What Would Happen If We Detonated Every Nuclear Bomb on Earth?

The nuclear arsenal available on planet Earth is enormous. Nine countries share about 15,000 bombs, and half of them are under the direct or indirect control of the United States and Russia. The Kurzgesagt YouTube channel always surprises us with its impeccable scientific explorations, but this time they decided to answer a question from the public: What would be the effect of taking those 15,000 nuclear bombs, making a pile with them… and pressing the button?

Before we begin, a couple of additional facts: Worldwide there are about 4,500 cities or urban areas with a population equal to or greater than 100,000 inhabitants. Differences in area are important, so Kurzgesagt's first calculation assigns an average value of three bombs per city to completely eliminate it. The result is the total destruction of every major city on the planet and the death of 3 billion people… with 1,500 nuclear weapons left over. That's how big the atomic arsenal is. Now, what about its power? Kurzgesagt assigns about 200 kilotons per warhead. If we make a big pile with all nuclear bombs in existence, we have (more or less) a hyperbomb of 3,000 megatons. That said, let's blow something up. How about the center of the Amazon?

Editor's note: There are Spanish subtitles!

The Immediate Effects

The detonation produces a fireball 50 kilometers in diameter, followed by a shockwave that devastates 3,000 square kilometers of surface. The explosion is heard on the entire planet. Everything within 250 kilometers of ground zero will begin to burn, and millions of tons of material will be thrown into the atmosphere, with the mushroom cloud reaching the stratosphere. The center of the explosion is marked by a crater 10 kilometers in diameter, while the forest fire (the largest in history) devours the Amazon and multiple cities. Add to that the effects of radioactive material, which moves with the wind, killing everything in its path. The amount of material doubles across the planet, and although it is not enough to end human civilization, it will definitely change cancer statistics. Also expected is a nuclear winter, which could lower global temperature by several degrees for a few years. In summary, detonating all existing nuclear weapons is a terrible idea.

The Ultimate Scenario

However, Kurzgesagt is a channel known for raising the stakes, and took the example much further: Mine all available uranium (about 35 million tons), and with that element create the equivalent of 10 billion Hiroshima bombs. An atomic cube three kilometers high, and more energy than the impact that killed the dinosaurs. Suffice it to say that such an explosion is a mass extinction event. The nuclear winter would last decades, turning Earth into a frozen and radioactive ball. Fallout and Metro in real life.