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The Tsar Bomba was an experimental weapon, but the United States had the B41, a three-stage thermonuclear weapon with a yield of 25 megatons. Four of these woul

The Tsar Bomba was an experimental weapon, but the United States had the B41, a three-stage thermonuclear weapon with a yield of 25 megatons. Four of these would have been as powerful as the Tsar Bomba; the U.S. manufactured 500 of them. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B41_nuclear_bomb http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B41_nuclear_bomb In the 1960s the U.S. Strategic Air Command ran a continuous airborne nuclear-armed patrol (Operation Chrome Dome), so there was probably a 25 megaton weapon in the air for much of that time. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Chrome_Dome http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Chrome_Dome It's also worth remembering that the limiting factor on the yield of the Tsar Bomba was the carrying capability of the Tu-95. The Teller–Ulam design for thermonuclear weapons is scalable: you can keep adding stages as long as you have the uranium, plutonium and lithium to make them with. Edward Teller supposedly designed (or at least contemplated) a 10 gigaton bomb: http://blog.nuclearsecrecy.com/2012/09/12/in-search-of-a-bigger-boom/ http://blog.nuclearsecrecy.com/2012/09/12/in-search-of-a-big...

paganel 12y ago
> Edward Teller supposedly designed (or at least contemplated) a 10 gigaton bomb That guy was batshit crazy, pardon my French. I know that the Dr. Strangelove character was pretty much based on him, I know about and I partially understand the reasons behind the nuclear arms race, but when you read about plans like this you just start contemplating about the end of humans as a species.
- drzaiusapelord 12y ago
  How is he crazy? When nukes are on the table either you implement a MAD-like policy or you die in nuclear fire. There's no real middle ground with weapons this powerful. Its rational to support MAD. Thus far, its working. A lot of human warfare is on its face is crazy sounding, but has a rational backing. >when you read about plans like this you just start contemplating about the end of humans as a species. We called up the USSR and asked them to stop producing weapons on that scale. They laughed in our face. What exactly do you propose? Heck, the USSR's client states were motivated to nuke us without warning. Castro had a pretty big hard-on for launching nukes: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/22/science/22nuke.html?_r=0 http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/22/science/22nuke.html?_r=0 He wasn't convinced by the loss of life or anything. His Moscow handlers had to explain to him that the radioactive cloud would be bad for Cubans. Heck, the politburo was demanding WWIII from Khrushchev during the Cuban missile crisis. Today, Russia maintains an openly published first strike policy on what it calles "tactical nukes." Essentially they say they can launch nukes whenever they feel like it and not consider it a MAD violation. So if Putin's conventional troops are losing, he just nukes the opposition. With madmen like Putin running nukes, MAD makes sense. Its the only thing that does.
  - stox 12y ago
    Edward wasn't crazy, he was just very focused. As for Putin, weren't we doing much the same under GW when we decided we were going to ignore the ABM treaty? BTW, the 10GT design was to be used for asteroid defence. Edward should have won the Nobel prize, he succeeded in designing a weapon so horrible it has never been used in warfare.
  - acqq 12y ago
    > How is he crazy? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Teller http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Teller "during Oppenheimer's trial he was the only member of the scientific community to state that Oppenheimer should not be granted security clearance" "One of the most controversial projects he proposed was a plan to use a multi-megaton hydrogen bomb to dig a deep-water harbor more than a mile long and half a mile wide to use for shipment of resources from coal and oil fields through Point Hope, Alaska." "Teller suffered a heart attack in 1979, and many observers[71] described him as blaming it on Jane Fonda" "In the 1980s, Teller began a strong campaign for what was later called the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI), derided by critics as "Star Wars," the concept of using ground and satellite-based lasers, particle beams and missiles to destroy incoming Soviet ICBMs." A few megadeaths here-or-there. The only thing missing from Dr Strangelove is having the uncontrollable hand. Yes, you can call him "just focused" if you prefer that. Let him "peacefully" dig in your backyard.
    - drzaiusapelord 12y ago
      >One of the most controversial projects he proposed was a plan to use a multi-megaton hydrogen bomb to dig a deep-water harbor Russians used nukes for mining. Its not magic. You can manage fall-out, risk, etc. Its not "crazy." >"Teller suffered a heart attack in 1979, and many observers[71] described him as blaming it on Jane Fonda" A 70+ year old man being a difficult curmudgeon? Say, it ain't so! > Teller began a strong campaign for what was later called the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI) SDI made sense. We still have SDI. Now we call its "Strategic Missile Defense" and its our biggest counter against rogue nation nuke launches and other attacks. It also has Putin scared as he can't match it and is demanding we don't continue to build new sites in Eastern Europe out of desperation. >The only thing missing from Dr Strangelove is having the uncontrollable hand. I really wish more people understood the world from the lessons of history instead of caricutures from Hollywood movies.
- wdr1 12y ago
  > That guy was batshit crazy, pardon my French. Pretty weak to call a brilliant man "batshit crazy" simply because his politics differ from your politics.
avmich 12y ago
I think Teller was discussing at least once big bombs as a countermeasure against falling asteroid/comet threat. I guess you might actually need a gigaton bomb in a case like that?

