from the University of Sheffield and also a co-author of the study, said as Phys.org quotes:
The Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai eruption was without a doubt one of the most energetic events to have occurred over the last century, more so than the largest nuclear bomb ever detonated.
The eruption was equivalent to around 61 Mt of TNT, whereas the Tsar Bomba released between 50–58 Mt. The Tonga volcanic eruption released energy equivalent to a magnitude 8.4 earthquake, and the pressure wave traveled several times around the globe.
The new research was published in Shock Waves.
