The Tsar Bomba: The Untold Story

The year is 1959. This is Nikita Khruschev, then leader of the Soviet Union. And this is Richard Nixon, then Vice President of the United States of America. And during a conversation between the two, Khruschev made a promise to Nixon. “We will catch up and surpass the United States, we have funds at our disposal that will have dire consequences for you. We will show you Kuzka’s Mother!” The translator was of course confused by the last statement, as was everyone else. It was literally translated as the Soviet Union promising to show the Mother of Kuzka to the United States.
What showing Kuzka’s Mother actually means is basically to harshly teach a lesson. To the Americans it instead became a euphemism for atomic bombs, and two years later it would become a direct nickname for a certain nuclear weapon in particular - the largest bomb ever created by man. Today this weapon has acquired a very different nickname - the Tsar Bomba.

[@callen8000]

I have studied nuclear weapons for many years and give many talks on the cosmic origin of elements. Never have I seen such an accurate and interesting KZbin concerning the Tsar Bomba. This is probably the only KZbin I have seen that correctly attributes most of the yield of thermonuclear weapons to the fission of U-238 pushers. Also, the detailed information concerning the yield and subsequent deaths attributed to these Soviet tests, the 2-fission bomb structure of the Tsar Bomba, and the history involving Sakharov and Krushchev, is just excellent. Congratulations on putting together a truly accurate and intriguing video on this bit of nuclear history. Subscribed!!!

[@Romoto131]

Nice story, nukes are fake.

[@nickmerix2900]

Since you studied them , perhaps you can explain where is the fallout and the catastrophic consequences such as radiation contamination for thousands of years ( as we are told) ? With all the testing that took place through the years the areas close to those cites should be zones . Yet we dont see this . I get the feeling they are exaggerating the yields and dangers of these weapons . Even in japan where 2 bombs were dropped life continued and was back to normal within a few years

[@gustavofring3864]

@@nickmerix2900well i believe in japan people had severe burns and dead babies born and handicaps. Also i think the bomb was dropped in a desert middle of no where edit i searched and this what is said TSAR bomb was the cleanest nuclear bomb ever exploded as measured from the total radioactive products released over the total explosive power. There was no significant lingering radiation. Now the region where it was tested may still have some issues but not from the TSAR bomb.

[@weaponized_toaster]

@@nickmerix2900 nukes don't leave lasting rads usually unless they're very dirty, reactor accidents are always dirty

[@SinkkingTurrtle]

​@nickmerix2900 most of these sre airburs bombs so the lingering radiation isn't nearly as bad. Same with hiroshima and nagasaki. Plus with the massive shockwave, winds and fireball, the radiation disperses a lot more evenly and quickly than radiation from a nuclear reactor meltdown. Kyle Hill has a great video about this here on youtube

[@ChrisMatthewson]

The pilots had a 50/50 chance of returning alive, but they weren't told that. That sounds very Chernobyl like: Send people to do a job but don't tell them about any bad points.

[@Jean-vr7vj]

What is your idea about addressing the Chernobyl task better at the time?

[@Salien1999]

​@@Jean-vr7vj there were a few near-misses with other RBMK reactors before Chernobyl. As I recall, these mishaps were brushed under the rug to the point that operators at Chernobyl wouldn't have even been aware of them. That's the issue I believe OP is referring to. Also designing a reactor that doesn't nuke itself when you press the emergency shutoff button would be even better. There were much more stable (read: safer) designs contemporary to the RBMK design.

[@evgenijmarshal180]

KGB Protocolls Confirm the Oppossite! Their had been told we cant Garantee your savety! But we can give you time by paratroop the Nuke! The Pilots! Returned! Alive! Nice TRY NATO Fanboy! keep your fake news somewhere else!

[@evgenijmarshal180]

The pilots were aware of the risk. You're just embarrassing yourself by putting your lack of knowledge in the full view of others. It's ok to not know much about

[@ChrisMatthewson]

@@evgenijmarshal180 10:58 "The chances of survival of the crew was estimated at 50/50, but they were never told." - How embarrassing for you! But seeing as you have posted the exact same comment under two different names, you have embarrassed yourself further by exposing yourself as a troll. @davidkavanagh189 or @evgenijmarshal180 - Epic FAIL! lol

[@CRSolarice]

"The nuclear arms race is like two sworn enemies standing waist deep in gasoline, one with three matches, the other with five." -Carl Sagan

[@AndreasGlad-rq7vx]

Kgb propaganda stooge.

