World’s Biggest Explosions Compared in New York

How big is a mushroom cloud, really? In this video, 15 explosions go off over New York City, from the 11-ton MOAB to the 100-megaton full-power Tsar Bomba design, so you can compare them against the skyline you already know. Each cloud rises beside One World Trade Center, the Empire State Building and the Statue of Liberty. A live map shows how wide each cap would spread over Manhattan, Brooklyn, New Jersey, Long Island and beyond. Near the end, the biggest clouds reach toward the edge of space. For historical events, cloud heights and widths come from recorded measurements (Hiroshima ~16 km, Ivy Mike 41 km, Castle Bravo 40 km tall and 100 km wide, Tsar Bomba 67 km tall and 95 km wide). Weapons never detonated at these yields are estimated from those events and from Glasstone & Dolan's "The Effects of Nuclear Weapons." Mushroom clouds keep changing as they rise and spread, so treat every figure as approximate. Music: Shymon Music - Space Envato For more astronomy, space exploration, and science content, check out our parent channel, ‪@Cosmoknowledge‬.