I wonder how the radiation from the bomb compares to the radiation you normally get from space.
[QUOTE=Elspin;26805534]It actually explicitly states in the video (at 1:04) that particles from the bomb re-entered the atmosphere, but either way I'm sure they accounted for this and nothing dangerous happened to the ground below.[/QUOTE]
When a nuke explodes, it gives off intense, high energy gamma rays (the particles which he mentions in the video) for a fraction of a second. The immense energy from these is what activates dust and debris sucked into the mushroom cloud, making it radioactive. This falls back to earth as fallout. The closer the explosion is to the ground, the more fallout there will be, since more dust and debris will be drawn upwards. Even an airblast in the atmosphere doesn't create much fallout if it's high enough. So yes, there is radiation produced by the explosion, but this is very short lived and is absorbed by the upper atmosphere. There isn't any actual fallout at all, which is far more dangerous than the initial radiation because it can be inhaled, consumed and generally stick around to irradiate people over a long period.
Sorry, you need to Log In to post a reply to this thread.
