On the other hand, it will leave most of the atmosphere within a second and has the kinetic energy of the Empire State Building traveling at ~60 miles an hour (

On the other hand, it will leave most of the atmosphere within a second and has the kinetic energy of the Empire State Building traveling at ~60 miles an hour (40mwh+ if its ~200 pounds). And maybe the nuke's radiation moved some air out of the way? Yeah, that is a problem for a high energy physicist. But intuitively... even if it "exploded," the metal fragments may have still made it to space?