Model of the "Tsar Bomba's" external casing in the Sarov atomic bomb museum.
The plan[]
The Tsar Bomba (Russian: Царь-бомба; Literaly: "Tsar of bombs") and Kuz'kina Mat' (Russian: Кузькина мать, Literally: Kuzka's mother), are the nicknames for the humongously powerful AN602 hydrogen bomb. It was a a huge nuke developed by the Soviet Union in 1960. It was officially a one off show of strength.
Kuzka's mother refers to a speech by the Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev made about it's construction were he used the Russian idiomatic expression "to show Kuzka's mother to someone" (Russian: "Показать кузькину мать (кому-либо)") which roughly means "to teach someone a lesson", sometimes "to punish someone in a brutal way". There is no equivalent term in English. The bomb's builders then used the term as a alternate nickname for the bomb.
The device it's self[]
The bomb, weighing 27 metric tons and measured (8 metres (26 ft) long by 2 metres (6.6 ft) in diameter). The bomb was attached to an 800 kilogram fall retarding parachute, which gave both the release and observer planes time to fly about 45 kilometres (28 mi) away from ground zero and certain death.
The modified Tu-95V bomber aircraft[]
The bomb was so huge the Tu-95V had to have its bomb bay doors and fuselage fuel tanks removed to make the bomb fit in.
The blast[]
The October 30, 1961, test blast at Sukhoy Nos on the Novaya Zemlya archipelago,remains the most powerful artificial and atomic explosion in human history!
When the atomic detonation occurred, the blast caused such a powerful shock-wave that the modified Tu-95V bomber fell one kilometre (km) from its previous altitude.
The subsequent mushroom cloud was about 64 kilometres (40 mi) high and the cap with was about 95 kilometres (59 mi). Windowpanes were found to be partially broken to distances of 900 kilometres (560 mi) and Its seismic body wave (artificial earthquake) magnitude was about 5 to 5.25 on the Richter scale. It also caused a 1 hour local radio jamming effect due to the initial ionised radiation output.
The Tsar Bomba still the single most physically powerful device ever used by mankind!
The yield[]
The bomb had the yield of 50 officalt, but 55-60 unofficaly megaton TNT (210 PJ).
Designers[]
- Yulii Borisovich Khariton
- Andrei Sakharov
- Victor Adamsky
- Yuri Babayev
- Yuri Smirnov
- Yuri Trutnev
Dissidents[]
Andrei Sakharov was so appalled by this event and soon began speaking out against nuclear weapons, which upset the Soviet government and culminated in him becoming a political dissident.