paganel 12y ago

> Edward Teller supposedly designed (or at least contemplated) a 10 gigaton bomb That guy was batshit crazy, pardon my French. I know that the Dr. Strangelove character was pretty much based on him, I know about and I partially understand the reasons behind the nuclear arms race, but when you read about plans like this you just start contemplating about the end of humans as a species.

drzaiusapelord 12y ago
How is he crazy? When nukes are on the table either you implement a MAD-like policy or you die in nuclear fire. There's no real middle ground with weapons this powerful. Its rational to support MAD. Thus far, its working. A lot of human warfare is on its face is crazy sounding, but has a rational backing. >when you read about plans like this you just start contemplating about the end of humans as a species. We called up the USSR and asked them to stop producing weapons on that scale. They laughed in our face. What exactly do you propose? Heck, the USSR's client states were motivated to nuke us without warning. Castro had a pretty big hard-on for launching nukes: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/22/science/22nuke.html?_r=0 http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/22/science/22nuke.html?_r=0 He wasn't convinced by the loss of life or anything. His Moscow handlers had to explain to him that the radioactive cloud would be bad for Cubans. Heck, the politburo was demanding WWIII from Khrushchev during the Cuban missile crisis. Today, Russia maintains an openly published first strike policy on what it calles "tactical nukes." Essentially they say they can launch nukes whenever they feel like it and not consider it a MAD violation. So if Putin's conventional troops are losing, he just nukes the opposition. With madmen like Putin running nukes, MAD makes sense. Its the only thing that does.
- stox 12y ago
  Edward wasn't crazy, he was just very focused. As for Putin, weren't we doing much the same under GW when we decided we were going to ignore the ABM treaty? BTW, the 10GT design was to be used for asteroid defence. Edward should have won the Nobel prize, he succeeded in designing a weapon so horrible it has never been used in warfare.
- acqq 12y ago
  > How is he crazy? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Teller http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Teller "during Oppenheimer's trial he was the only member of the scientific community to state that Oppenheimer should not be granted security clearance" "One of the most controversial projects he proposed was a plan to use a multi-megaton hydrogen bomb to dig a deep-water harbor more than a mile long and half a mile wide to use for shipment of resources from coal and oil fields through Point Hope, Alaska." "Teller suffered a heart attack in 1979, and many observers[71] described him as blaming it on Jane Fonda" "In the 1980s, Teller began a strong campaign for what was later called the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI), derided by critics as "Star Wars," the concept of using ground and satellite-based lasers, particle beams and missiles to destroy incoming Soviet ICBMs." A few megadeaths here-or-there. The only thing missing from Dr Strangelove is having the uncontrollable hand. Yes, you can call him "just focused" if you prefer that. Let him "peacefully" dig in your backyard.
  - drzaiusapelord 12y ago
    >One of the most controversial projects he proposed was a plan to use a multi-megaton hydrogen bomb to dig a deep-water harbor Russians used nukes for mining. Its not magic. You can manage fall-out, risk, etc. Its not "crazy." >"Teller suffered a heart attack in 1979, and many observers[71] described him as blaming it on Jane Fonda" A 70+ year old man being a difficult curmudgeon? Say, it ain't so! > Teller began a strong campaign for what was later called the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI) SDI made sense. We still have SDI. Now we call its "Strategic Missile Defense" and its our biggest counter against rogue nation nuke launches and other attacks. It also has Putin scared as he can't match it and is demanding we don't continue to build new sites in Eastern Europe out of desperation. >The only thing missing from Dr Strangelove is having the uncontrollable hand. I really wish more people understood the world from the lessons of history instead of caricutures from Hollywood movies.
wdr1 12y ago
> That guy was batshit crazy, pardon my French. Pretty weak to call a brilliant man "batshit crazy" simply because his politics differ from your politics.

avmich 12y ago

I think Teller was discussing at least once big bombs as a countermeasure against falling asteroid/comet threat. I guess you might actually need a gigaton bomb in a case like that?