The Tsar Bomba was the climax of the high-yield thermonuclear weapons tests conducted by the superpowers in the 1950's and early 1960's. These were the times where the nuclear weapons detonations that we all know were captured on camera (after 1963, the Partial Test Ban Treaty went into effect and all subsequent testing was conducted underground).
Background:
No nuclear testing had been conducted by either the Soviet Union or the United States since 1958. Tensions remained high however, and as the 1960's began, the Soviets wanted to send a very loud message, timing it for the meeting of the 22nd Soviet Congress.
The Bomb:
Staggeringly, the Soviets' original intention was for the construction of a 100 megaton device. However there were numerous problems that began to become apparent as the numbers began to be crunched by the scientists. The first problem was the very high likelihood that the pilots flying the plane that would drop the bomb would be killed in the ensuing blast (as it turned out, they barely had enough time to safely get out of the way of the final 50 megaton version- and that was with a parachute to slow the bomb's fall). The second problem was the very high fallout that the 100 megaton version was expected to generate. It was also calculated that most of the energy of such a large weapon would radiate into space, making it very inefficient.
To reduce these risks, a uranium tamper inside the device was replaced with a lead one. Thus there would be less fissile and radioactive material. This reduced the yield by approximately 50%.
Like all thermonuclear weapons (popularly known as the hydrogen bomb), it was a multi-staged "Teller-Ulam" device. However unlike most, the Tsar Bomba was a three-staged weapon, whereas most thermonuclear weapons only contain two stages (I'll get into the nitty gritty of this science in an upcoming post).
The Test Results:
The bomb's detonation caused the aircraft that dropped it to fall many thousands of meters. The fireball was visible from 1,000 kilometers away. A person standing 100 kilometers from ground zero would still have gotten third degree burns, and windows were broken as far away as Finland. The mushroom cloud stretched into the mesosphere- around 60 kilometers high. The shockwave from the explosion circled the planet three times before it dissipated.
Aftermath:
Fortunately, the Tsar Bomba was far too big to be of practical use as a weapon. It was simply a very huge and ominous show of force. Nevertheless, it increased tensions between the superpowers and set off a new wave of nuclear testing.
The next two years would see the Cold War reach the tipping point of becoming the hottest one in history- the annihilation of civilization almost seemed imminent in the wake of the Cuban Missile Crisis. Cooler heads prevailed in the end, and tensions were reduced through the Partial Test Ban Treaty. As the 1960's rolled on, missile technology improved to the point of allowing smaller, more accurate nuclear weapons to be delivered more efficiently, and monster double-digit megaton bombs became unnecessary.
The Tsar Bomba is ultimately a curiosity- showcasing the destructive potential of man and serving as a dire warning that failure to communicate is no longer an option in the nuclear age.
See Also:
Nuke Calculator at SD.net (This tool allows the user to experiment with varying nuclear weapon yields and see the approximate results)
The Tsar Bomba at Nuclear Weapon Archive Soviet Union Tsar Bomba Cold War Nuclear Weapons Hydrogen
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