Thermonuclear · USSR · 1961
Tsar Bomba
AN602 “Tsar Bomba” (RDS-220)
The most powerful explosion ever caused by humans. An experimental demonstration weapon, too heavy to be an operational weapon system.
See Tsar Bomba in the 3D simulator- Yield
- 50 MtDocumented
- Energy
- 209 PJ
- Mass
- 26.5 tPublic estimate
- Dimensions
- 8 m · Ø 2.1 mPublic estimate
- Type
- Thermonuclear weapon (single test)
- Period
- Cold War
- Status
- Single test
Tsar Bomba releases about 3,300 times the energy of Little Boy (Hiroshima, 1945).
Key points
- The original design aimed at ~100 Mt. The yield was deliberately cut by about half, notably to limit radioactive fallout.
- Dropped under a parachute by a modified Tu-95 to give the aircraft time to get away.
- A fireball about 8 km across; the cloud rose to more than 60 km altitude, into the mesosphere.
- The atmospheric pressure wave was measured several times around the globe.
History
Tested at the height of the Berlin crisis, during the resumption of Soviet nuclear testing in 1961. The test was as political as it was technical. Two years later, the Partial Test Ban Treaty (1963) banned tests in the atmosphere.
- July 1961 Political decision to test a very high-yield weapon.
- 30 October 1961 Test over Novaya Zemlya (Arctic), dropped by a Tu-95V.
- 1963 Partial Test Ban Treaty (atmosphere, outer space, underwater).
- After 1961 Never deployed; no weapon of this yield has been tested since.
How does it work?
A thermonuclear weapon (“H-bomb”) first uses a fission explosion, which creates the extreme conditions needed to fuse light nuclei (hydrogen isotopes).
Fusion releases a lot of energy per unit of mass and is not limited by a critical mass: this is what makes the megaton range and beyond possible.
One megaton (Mt) is the energy of one million tons of TNT, about 4.2 × 10¹⁵ joules.
Deliberately general explanations: the application provides no design or manufacturing information.
Frequently asked questions
How powerful is Tsar Bomba?
Tsar Bomba has an estimated yield of 50 Mt of TNT equivalent, about 209 PJ of energy.
What is the history of Tsar Bomba?
A single atmospheric test, on 30 October 1961. Never deployed. Tested at the height of the Berlin crisis, during the resumption of Soviet nuclear testing in 1961. The test was as political as it was technical. Two years later, the Partial Test Ban Treaty (1963) banned tests in the atmosphere.
What does the Tsar Bomba explosion look like?
The Bomb Simulator shows the fireball, shock wave and cloud of Tsar Bomba at real scale, over Paris, London or New York, with the sources and reliability of each value.
Sources
- The untold story of the world’s biggest nuclear bomb (A. Wellerstein, 2021) — Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists
- King of the Bombs — Smithsonian Air & Space Magazine
- The Effects of Nuclear Weapons, 3rd ed. (Glasstone & Dolan, 1977) — U.S. DoD / DOE (OSTI)
Other weapons
- Trinity — 25 kt
- Little Boy — 15 kt
- Fat Man — 21 kt
- RDS-1 — 22 kt
- Hurricane — 25 kt
- RDS-6s — 400 kt
- Gerboise Bleue — 70 kt
- 596 — 22 kt
- Davy Crockett — 20 t
- Ivy Mike — 10.4 Mt
- Castle Bravo — 15 Mt
- RDS-37 — 1.6 Mt
This application is an educational tool. The animations and effect zones are simplified representations meant to illustrate orders of magnitude. They are neither a prediction of the effects of a real weapon nor a military planning tool.