The Messines mines detonation killed more people than any other non-nuclear deliberate explosion in history.
The United States geological survey measured the blast as a 3.3-magnitude earthquake and its shock waves were sent 250 km across the ground. Specialists from Sheffield University stated that the explosion was one of the biggest nonnuclear explosions in history.
Biggest terrestrial blast
The largest volcanic eruption in recorded history struck what is now Indonesia in 1815, when Mount Tambora blew off its 13,000-foot (4,000 meters) peak, according to NASA's Earth Observatory.
The Halifax Explosion was designated as a national historic event in June 2016. Historical importance: SS Mont Blanc and SS Imo collision caused the largest man-made explosion prior to the atomic bomb.
But assuming every warhead had a megatonne rating, the energy released by their simultaneous detonation wouldn't destroy the Earth. It would, however, make a crater around 10km across and 2km deep. The huge volume of debris injected into the atmosphere would have far more widespread effects.
As only one bomb was built to completion, that capability has never been demonstrated. The remaining bomb casings are located at the Russian Atomic Weapon Museum in Sarov and the Museum of Nuclear Weapons, All-Russian Scientific Research Institute Of Technical Physics, in Snezhinsk.
The explosion of one ton of TNT releases approximatly 4.2 × 10 12 joules of energy; for comparison, it takes almost 6.0 ×10 4 joules to warm up a cup of coffee. The Trinity test, a plutonium fueled bomb had an estimated yield of 21 kilotons, and left a crater 2.9 meters deep and 335 meters wide.
One of the most powerful explosive chemicals known to us is PETN, which contains nitro groups which are similar to that in TNT and the nitroglycerin in dynamite. But the presence of more of these nitro groups means it explodes with more power.
In the study released in early October, they estimated the explosion's yield as the equivalent of 500 tons of TNT, although it could have been as much as 1.1 kilotons. The blast was equivalent to 1/20th of the size of the atomic bomb used in Hiroshima in 1945.
A fire at the Beirut port caused the detonation of 2,750 tonnes of ammonium nitrate, which had been improperly stored in a port warehouse for six years.
According to a book published on the incident in 1994, the Halifax explosion, which killed over 1,600 people, packed the equivalent of more than 3,000 tons of TNT, nearly four times higher than the Beirut explosion estimate.
C4 was used during the Vietnam War as part of demolition blocks; today, it is commonly used in both military and civilian settings for demolition and flares. C4 is composed of RDX (91%), dioctyl sebacate (5.3%), polyisobutylene (2.1%), and mineral/motor oil (1.6%) [1].
C4 yields a higher peak pressure than TNT so the weight of C4 that yields a peak pressure equivalent to a given weight of TNT was determined based on the relationship that peak pressure is proportional to heat of detonation [4].
As an explosive, RDX is one and a half times more powerful than TNT and is easily initiated with mercury fulminate (Lewis 2007).
The resulting weapon weighed 27 tons, with a length of some 26 feet (8 metres) and a diameter of about 7 feet (2 metres). Although officially known as RDS-220, it acquired numerous nicknames, most notably Tsar Bomba in the West.
The Nature of an Atomic Explosion. The most striking difference between the explosion of an atomic bomb and that of an ordinary T.N.T. bomb is of course in magnitude; as the President announced after the Hiroshima attack, the explosive energy of each of the atomic bombs was equivalent to about 20,000 tons of T.N.T.
The nuclear arms race that originated in the race for atomic weapons during World War II reached a culminating point on October 30, 1961, with the detonation of the Tsar Bomba, the largest and most powerful nuclear weapon ever constructed.
Is a Gigaton a Measurement of Weight or Energy? Technically speaking, a gigaton is a metric unit of mass, equal to 1 billion metric tons, 1 trillion kilograms, or 1 quadrillion grams.
Under controlled conditions one kilogram of TNT can destroy (or even obliterate) a small vehicle. The energy to burn 1 kilogram of wood. The approximate radiant heat energy released during 3-phase, 600 V, 100 kA arcing fault in a 0.5 m × 0.5 m × 0.5 m (20 in × 20 in × 20 in) compartment within a 1-second period.
An overpressure of 230 kPa (33.4 psi) corresponding to detonation of 1 kg of TNT generates a blast wind of over 240 km/h measured near the point of origin.
“Emperor” remained the official title for subsequent Russian rulers, but they continued to be known as “tsars” in popular usage until the imperial regime was overthrown by the Russian Revolution of 1917. The last Russian tsar, Nicholas II, was executed by the Soviet government in 1918.
Russia declassifies footage of 'Tsar Bomba' — the most powerful nuclear bomb in history. The blast was more powerful than 50 million tons of TNT, and was felt hundreds of miles away. In October 1961, the Soviet Union dropped the most powerful nuclear bomb in history over a remote island north of the Arctic Circle.
The Tsar Bomba is the most powerful thermonuclear weapon ever detonated, as no other bomb as strong has ever been tested. While there were no deaths from the Tsar Bomba's test, there were windows shattered due to the explosion 780km (480 miles) away in a village on Dikson Island.
Composition C2 and Composition C3 demolition block charges are plastic explosives. Plasticity of the this material permits it to be molded by hand, like putty. Confinement of it, in the case of packing it into irregular-shaped objects, gives it high demolition efficiency.