Earlier this year, researchers at Princeton University put together a simulation of what a nuclear war would look like if it were to happen today, showing the unimaginable devastation that would occur in just a few minutes, on a global scale. And now, to understand what effects a single nuclear bomb would have on an individual city, we have this video from YouTube channel, Kurzgesagt. Needless to say, it’s just as frightening as the simulation video.
Aside from the initial explosion, there would be, for example, the resultant mushroom cloud, which would create an immense shadow over its target city. The shadow would subsequently drop the temperature in the city, forcing warmer air to rush in and violently destroy countless buildings. There would also be “black rain,” which would be the radioactive ash and dust that would liquify and pour down on the city. Not to mention all of the fires, blinding light, and nuclear fallout.
Perhaps the scariest part of a nuclear bomb going off in a city is the fact that, as the video notes, there is “no serious humanitarian response possible to a nuclear explosion.” Which would mean all of the people who survived a nuclear bomb’s initial explosion would likely be in for some extended period of immense suffering before finally dying.
“[A nuclear explosion] is not a hurricane, wildfire, or earthquake, or nuclear accident,” the video notes, “it is all these things at once, but worse.” Check out video below of a real nuclear explosion if you’d like confirmation of that fact.
Images: Kurzgesagt
