Is nuclear war inevitable?

[Damocles]

Don't worry, if a nuke was dropped on Sheffieldnobody would notice the difference.

And even the most conservative estimates show that to get enough stuff into the atmosphere to create a nuclear winter, you would need sustained worldwide strikes rather than a couple of strikes.

 

[Millwallawayveteran1988]

I think I read somewhere once that in the 60's, the Russians developed a bomb that would burn you if you were 50 miles away!

Let's hope it never happens...

The Tsar Bomba:

Just had a read of this. Windows were shattered 564 miles away and in a village 55 miles away, all houses were destroyed!

They were contemplating making one with double the power!

If it happens, I hope it happens at 3am and I know fuck all about it!

 

[Subbed Tskhadadze with Allsopp]

Don't worry, if a nuke was dropped on Sheffieldnobody would notice the difference.

And even the most conservative estimates show that to get enough stuff into the atmosphere to create a nuclear winter, you would need sustained worldwide strikes rather than a couple of strikes.

With the greatest of respect, studies show that relatively small nuclear exchanges could cause devastating environmental impacts, eg

Climatic consequences of regional nuclear conflicts (Atmos. Chem. Phys., 7, 2003–2012, 2007)
<a class="postlink" href="http://climate.envsci.rutgers.edu/pdf/acp-7-2003-2007.pdf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://climate.envsci.rutgers.edu/pdf/a ... 3-2007.pdf</a>

Abstract.
We use a modern climate model and new estimates of smoke generated by fires in contemporary cities to calculate the response of the climate system to a regional nuclear war between emerging third world nuclear powers using 100 Hiroshima-size bombs (less than 0.03% of the explosive yield of the current global nuclear arsenal) on cities in the subtropics. We find significant cooling and reductions of precipitation lasting years, which would impact the global food supply. The climate changes are large and long-lasting because the fuel loadings in modern cities are quite high and the subtropical solar insolation heats the resulting smoke cloud and lofts it into the high stratosphere, where removal mechanisms are slow. While the climate changes are less dramatic than found in previous “nuclear winter” simulations of a massive nuclear exchange between the super-powers, because less smoke is emitted, the changes are more long-lasting because the older models did not adequately represent the stratospheric plume rise.

Follow on studies have reinforced this baseline, eg

<a class="postlink" href="http://www.ippnw.org/pdf/nuclear-famine-two-billion-at-risk-2013.pdf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.ippnw.org/pdf/nuclear-famine ... k-2013.pdf</a>

 

[whp.blue]

I think I read somewhere once that in the 60's, the Russians developed a bomb that would burn you if you were 50 miles away!

Let's hope it never happens...

The Tsar Bomba:

Just had a read of this. Windows were shattered 564 miles away and in a village 55 miles away, all houses were destroyed!

They were contemplating making one with double the power!

If it happens, I hope it happens at 3am and I know fuck all about it!

they actually nade a 100kt bomb but bottled it and they detonated a 50kt version

 

[Damocles]

Nobody is arguing that nuclear war wouldn't cause environmental effects, and I'm not sure if dropping 100 bombs in the sub-tropics really discounts with my criteria of 'more than a few'.

And as I have mentioned a couple of times, there is significant debate regarding the proposed damage done by a nuclear war with decent evidence on both sides, and the potential impact on the climate. This is not a settled issue and shouldn't be presented as such.

 

[HelloCity]

Nobody is arguing that nuclear war wouldn't cause environmental effects, and I'm not sure if dropping 100 bombs in the sub-tropics really discounts with my criteria of 'more than a few'.

And as I have mentioned a couple of times, there is significant debate regarding the proposed damage done by a nuclear war with decent evidence on both sides, and the potential impact on the climate. This is not a settled issue and shouldn't be presented as such.

Is there any subject you don't try and act to be the master of?

 

[Tanzeylee]

The Tsar Bomba:

Just had a read of this. Windows were shattered 564 miles away and in a village 55 miles away, all houses were destroyed!

They were contemplating making one with double the power!

If it happens, I hope it happens at 3am and I know fuck all about it!

they actually nade a 100kt bomb but bottled it and they detonated a 50kt version

It was megatons(mt) kilotons(kt) is like a fart in a paper bag in nuclear terms...

 

[01cravend]

I think I read somewhere once that in the 60's, the Russians developed a bomb that would burn you if you were 50 miles away!

Let's hope it never happens...

The Tsar Bomba:

Just had a read of this. Windows were shattered 564 miles away and in a village 55 miles away, all houses were destroyed!

They were contemplating making one with double the power!

If it happens, I hope it happens at 3am and I know fuck all about it!

I mean it's big, but it's not mother nature

"or one quarter of the estimated yield of the 1883 eruption of Krakatoa"

 

[Damocles]

Nobody is arguing that nuclear war wouldn't cause environmental effects, and I'm not sure if dropping 100 bombs in the sub-tropics really discounts with my criteria of 'more than a few'.

And as I have mentioned a couple of times, there is significant debate regarding the proposed damage done by a nuclear war with decent evidence on both sides, and the potential impact on the climate. This is not a settled issue and shouldn't be presented as such.

Is there any subject you don't try and act to be the master of?

Yes, physics is one of my well known weaknesses of knowledge.

Moron

 

[dennishasdoneit]

Nobody is arguing that nuclear war wouldn't cause environmental effects, and I'm not sure if dropping 100 bombs in the sub-tropics really discounts with my criteria of 'more than a few'.

And as I have mentioned a couple of times, there is significant debate regarding the proposed damage done by a nuclear war with decent evidence on both sides, and the potential impact on the climate. This is not a settled issue and shouldn't be presented as such.

Is there any subject you don't try and act to be the master of?

was just thinking the same myself. ffs.