[@TheSilmarillian]

Yep you beat me 2 that 1 .

[@Phatty99]

It’s all by design. Making money off the Cold War to this day. It’s all smoke and mirrors. Do some research and think for your self.

[@borntoclimb7116]

Correct

[@TheSilmarillian]

@@borntoclimb7116 And still is 2 day.

[@tanelimp]

The Soviets really blessed us Finns with fallout. Southern Finland got a large fallout from Chernobyl and a smaller one from Leningrad's 1975 meltdown, and Northern Finland got the good stuff from Tsar Bomba. The Finnish radiation safety authority STUK did a study few years ago where they went and randomly bought mushrooms from different sellers at Helsinki farmer's market. According to the results every 4th mushroom sold was still consired too radioactive (>600Bq/kg) for human consumption due to the Cesium-137 in it.

[@markusw7833]

Jeez.

[@Rom3_29]

and Finns couldn’t do or say anything. Soviets have arrogant ‘none of your business’ attitude. To this day.

[@davidelliott5843]

UK used the Chernobyl fallout to explain the contamination caused by the 1958 Winscale air cooled reactor fire.

[@markusw7833]

@@davidelliott5843 Lol, really?

[@ArtistontheBorder]

😢

[@tumultuoustenets1228]

7:28 Babushkas mopping the Tsar Bomba has to be the most Soviet image ever captured 😆

[@otacon5648]

I wasn’t in the cockpit of the plane that dropped the Bomba but I bet there were a few “Syka” and more than a few “Blyat” 😂

[@ChucksSEADnDEAD]

Pizdets 😮

[@pyatig]

@@ChucksSEADnDEAD pizdets is right 😂

[@SmallBooger]

😂😂😂😂 a man of culture I see😂😂😂😂

[@bueb8674]

The real-time countdown from release to detonation was cool. Helps put into perspective how massive it was.

[@generalmarkmilleyisbenedic8895]

In addition, to how far the plane crews got away from the bomb in that short time, still to almost die

[@weaponized_toaster]

there's a video that shows new York skyline on the bottom of the test footage

[@heinrichb]

15:54 there are no afterburners on Tu-95s because these are turboprop engine aircraft. If memory serves, precisely one turboprop aircraft in history had one, a prototype called XF-84H, known to most for its tremendous noise and its speed.

[@DatL24]

More than likely some type of mistranslation; it's probably a reference to "combat power", a form of either the furthest advanced timing/highest RPM the engine could withstand for a period of time, or if supercharged, the highest level of boost as well. It's running an engine on the ragged edge.

[@allangibson8494]

@@DatL24With turboprop engines, maximum power is limited by the maximum turbine inlet temperature. You can exceed it in the short term if you don’t mind replacing the engine afterwards…

[@geonerd]

Some of the observation and lab aircraft may have been jet powered? But, yea, the Tu95 has no burners to light!

[@Zaaphod]

TU-95 is the loudest aircraft currently in use. Tangential speed of propellers is supersonic, creating incredible noise when flying at full power. But yes, you are right, they do not have afterburners, just WEP.

[@zloychechen5150]

@@DatL24 This is correct. The russian word for afterburner is форсаж (i believe, from French "forçage"), and war emergency power, before jets were a thing was denoted by the same word. Moreover, if any engine - piston, jet, or any other type - has been uprated or tuned to provide an increased output, it is called a forced engine - форсированный двигатель, and if the engine is detuned, it is called a de-forced engine, дефорсированный двигатель.

[@ronaldgarrison8478]

Apart from military implications, atmospheric nuclear testing was such an environmental catastrophe that, eventually, even the US and USSR managed to agree to stop it.

[@Geographus666]

There was a significant peak in carbon-14 in the atmosphere caused by the atmospheric nuclear tests from the late 40s to 1963 were the LTBT was put into action. Scientist actually have to acount for this when using carbon-dating of organic material that was made since those times, since even to this date the levels are still not down to pre-nuclear test rates. They are not as high as in the 1960s, but high enough to throw of dating. This is called the "bomb pulse" and will last until about 2030. Every organism after that will have a deviation not big enough to be noticable in things like carbon-dating.

