Playing with nukes and fire: online simulations of explosions and plumes
July 23, 2013 12:42 PM Subscribe
Alex Wellerstein, an historian of science who specializes in the history of nuclear weapons and nuclear secrecy, has put together two online maps mashups: NUKEMAP2, and NUKEMAP3D, which use Google Maps and Google Earth, respectively. With those tools, you can see the blast radius for nuclear explosions of your own design, or from one of the presets. But this doesn't get into dispersion of fallout. If you're interested in that kind of thing, you might want to see various smoke modeling tools, which are used for wildfire management.
Wellerstein's site, Nuclear Secrecy, had a blog (previously: 1, 2, 3, 4), but that is offline for the moment, but you can dig through past posts on Archive.org
Related: Wikipedia category: nuclear weapons by country
Wellerstein's site, Nuclear Secrecy, had a blog (previously: 1, 2, 3, 4), but that is offline for the moment, but you can dig through past posts on Archive.org
Related: Wikipedia category: nuclear weapons by country
It's been hammered all day. I checked the links before posting, and they were slow, but live.
posted by filthy light thief at 12:50 PM on July 23, 2013
posted by filthy light thief at 12:50 PM on July 23, 2013
My favorite app for this kind of thing (windows only, though).
Modeling multiple simultaneous detonations is fun!
posted by yeoz at 12:54 PM on July 23, 2013
Modeling multiple simultaneous detonations is fun!
posted by yeoz at 12:54 PM on July 23, 2013
North Korean Targetingand The Map Of Death. Honolulu, San Diego, Washington DC and ... Shreveport.
posted by the man of twists and turns at 1:10 PM on July 23, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by the man of twists and turns at 1:10 PM on July 23, 2013 [1 favorite]
I'm not saying we wouldn't get our hair mussed...
posted by entropicamericana at 1:13 PM on July 23, 2013 [3 favorites]
posted by entropicamericana at 1:13 PM on July 23, 2013 [3 favorites]
Hey! I can incinerate your house from here!
posted by hal9k at 1:35 PM on July 23, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by hal9k at 1:35 PM on July 23, 2013 [1 favorite]
Well, that's sobering.
posted by COBRA! at 1:38 PM on July 23, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by COBRA! at 1:38 PM on July 23, 2013 [1 favorite]
The Map Of Death. Honolulu, San Diego, Washington DC and ... Shreveport.
"Everything is amazing and nobody is happy." So I'll shut up now.
posted by filthy light thief at 1:53 PM on July 23, 2013
....As someone with a beginning interest in mapping terrain and how terrain impacts movement, I think these online models are a bit simplistic. "Unlike humans, fires usually travel uphill much faster than downhill. The steeper the slope, the faster the fire travels." But terrain is also an impediment to explosions, and changes air patterns for smoke plumes.
The line seems a little far north for San Antonio, raising the possibility that the target lies behind the general's silly hat -- possibly Barksdale Air Force Base near Shreveport, LA, home of Air Force Global Strike Command.
...
"Everything is amazing and nobody is happy." So I'll shut up now.
posted by filthy light thief at 1:53 PM on July 23, 2013
Sobering? It makes me want to drink! Lots!
posted by mkb at 1:54 PM on July 23, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by mkb at 1:54 PM on July 23, 2013 [1 favorite]
I grew up during the Cold War and threads gave me nightmares
Nope nope nope nope not clicking those links nope nope
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 2:01 PM on July 23, 2013
Nope nope nope nope not clicking those links nope nope
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 2:01 PM on July 23, 2013
The differing scale of damage from various bombs amazed me. I dropped a Hiroshima bomb on Hobart, and my house over the river was untouched.
Then I dropped a Tsar Bomba... and the mushroom cloud was almost as big as Tasmania.
posted by Jimbob at 2:13 PM on July 23, 2013 [1 favorite]
Then I dropped a Tsar Bomba... and the mushroom cloud was almost as big as Tasmania.
posted by Jimbob at 2:13 PM on July 23, 2013 [1 favorite]
I grew up during the Cold War and threads gave me nightmares
Nope nope nope nope not clicking those links nope nope
Same, but with the American version, and i did click the links. I also have to say i hate how casually people in the US make jokes about "just nuke them", when they have never really faced the reality, and most don't even bother looking into what it actually does.
posted by usagizero at 3:25 PM on July 23, 2013
Nope nope nope nope not clicking those links nope nope
Same, but with the American version, and i did click the links. I also have to say i hate how casually people in the US make jokes about "just nuke them", when they have never really faced the reality, and most don't even bother looking into what it actually does.
posted by usagizero at 3:25 PM on July 23, 2013
Tried an Improvised HEU Device aimed at the Mt Vernon neighborhood of Baltimore. 10kt, and fired from an artillery device. This was the result. Just under 50,000 dead, and about 97,000 injured. While being a surface explosion, the immediate blast area is small, the plume resulting from the arc impact does a lot of damage. For some reason I can't seem to make the IND fire from another direction.
