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The Real Mother of All Bombs, 46 Years Ago

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the things-that-go-boom dept.

vaporland writes "Tsar Bomba is the Western name for the RDS-220, the largest, most powerful weapon ever detonated. The bomb was tested on October 30, 1961, in an archipelago in the Arctic Sea. Developed by the Soviet Union, the bomb had a yield of about 50 megatons. Its detonation released energy equivalent to approximately 1% of the power output of the Sun for 39 nanoseconds of its detonation. The device was scaled down from its original design of 100 megatons to reduce the resulting nuclear fallout. The Tsar Bomba qualifies as the single most powerful device ever utilized throughout the history of humanity."

10 of 526 comments (clear)

  1. Nah. by Shadow+Wrought · · Score: 4, Funny

    Vista's still a bigger bomb.

    --
    If brevity is the soul of wit, then how does one explain Twitter?
    1. Re:Nah. by FredDC · · Score: 4, Funny

      Could be, but it's never been used!

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      09 f9 11 02 9d 74 e3 5b d8 41 56 c5 63
  2. Color, odor and flavor by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Penis mightier.

  3. Re:Pedantry: ENGAGED by ZombieRoboNinja · · Score: 5, Funny

    Sure it is. "A device whereby hydrogen is converted through fusion reactions to helium for the purpose of releasing energy." Didn't you read IBM's patent application?

  4. Re:I respectfully disagree... by JonathanR · · Score: 5, Funny

    Yeah. Think of all those forests laid waste to accommodate your bloody writing implement.

  5. Re:I respectfully disagree... by DarkShadeChaos · · Score: 5, Funny

    You're selling Penis Mightier? ... you're sitting on a goldmine Trebek!

    --
    The machine unmakes the man. Now that the machine is so perfect, the engineer is nobody. -Ralph Waldo Emerson
  6. Re:I respectfully disagree... by Mr2cents · · Score: 5, Funny

    alright - i'll take the nuke & you take the pen. we'll see who wins. I suspect that you'll see the flaw in your plan by the time I'm banging your head against the wall to see if I can get that pen any further up your nose..
    --
    "It's too bad that stupidity isn't painful." - Anton LaVey
  7. Re:I respectfully disagree... by Yetihehe · · Score: 5, Funny

    I also believe "The pen is mightier than the sword"
    Obligatory quote from Terry Pratchett: *Only when sword is very dull and pen is very sharp.
    --
    Extreme Programming - Redundant Array of Inexpensive Developers
  8. Re:I respectfully disagree... by Atzanteol · · Score: 5, Funny

    ancient, loving Earth

    Tough love....
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Katrina
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Krakatoa
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pompeii
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2004_Indian_Ocean_earthquake
    etc. etc.

    Hey Nancy boy, maybe the Earth is trying to tell you to man-up?

    --
    "Ignorance more frequently begets confidence than does knowledge"

    - Charles Darwin
  9. Re:I respectfully disagree... by AbbyNormal · · Score: 5, Funny

    True, but if Tsar Bomba makes a man's country turn into glass, I think we could notch that as a win for the bomb.

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    Sig it.