[@ChristineHK]

I remember Khruschev taking off his shoe and banging it on the podium at the United Nations while yellling. LOL

[@benwinter2420]

Khruschev used veto sinister NWO UN (that clown apparatus now apparent prison planet attempt) . . to shut down a submission by a Finnish commander tasked of hunting down war criminals Russians early days ww2 . . who (can name him) was tasked with hunting down Russian across border raiders who attacked remote Finn villages who & raped & massacred entire small communities the rape & murder of Finn babies & children was main point in the submission against the Russians . . not dissimilar to current Russian tactics Ukraine invasion . . on Russian public TV the average old crone still calls for the death of Ukraine kids . . after centuries of sadism holodomor etc

[@ChucksSEADnDEAD]

"A worn out shoe is my only comment" - MEMRI TV

[@davidelliott5843]

The Arabian insult.

[@bfc3057]

He was a peasant

[@benwinter2420]

Show the feet wear old Arab insult . . 85% of Bolshevik leadership the communist revolution Rus were Arabs . . latest genome studies Middle East that tribe talking about in Rus leadership till this day , Putin wears the small hat of Saturn worship (it's a trip now but closer before) . . this talk on egg shells 'hate speech' & being a 'bully' . . entering into an another dark age

[@florabee9283]

"afterburner" means "war emergency power" maybe for this context probably. Or, they gave the engines "your're gonna break it" throttle! Excellent footage and editing and commentary, excellent job, lots of images and details I've never seen.

[@Skank_and_Gutterboy]

In most large aircraft, you're not supposed to "firewall" the throttle (in other words, shove it completely against the stops beyond 100% rated power) because you'll most likely gravely damage the engine. It's supposed to be done only if failing to do so WILL result in loss of the aircraft. It's the "we're probably going to die anyway, so go for it" throttle setting.

[@233kosta]

@@florabee9283 I mean reheats ("afterburner", if you're a yank) amount to little more than dumping fuel out of the back of the engine. By the bucket load 😁 But yeh, what the other guy said. Most aero engines (all military ones) are more than capable of running well beyond their rated power for a short time. In a military aircraft the need is obvious, but this applies even to huge high bypass turbofans for airliners. For the sake of not melting the 1st stage of HP turbine, "take off thrust" is almost never the full capability of the engine. That's reserved for very short runways, missed approaches and fresh underwear moments (see "microburst"). On Airbus aircraft, thrust levers have an "MCT" notch. As in "Maximum Continuous Thrust". That or less you can have all the time. More will literally melt your engine after a while.

[@RobertCraft-re5sf]

I get it. He meant the supersonic experiments jet that was trailing the Tu-95. He said it overtook the Tu-95. So it wasn't a mistake. You just didn't understand what he meant. Though, this channel does make mistakes sometimes.

[@randyhavard6084]

If I could go back in time and witness one event, it would be one of the above ground tests of a thermonuclear weapon

[@maksphoto78]

You'd love Castle Bravo ;-)

[@randyhavard6084]

@@maksphoto78 that or operation crossroad would be a good one to see even though It is nowhere near as big as Castle Bravo

[@Aatell764]

Id love to see it in person! I've seen quite a few explosions. I worked roads for a while and got to see some blasting on mountainsides. Even though you are standing so far away you can feel it in the ground and the air around you. You can feel the energy go through your body. It's a strange experience but incredible at the same time. I can only imagine how insane of a sight being there in person seeing one of these blasts was like. All I can say is hopefully none of us have to see one again! 😅

[@josecamilojimenez2784]

gimme moar nuclear stuff.. moaaar

[@thatchernobylguy2915]

Aight, bet :)

[@icomsltd]

@@thatchernobylguy2915 *Poseidon* ☢☀🌊

[@teddyjones8550]

Google translates your "moaaar" to just plain old "nice." 😅

[@firstnamelastname6216]

Lol yep 😅​@@teddyjones8550

[@anaxis]

Thank you for covering this project! I'd love to hear more about different Russian nuclear weapon programs, things like MIRV & countermeasures, etc.

