Hydrogen Bomb vs. Atomic Bomb: What’s The Difference?

There Are Nine Members In The Nuclear Club

Jane Onyanga-Omara, USA TODAY: The Nuclear Club: Who are the 9 members?

Nine countries are known to possess nuclear weapons.

The United States, Russia, the United Kingdom, France, China, India, Pakistan, Israel and North Korea have among them approximately 15,850 nuclear weapons — 4,300 of them deployed with operational forces, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.

The institute, an independent organization whose research centers on global security, said 1,800 of those weapons are kept in a state of high operational alert.

The number of nuclear weapons in the world is declining, mainly because Russia and the United States are reducing their stockpiles. The two countries' arsenals make up more than 90% of nuclear weapons globally, according to the institute.

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CSN Editor: Nine today .... tomorrow .... who knows?

How Can You Tell The Difference Between A Nuclear Bomb Test And An earthquake

Ko Yun-hwa (L), Administrator of Korea Meteorological Administration, points at where seismic waves observed in South Korea came from, during a media briefing at Korea Meteorological Administration in Seoul, South Korea, January 6, 2016. REUTERS/Kim Hong-Ji

Defense One: How to Tell The Difference Between a Nuclear Bomb Test and an Earthquake

The preliminary data suggests that the event in North Korea was not, in fact, the end of the world

Shortly after North Korea claimed it had tested a hydrogen bomb — a weapon potentially hundreds of times more powerful than the fission bombs the country had already set off — seismologists at the United States Geological Survey, or USGS, went to work trying to understand the event. Their early findings suggest that a nuclear bomb test did occur but that it wasn’t a hydrogen bomb. So how do you tell the difference?

First, you try to rule out the possibility that North Korea was just trying to claim credit for an earthquake. Geologists and seismologists look at several factors to determine whether a seismic event is natural or manmade. One is the location: is it on a known fault line, a place where there’s a lot of mining activity, etc.? Another factor is the seismological waveform itself, the waving lines that appear on the seismograph. An explosion forms wiggles that are different from the ones generated by an earthquake, according to USGS seismologist Paul Earle.

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CSN Editor: Yup .... the science that is used in telling the difference between an earthquake and a nuclear test is very detailed and exact.

The Real Story Of The U.S. President's 'Nuclear Football'

From the Smithsonian National Museum of American History, the nuclear "football." (Jamie Chung)

The Real Story of the "Football" That Follows the President Everywhere -- Michael Dobbs, Smithsonian Magazine

Take a peek at the mysterious black briefcase that has accompanied every U.S. president since John F. Kennedy

It is the closest modern-day equivalent of the medieval crown and scepter—a symbol of supreme authority. Accompanying the commander in chief wherever he goes, the innocuous-looking briefcase is touted in movies and spy novels as the ultimate power accessory, a doomsday machine that could destroy the entire world.

Officially known as the “president’s emergency satchel,” the so-called nuclear “Football”—portable and hand-carried—is built around a sturdy aluminum frame, encased in black leather. A retired Football, emptied of its top-secret inner contents, is currently on display at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History. “We were looking for something that would demonstrate the incredible military power and responsibilities of the president, and we struck upon this iconic object,” says curator Harry Rubenstein.

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WNU Editor: The below video describes how important the 'nuclear football' is.

Amazing Video Of What A Nuclear Explosion Looks Like

One Of The Most Amazing Nuclear Explosions Ever Recorded On Film -- Sploid

As things get hotter between Russia and NATO, Putin is waving his nuclear dick around. Russia plans to conduct massive nuclear war maneuvers. Yesterday it successfully tested its new Bulava ("Mace") submarine launched nuclear missile, hitting its target with complete accuracy with its dummy warheads.

The Red Fleet's Commander-in-Chief Admiral Viktor Chirkov said that it blasted off from the White Sea, hitting its objective in the Russian Federation's far east minutes later. The Bulava can travel for 5,000 miles (8,000 kilometers) to rain nuclear death in the form of six to ten warheads.

