Russian president, Vladimir Putin, has ordered to invade Ukraine with all the means necessary, be it land, water, or air. This also increases the chances of the use of nuke, which is a big no-no when it comes to the future of humans and the environment.
So, what would happen if a nuke went off?
Well, another question needs to be answered before answering the above question: How many nukes are used?
According to the American Federation of Scientists, Russia and the United States of America possess about 90% of the world’s nuclear weapons.
Russia has 1,588 weapons on intercontinental missiles with a range of at least 3,417 miles (5,500 kilometers) and heavy bomber bases with aircraft capable of carrying and dropping a nuclear payload, while the United States has 1,644 weapons in same position.
Therefore, it’s safe to say that a full-blown nuclear war could break out. This can also give life to the theory of Nuclear Winter, which is a severe and prolonged global climatic cooling effect that is hypothesized to occur after widespread firestorms following a large-scale nuclear war.
A more imaginable scenario would be the use of some tactical atomic weapons. According to the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies, approximately 30 to 40% of the US and Russian arsenals are comprised of small bombs.
How does a nuke work?
Let’s look at the working mechanism of a nuke. Although thermonuclear warheads depend on both fusion and fission to create an explosion, modern ones only rely on fission reactions to produce energy. In this, the heavier nucleus splits into lighter daughter nuclei.
In this process, neutrons are released, which in turn bolt into nearby atoms, causing them to split and setting off an out-of-control chain reaction, resulting in an explosion. Atomic bombs or A-bombs of the same type were used by the American forces to destroy Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan with a force of between 15 and 20 kilotons of TNT.
This fusion reaction releases more neutrons, which causes more fission, which causes more fusion, and so on. According to the Union of Concerned Scientists, the result is a fireball with temperatures comparable to the sun’s core.
Although thermonuclear bombs have been tested, they have never been used in combat, but none of this matters if you are unfortunate enough to be on ground zero. It’s instant death for you.
According to the US government website Ready.gov, at least 24 hours should be spent in a basement or in the centre of a large building to avoid the worst radioactive fallout from a nuclear explosion.
And for the people unlucky enough to be near or in the region of the explosion, the help will also be very little, with roads and train tracks destroyed, hospitals leveled, and doctors, nurses, and first responders in the blast zone dead or injured.
Radioactive fallout
A nuke’s explosion is secondary, but far more pernicious, effect is radiation.
Radioactive fallout, otherwise known as nuclear fallout or atomic fallout, is the material that remains in the upper atmosphere after an explosion, and it gets its name because it literally “falls out of the sky” as a result. When a nuclear weapon detonates, the resulting radioactive dust and ash are commonly referred to as “radioactive fallout.”
The first 48 hours after the explosion are critical as the fallout risk is at its maximum during these hours. According to a book called “Nuclear War Survival Skills” based on research done at Oak Ridge National Laboratory in 1987, without snow or rain, which would help to move the fallout faster, far-flung particles may have very little radioactivity by the time they reach the ground.
Effects on the health of survivors
While the majority of the consequences are acute in nature, such as ruptured eardrums or lungs as a result of the shock wave, skin burns, and acute radiation sickness, there are some long-term health consequences that it can cause.
Survivors exposed to fallout are at high risk of cancer and cardiovascular disease for the rest of their lives.
According to the Red Cross, leukaemia rates in radiation-exposed victims were four to five times higher than typical levels in the first 10 to 15 years after the blast.
Environmental holocaust
The effects of radioactivity and fallout on the environment and human health would be catastrophic. It’s possible that the effects of a nuclear war could be felt across the globe. Ukraine, which produces 10% of the world’s wheat, could be affected by the fallout.
While 1 or 2 detonations might not cause a catastrophic effect, 100 detonations will surely produce that effect. If 100 nuke were dropped similar to the one dropped in Hiroshima in 1945, the global temperature would drop below the temperature of the little ice age that occurred from 1300 to 1850.
A good way to save mankind from these atrocities is for the government to build shelters below the ground as the bomb is dropped, so as to explode a few feet above the ground. The radiation from the bomb does not get absorbed by the ground.
Published by – Kiruthiga K
Edited by – Khushi Thakur