[@tinyfrog_jpg]

i love getting to watch your videos when they come out. Nuclear Science/Disasters are my special interest and it's amazing to see frequent and up to date videos on the history

[@KiwiExpressCream]

Yup, me too. A lot of research and hard work goes into his videos.

[@robdgaming]

Thank you very much for this detailed look at the Tsar Bomba, its development, and the political aspects of its history. Nuclear testing was a significant element of the Cold War. I'm glad you were able to put so much information and footage into a relatively short video.

[@victorboechat5370]

Dude, this is the most in depth video about Tsar Bomba I've ever watched! Great work!

[@davidelliott5843]

Anything bigger than 5 megatons is pointless because most of the energy goes into space. Ten x 5 megatons bombs cause many times more damage if not 10x as much as one 50.

[@poindextertunes]

makes sense. if Russia launched multiple ICBMs at the US they would cross over the north pole. i always found that interesting

[@christianterrill3503]

Yes this was more about " mine is bigger then yours" then anything of use.

[@fourtabsgod64]

I think only China has over 4 megaton weapons on Active use , USA and Russia have war heads from 90kilo tons up to 750kilo tons , I think the last time when Russia and USA had megaton + war head on Active use was in year 2000 something , other weapon types have advanced since the Cold war , effective value of nuclear weapons have diminished , now people have drones

[@weaponized_toaster]

​@@poindextertunesthats just how flight work

[@LeTtRrZ]

This is true. Cluster nukes produce a much more devastating effect, which is why they’re the norm now.

[@relwalretep]

Wonder if anyone will make a major Sakharov movie. Quite the fascinating story, I think.

[@davidelliott5843]

I doubt there is anything like enough information to make a film.

[@generalmarkmilleyisbenedic8895]

Its kinda cringe tbh

[@ErmineFPV]

Nice to see you make videos about other wacky Soviet stuff, Soviet history in general is fascinating

[@staticbb]

I just have to say, the pacing, direction, and editing of this video was superb.

[@owenmerrick2377]

As I understood for years, the reduced yield was deliberate; a lead tamper was used in the secondary rather than uranium. This made Bomba very clean, comparatively, as a uranium tamper would have boosted atmospheric pollution by 25% . Dumb as a weapon, I liken it to a flyswatter that's powerful enough to not only kill a fly but annihilate your whole block of flats to a depth of 20 meters, and make the block uninhabitable for aeons. The background story is certainly interesting with Sakharov. imagine being arrested for speaking against the government narrative (Facebook?). Very interesting video!

[@igorbednarski8048]

The uranium tamper wouldn't increase the pollution by 25%, it would increase the pollution so much that this single explosion would account for 25% of all the fallout ever released by all nuclear explosions combined, or, to quote Wikipedia: "It has been estimated that detonating the original 100 Mt (420 PJ) design would have increased the world's total fission fallout since the invention of the atomic bomb by 25%"

[@markusw7833]

@@igorbednarski8048 It's a good thing they were just flexing.

[@schr75]

It was the tertiary stage, not the secondary, that used an inert lead tamper. The weapon was so big it needed three stages. ASAIK the only other three stage device tested/deployed was the US MK-41 at 25MT.

[@owenmerrick2377]

@@schr75You're right. It was Sakharov's idea to use lead.

[@akizeta]

@@schr75 The definitions get a bit confused. In Western terminology, the stages refer to the fission, fusion, and further fusion stages if any. So your regular thermonuclear bombs are fission-fusion, two-stage. The B41 mentioned in the video was a three-stage device, a fission-fusion-fusion bomb, with the fission stage (primary) activating the first fusion stage (secondary), and that activating the second fusion stage (tertiary). The B41 had a 44-kiloton primary, a 9.3 megaton secondary, and the tertiary stage added nearly 16 megatons (theoretically) for a total of ~25 megatons. The primary and secondary were tested, but the final configuration with the tertiary was not. All US thermonuclear weapons have the external uranium tamper to boost the yield by around 100%, so it's felt redundant to mention it as a "stage". The _Tsar Bomba_ was basically a two-stage device by this definition, although each stage (as I understand it) was a multiple stage, i.e. two fission cores for the fission stage, and five or six fusion cores, all activated by the two primaries. So the _Tsar Bomba_ was a two-stage weapon in Western classification. I've seen the tamper referred to as a "stage" in the _Tsar Bomba,_ but I don't know if that's an actual Russian classification scheme, or just something that _Tsar Bomba_ fans have glommed onto.

