What happens if your City is hit by a Nuclear Bomb?

The current events give reason to think about it

The war in Ukraine is raging. The Russians are about to attack the capital Kyiv at the time of writing. Putin is acting resolutely and even threatening the unthinkable: the use of nuclear weapons. That really scares me, to be honest.

What would that mean exactly?

How bad would the consequences be?

So far, nuclear bombs have been used only twice in the history of mankind. At the end of the Second World War, the Americans bombed the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

On August 6 and August 9, 1945, the atomic bombs were detonated. In total, about 100,000 people were killed. By the end of the year, at least as many people had died again as a result of the explosion.

Since nuclear weapons are much more powerful nowadays than they were back then, that’s really scary. The consequences would be truly unthinkable. The exact effects are the following:

Heat and light:

The explosion produces a flash of light that is several thousand degrees celsius hot. People are burned and their eyes are injured. In addition, the ensuing heatwave ignites just about anything flammable, resulting in a firestorm.

The blast wave:

The explosion creates an unimaginable blast wave. Buildings are destroyed and people get injured and killed.

The electromagnetic pulse:

The explosion causes a strong overvoltage in electrical and electronic lines and devices. They are all destroyed. You can imagine this similar to a lightning strike. Only much stronger.

The radioactive Rays:

The explosion releases radioactive rays. The tricky part is that you can’t smell, feel or see them. They enter the bodies of humans and animals and cause terrible damage to health. They are also absorbed by plants. The radiation spreads over a long distance of several hundred kilometers or even more and is deposited in the ground. This contamination leads to diseases, among others with fatal consequences.

The disturbances in the atmosphere:

The explosion of a nuclear bomb changes the concentration of ozone in the atmosphere. Dust particles are stirred up and darken the sun. This has dire consequences for all living things.

To sum it up:

If a nuclear bomb hits your city, you will most likely die. Due to the heat and blast wave, most people within a few kilometers will die directly. To survive, you need great luck. The radioactivity will lead to bad long-term effects in the surrounding areas.

So it is really bad. So we can only hope that Putin will not use his nuclear weapons.