Let's pause a bit, look at this video, and reflect on this.

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My Comment: I have seen this video before .... it is a testament to how inventive and destructive man can be at the same time.

Nuclear Detonation Timeline "1945-1998" (Video)

From YouTube: The 2053 nuclear tests and explosions that took place between 1945 and 1998 are plotted visually and audibly on a world map.

As the video starts out detonations are few and far between. The first three detonations represent the Manhattan Project and the two bombs that ended World War II.

After a few representative minutes the USSR and Britain enter the nuclear club and the testing really starts to heat up.

Even though the video does not differentiate between sub-critical "safety" tests and full detonations, you get a good idea of the fever of the nuclear arms race. T

he time line does not extent to tests by North Korea (October 2006 and May 2009).

Video credit: goes to Isao Hashimoto (www.ctbto.org/specials/1945-1998-by-isa­o-hashimoto/) The video was cleaned up, re-sized and edited to fit You tube's 10min limit by the folks at Bit of Fun  

My Comment: A mesmerizing video .... check it out.

Ever Heard The Sound Of A Nuclear Bomb Going Off?

The sound of the largest man-made explosion: A cinematographer films an atomic mushroom cloud on July 19, 1957 in Yucca Flat, Colorado

Ever Heard The Sound Of A Nuclear Bomb Going Off? Historian Unveils One Of The Few Surviving Audio Recordings Of Blast From 1950's Nevada Tests -- Daily Mail

They are surely the most horrifying offshoot of modern technology - nuclear warheads which can smite hundreds of thousands of people dead within seconds, and leave lasting scars on a landscape for generations.

And while most of us will have seen archive footage of nuclear explosions before, one thing we are unlikely to have heard is their sound.

For, according to one expert, most films we see of a nuclear blast use stock 'explosion' sound effects for the bang - and audio footage is few and far between.

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My Comment: It sounds like hell.

3 Unique Tours Through U.S. Nuclear History

A modified Minuteman booster vehicle, successfully launches from Vandenberg Air Force Base. U.S. Air Force photo/2nd Lt. Raymond Geoffroy

From Popular Science:

With more nations seeking nuclear weapons and nuclear power at home poised for resurgence, America's bases and labs are bustling with activity. In the post-9/11 world, many, but not all, facilities have restricted access. Justin Nobel visited several sites to see where we stand on nuclear deterrence, detection and the latest reactor technologies. He also uncovered several below-the-radar nuclear tours open to the general public.

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Britain Vulnerable To Space Nuclear Attack Or 'Solar Flare' Storm, Conference Told

Dr Fox highlighted warnings from scientists that essential infrastructure such as satellites, could be paralysed by a once-in-a-century solar flare. Photo: NASA

From The Telegraph:

Rogue states such as North Korea and Iran could use nuclear weapons to attack Britain’s vital communications and electricity networks from space, a security conference heard.

In a stark warning, Dr Liam Fox warned countries that sought nuclear capabilities could attack Britain from the upper atmosphere instead of through more traditional “nuclear strikes”.

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Meet The Men Whose Job Was To Photograph Nuclear Explosions

ZERO HOUR Milliseconds after the image at left, the vehicles beneath the fireball were obliterated. "How to Photograph an Atomic Bomb"

The Bomb Chroniclers -- New York Times

They risked their lives to capture on film hundreds of blinding flashes, rising fireballs and mushroom clouds.

The blast from one detonation hurled a man and his camera into a ditch. When he got up, a second wave knocked him down again.

Then there was radiation.

While many of the scientists who made atom bombs during the cold war became famous, the men who filmed what happened when those bombs were detonated made up a secret corps.

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My Comment: I always wondered about the men who photographed nuclear explosions .... the risks and dangers that they took each time that they were at an above nuclear test. Well .... now I know.

As to how many photographers are left ....

..... As for the atomic cameramen, there aren’t that many left. “Quite a few have died from cancer,” George Yoshitake, 82, one of the survivors, said of his peers in an interview. “No doubt it was related to the testing.”