[@RobertCraft-re5sf]

Tsar Bomba was obviously the "king" of bombs, but IMO, the craziest Soviet test footage is that of RDS-37. It's absolutely insane. And at the end, they They show three people in a town like 50 miles away walking in the street, and then the shockwave his and obviously breaks windows and the people fall to the ground. It also has the sound recorded. Afterwards, in the film, the camera pans to the aftermath of a totally black sky and howling winds.

[@Mike-me3sp]

And people wonder why I'm a misanthrope.

[@Tunkkis]

Weaksauce.

[@spaceanarchist1107]

It's interesting that the Soviets named their greatest weapon not after Marx, Lenin or Stalin... but the Tsar.

[@KiwiExpressCream]

Tsar Bombs was the nickname the USA gave it. The Soviets never actually called it that.

[@KiwiExpressCream]

Tsar Bomba... Grrr autocorrect! It meant King of Bombs (or something like that anyway).

[@tanerkaplankiran]

'TSAR' is a title, not a name

[@aliensoup2420]

19:00 looks like an unscheduled sunrise.

[@AJPMUSIC_OFFICIAL]

Great content. It's so easy to become fascinated with the science and lose connection to the reality of these weapons.

[@Alrold]

I am not sure that propeller aircraft have an afterburner 😅

[@legitbeans9078]

True.

[@weaponized_toaster]

they strapped rockets on it!++

[@boydsinclair7606]

What's more dangerous? Working on Soviet nuclear weapons, or being a human rights activist in USSR? 🥺

[@apexqc04]

Great video... but... afterburners!?

[@Argosh]

Insanely dangerous, they didn't even have PT safety belts!

[@chukkie0001]

Mr Teller: I can do better with gnomon and sundial. Everyone else: please no

[@js70371]

This is fantastic content - subscribed and following 👍

[@neiloflongbeck5705]

Apart from the nonsense about the Tu-95 and Tu-16 lighting up their afterburners, which neither have, this was very informative.

[@halbouma6720]

The bomb was the "after burner" lol.

[@danolukastik4817]

there is a lot stuff that guy just made up to make it interesting while he knows nearly nothing it seems

[@HandyMan657]

I had read that the yield was secretly lowered by Sakkarov out of concern for the results if he left it as powerful as Kruschev wanted it.

[@CyberspacedLoner]

100+ megaton TNT yield ?

[@longlakeshore]

If I remember correctly Castle Bravo ran away to 15 MT because its designers didn't think lithium deuteride7 would undergo fusion. Its yield was supposed to be 6 MT.. Did something similar happen with Tsar Bomba?

[@schr75]

No. It was designed as a 100MT three stage weapon. In order to reduce the yield and fallout, the tertiary stage Uranium tamper was replaced with an inert lead tamper, reducing the yield to approximately 58MT. At that time Li-7´s fusion cross section was well understood.

[@longlakeshore]

@@schr75 But the design yield was 50 MT was it not? Why the 17% increase over design?

[@alphax4785]

When you're designing for 100MT and scaling for 50MT, an over of 6MT is probably pretty good and sound understanding of how their bomb will behave.

[@benwinter2420]

@@longlakeshore It was an accident apparent

[@schr75]

@@longlakeshore No. The designed yield was 100MT, but they tested it at only 50%

[@Technology-Repair-Druid]

Excellent video. The war of ideologies will be the doom of mankind. It's ridiculous that things like this ever happened, and I would say needed, but it's completely deplorable. The sheer lack of care for life by the respective governments of the time is beyond horrifying.

[@Rhyzomect]

before I start this video are you sure this story hasn't been told before?

[@capobilotti]

Have you ever tried to conceive a meaningful sentence?

[@Rhyzomect]

@@capobilotti why the fuck would I do that

[@danolukastik4817]

@@Rhyzomect well, it was told. You can search it on YT. Original soviet footage is far more interesting than this video. This guy is just making stuff up. Not worth to watch.