However weirdly reassuring that the elusive briefcase nuke results in more casualties than fatalities may be, this brings all those old muscle memory fears of nuclear attacks. It's very sobering, but I'm still going to try North Korean nukes next. I don't know why I can't help but have to find out.
posted by Marisa Stole the Precious Thing at 3:26 PM on July 23, 2013
However weirdly reassuring that the elusive briefcase nuke results in more casualties than fatalities may be, this brings all those old muscle memory fears of nuclear attacks. It's very sobering, but I'm still going to try North Korean nukes next. I don't know why I can't help but have to find out.
posted by Marisa Stole the Precious Thing at 3:26 PM on July 23, 2013
I dropped Tsar Bomba on San Francisco, and Jesus Christ that's terrifying.
posted by brundlefly at 4:09 PM on July 23, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by brundlefly at 4:09 PM on July 23, 2013 [1 favorite]
Wellerstein's a friend of mine from Berkeley. My two favorite posts are on George Gamow's artwork and how obsession with nuclear secrecy required banning spheres.
posted by jonp72 at 5:10 PM on July 23, 2013 [5 favorites]
posted by jonp72 at 5:10 PM on July 23, 2013 [5 favorites]
EmpressCallipygos: "I grew up during the Cold War and threads gave me nightmares
Nope nope nope nope not clicking those links nope nope"
They said that Threads was scary and disturbing. Pfft, I said to myself. Whatever. I'm not scared, I told myself. So I watched it in my late 30s. I was so very, very wrong.
Take this as a public service announcement. No, take it as a dire warning from a friend who cares. Threads is the most horrifying and disturbing thing I've ever watched. I had real honest-to-god night terrors for weeks after watching it and still have occasional nightmares to this very day. This is not a movie that gives you a good, fun fright to laugh over later. This is a movie that will push aside your personal demons and take center stage.
posted by double block and bleed at 6:09 PM on July 23, 2013 [3 favorites]
Nope nope nope nope not clicking those links nope nope"
They said that Threads was scary and disturbing. Pfft, I said to myself. Whatever. I'm not scared, I told myself. So I watched it in my late 30s. I was so very, very wrong.
Take this as a public service announcement. No, take it as a dire warning from a friend who cares. Threads is the most horrifying and disturbing thing I've ever watched. I had real honest-to-god night terrors for weeks after watching it and still have occasional nightmares to this very day. This is not a movie that gives you a good, fun fright to laugh over later. This is a movie that will push aside your personal demons and take center stage.
posted by double block and bleed at 6:09 PM on July 23, 2013 [3 favorites]
nuclear secrecy required banning spheres
The exact gravitational shape of the Earth, or "geoid", was classified until the 1960s because of its use in ICBM targeting. Yet another kind of secret sphere.
posted by RobotVoodooPower at 7:54 PM on July 23, 2013
The exact gravitational shape of the Earth, or "geoid", was classified until the 1960s because of its use in ICBM targeting. Yet another kind of secret sphere.
posted by RobotVoodooPower at 7:54 PM on July 23, 2013
What surprised me about these simulations was how "small" the Indian and Pakistan nukes are. I decided to nuke Tokyo for fun (North Korea is going to do it one of these days anyway, right?), and the detonations seemed to be localized.
However, drop a Minuteman on Tokyo, and it makes a big hole.
posted by KokuRyu at 9:54 PM on July 23, 2013
However, drop a Minuteman on Tokyo, and it makes a big hole.
posted by KokuRyu at 9:54 PM on July 23, 2013
Threads is the most horrifying and disturbing thing I've ever watched.
Actually, the War Game is even more disturbing.
posted by KokuRyu at 9:55 PM on July 23, 2013
Actually, the War Game is even more disturbing.
posted by KokuRyu at 9:55 PM on July 23, 2013
Just for fun I dropped a medium-yield Minuteman on the naval base about 3 kilometres from where I am hammering on the keyword (and about100 kilometres north-west of Bremerton).
Wow.
posted by KokuRyu at 10:05 PM on July 23, 2013
Wow.
posted by KokuRyu at 10:05 PM on July 23, 2013
For those interested, Wellerstein is doing an AMA over at r/AskHistorians right now.
posted by Panjandrum at 9:52 AM on July 24, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by Panjandrum at 9:52 AM on July 24, 2013 [1 favorite]
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