[@poindextertunes]

18:53 thats wild. it looks like a sunrise only, thats not a sunrise 😅

[@sheebavm7952]

Your deserve more subs man. Such good content!!

[@shayhannah5430]

Thanks! Really enjoyed this. I learned a lot.

[@thatchernobylguy2915]

Thank you so so much! I'm really glad you enjoyed it :D

[@imjusthappytobedepressed1123]

It doesn't even look like an explosion, it looks like the sun.

[@weaponized_toaster]

because it effectively is, a thermonuclear bomb is a mini sun

[@ES-sb3ei]

So the two primaries used in this bomb were most likely not fission bombs as you have stated. It is now believed they were compact, high efficiency two-stage fusion bombs themselves. That they had designed in 1958 in a breakthrough Project 49. This bomb was not as simplistic as is commonly asserted. It was actually a test of new technologies probably first developed in 1958, not just a political stunt. It just used an old casing. From my impression, the secondary itself was not a radical improvement. Instead the primaries and the interstage were new.

[@weaponized_toaster]

did he say they were? if he did he's wrong because that's not how fusion bombs work, they need a fission as an igniter

[@AryanKumar-fz2dm]

At 5:33, that looks like a lend lease trailer. The truck (a MAZ), is very reminiscent of Diamond T.

[@RobertCraft-re5sf]

18:34 the double-flash is so pronounced in this test, as one would expect.

[@nardcore661]

The Soviets didn’t care about human life at all those godless monsters and they’re still that way to this day.

[@weaponized_toaster]

this isn't an example of that though, you do realise the US killed a Japanese sailor and many natives with Castle bravo? this bomb didn't kill anyone

[@cyberdemon6517]

​@@weaponized_toasterin your defense also, the soviets didnt care period

[@jordr2414]

Great video, super informative. Just remember the plural of aircraft is........ aircraft

[@MartusTube]

I've always hated that no one translates the "bomba" part. Just say "bomb", it means "bomb". Or when people say "Polish kielbasa sausage" - ah yes, "Polish sausage sausage", congratulations - you just said "sausage" twice... It's just silly.

[@AlexM1983DHUN]

It's actually the same with chilli peppers. Chilli means just pepper in Nahuatl (Aztec language). So basically, pepper pepper. 😁😁 Also heard some people saying CD Disk Compact Disk Disk, or DVD Disk, Digital Video Disk Disk.

[@ChucksSEADnDEAD]

Then why not translate "tsar" to "ceasar"? Or why not say _Minen_ shot instead of "Minengeschoss"?

[@WAL_DC-6B]

Or Rio Grande River.

[@AlexM1983DHUN]

@@ChucksSEADnDEAD Tsar emperor-bomb. XD

[@noonedude101]

The TU-95 does not have afterburners or even a jet engine.

[@QUICKSHIFTtv]

Excellently told story, so many details I’d never heard before

[@kojiattwood]

Excellent musical choice of the Tchaikovsky 1st piano concerto, now I wonder if you used the Van Cliburn recording, heh.

[@alexandervoytov4966]

I’d like to suggest another video on a topic of connection nuclear disarmament and Legasov story. I don’t remember a specific date when president Gorbachev visited Kurchatov IAE to discuss a specific topic: Gorbachev would like to make a proposal to all countries about complete ban for any nuclear weapons. His main goal was to discuss such statement with Legasov as a lead of IAE defense programs. Certainly I wasn’t invited for the meeting:). But certainly we discuss the topic internally.

[@ThatGenXDude.]

Love your Channel

[@generalmarkmilleyisbenedic8895]

There was some footage ive never seen before about this beautiful and strength-showing explosion, thanks

[@KerboRos]

its very cool to see more nuclear content, great video!

[@liberate72000]

Fantastic presentation! I thought I knew a lot about this subject but you have definitely done your research! I didn’t know about all the initial work done on this weapon back in the 1950’s . I heard there was one soviet nuclear test that they tried to hush up as it contaminated a whole Russian Forrest as well as a couple of thousand soviet troops that were deployed in it . Given how meticulous your research was on this , would love to hear any presentation on that . Excellent piece of work thank you for posting it.

[@RCAvhstape]

Didn't one of the pilots decide he'd had enough fun for one career and resign from the air force after this mission? I bet they didn't realize how close a call this was going to be, with the aircraft getting singed and knocked around so much.

[@wst8340]

Source?

[@RCAvhstape]

@@wst8340 If I had a source I wouldn't have written my post in the form of a question.

[@emmano6340]

​@@RCAvhstapeTouché

[@DaFinkingOrk]

Someone said "What's the point in this, unless you want to level a mountain " and i thought "you answered your own question there".

[@Celler2]

great content, but the volume level of the video is really low even at max volume turned up.

[@Theodore-ku2ci]

I though I accidentally lowered my volume when you suddenly went quiet.😭

[@ColKorn1965]

Nikita Krushchev looked like my dad's best buddy, Big Bad Bob.

[@EbizzerHH]

Afterburners in a Tu-95??? Really???

[@Jay-ln1co]

"[W]e have funds at our disposal that will have dire consequences for you." The Philosophers' Legacy?

[@pyatig]

Is that a mgs reference?

[@madzen112]

The Cold War wasn't a good time for sane people.

[@romkoshkaryov7450]

Thank you so much for your informative videos!!!

[@007-v4r]

wanting 1gigaton... soviets were insane 💀💀💀

[@theminer49erz]

I'm in no way saying fossil fuels are not contributing to the warming climate, but carbon holds in heat from the sun. I wonder how much heat these things (all nukes detonated) added?

[@kikufutaba524]

Fascinating experiment. Yet terrifying.

[@BSoDexe]

This thing is terrible. And same kinde people are still doing terrible things.

[@benwinter2420]

Early soviet reactors had zero radiation scrubbing . . zilch & fuck all

[@eugeniaamariei8626]

I thought this channel was only about Chernobyl? Not that I'm complaining.

[@thatchernobylguy2915]

I've done a few videos on non-Chernobyl things. It's good to give people (and myself) a break from focusing on just one thing :)

[@eugeniaamariei8626]

@@thatchernobylguy2915 Ok. Nice.

[@vladpetric7493]

@@thatchernobylguy2915 I'm part of the non-complainer group too 😀

[@relwalretep]

​@@thatchernobylguy2915no complaints here, either! You're a good story teller, as well as editor of video to match the story.

[@thing_under_the_stairs]

@@thatchernobylguy2915 Absolutely not complaining, especially about more fascinating stories regarding nuclear shenanigans in the USSR!

[@Svitri-m1u]

The trigger for this bomb was a small two-stage thermonuclear device codenamed "49", developed in 1958. Thus, the design of the bomb "AN-602" is three-stage. The video contains incorrect information.

[@KarlAdamsAudio]

9:37 it might be interesting to cover Orange Herald and the Violet Club weapon that was derived from it - aiming for such a high yield from a fission device requires the use of more than one uncompressed critical mass of fissile material, so only the unfavourable geometry (a hollow thin-walled sphere) keeps it subcritical, making such weapons challenging to handle safely.

[@clydeblair9622]

Typical Soviet insanity.

[@williamcopeland4110]

I didn't notice that you could see the two stages of the tsar bomba during its detonation.

[@weaponized_toaster]

??? whereM

[@weaponized_toaster]

you mean the double flash? that's in every nuke

[@williamcopeland4110]

@@weaponized_toaster , What I was talking about is the different colors of atomic flash you can see if you really pay attention.

[@weaponized_toaster]

@@williamcopeland4110 that's not the 2nd stage that's just how nuclear explosions look

[@jebbroham1776]

It was so big that windows in places as far away from the blast as Norway were blown out from the pressure differential created by the explosion, thermal warming of the skin could be felt at a distance of 170 miles from ground zero, and seismic shock was estimated at 5 to 5.25 on the Richter scale. To put it bluntly, it was a world ender in a bomb.

[@gregmorris2022]

Excellent content Sir.

[@banditdelta7172]

Ivy Mike could make a pretty interesting video

[@billythekid3234]

It's here on youtube..

[@ellomirza]

Now that’s more like it. Really smart people building cool shit. The Chernobyl stuff is so depressing. The helicopters dropped shit but it mostly missed. The miners dug shit up but they never used the damn heat exchanger. And on and on it goes.

[@benwinter2420]

Finland copped most of Chernobyl meltdown

[@klau88873]

16:39 Olamar Winter’Core Vivaldi Remix 🎶🎸🥁😎 19:55 Mozart Lacrimosa 🎶

[@EarthGeographicalRecon]

Ironically the energy forms a giant tree shape

[@weaponized_toaster]

cuz that's how hot hair rises

[@-Hardstyle-]

TU-95 afterburners? What.

[@Geographus666]

There was a significant peak in carbon-14 in the atmosphere caused by the atmospheric nuclear tests from the late 40s to 1963 were the Limited Test Ban Treaty was put into action. This was hughe enough that scientist actually have to acount for this when using carbon-dating of organic material that was made since those times, since even to this date the levels are still not down to pre-nuclear test rates. They are not remotely as high as in the 1960s, but high enough to throw of dating. This is called the "bomb pulse" and will last until about 2030. Every organism after that will have a deviation not big enough to be noticable in things like carbon-dating.

[@iitzfizz]

When you said that Soviet design differed from US designs in 2 stage weapons, what did you mean by that? US weapons also used the X-Rays from the fission primary to heat and compress a secondary fusion stage. The Teller-Ulam design.

[@weaponized_toaster]

the tsar bomba had 3 stages, 2 fusion stages

[@weaponized_toaster]

that is what made it so much more powerful lol

[@ScrotusXL]

I've watched previous videos on this subject, then I watched the silent portions and was dumbstruck. And to think this was detuned by 50 percent because people were not sure of the other effects

[@jhonbus]

Excellent documentary, well done

[@Harcix]

Did you get the new audio gear the dude donated the money for?😊

[@DJJOOLZDE]

Hey guys, i found this explody stuff. Wanna replicate the brightness of the sun somewhere up north?

[@herbertbeltran9198]

Imagine if the bomb was set to go boom at 420 meters.....

[@weaponized_toaster]

that would be dumb as the fireball would touch the ground and create fallout

[@ryepie1887]

Great video

[@paulanderson7796]

You have to get the award for being even more irritating than Simon Whistler

[@nothingoutofnothing5955]

Fun fact. Castle Bravo was one of many bombs in the "operation Castle" nuclear bomb tests and all of them had far bigger yields than predicted Castle bravo was supposed to be 5Mt but ended up beign 15Mt (This has something to do with an unexpected lithium reaction)

[@Commentator541]

If I can speak ENglish fluently, you can not tell me that Novaya Zemlya is so difficult to pronounce.

[@ZEZlMA]

the footage at 18:49 the blast is at night yet at 22:00 it's clearly day time.

[@RobertCraft-re5sf]

I'm not convinced there were two fission promaries. The shape of it does sort of suggest that, though.

[@weaponized_toaster]

why? how the hell else would they make it so powerful?

[@swainscheps]

I think the ‘this bomb is 10x 100x 1000x the size of the Hiroshima bomb’ comparisons are a little misleading. Yes, the Tsar Bomba is more than 3300x the equivalent TNT of Little Boy. But, that doesn’t mean the area of devastation is 3300x LB - it’s more like 600x - and the fireball and thermal effects reach only 25-30x as distant from ground zero. No day at the beach, but precision still matters - and I don’t think the ‘Little Boy’ units of explosivity are as useful as they are ubiquitous.

[@toyotagaz]

This is the sequel to Oppenheimer I want to see Please Christopher Nolan

[@kevinhammond2361]

Brought to you by Blammski

[@WAL_DC-6B]

I was thinking more like "KA-BOOM-SKI!!!"

[@poindextertunes]

Tsar-BOMBRRRRRAP

[@lonewonderer7657]

I always find soviet weapons/science development weird, typically they'll still try to pursue something that most countries have already deemed pointless or unreasonable, like their trips to Venus and the Tsar bomba,(there's tons of others but too many to mention) while its impressive its one of the reasons i credit for their downfall as it was just constant money pits and time wastes

[@MadMonsterGaming]

Correct me if I'm wrong but the tsar Bomba was the largest created, just the largest tested.

[@weaponized_toaster]

it was both but it was planned for it to be larger