ELI5- How large can one nuclear bomb get?

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We seem to have hit the limit with tests such as Tsar Bomba, but that is only because it’s not reasonable or necessary to push it any farther. But I’m wondering what the theoretical limit is. Is there a limit for a single device in which size would make an effective reaction impossible?

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Anonymous 0 Comments

There is no theoretical limit. One is limited by fuel, cost, size, and will. There were [designs looked at during the Cold War for 10,000 megaton bombs](https://blog.nuclearsecrecy.com/2012/09/12/in-search-of-a-bigger-boom/). With teraton-range nuclear weapons and an ocean of deuterium, [you could turn a planet in a bomb](https://blog.nuclearsecrecy.com/2018/06/29/cleansing-thermonuclear-fire/).

The issue with all reactions is that you have to engineer conditions that keep them going. But if one imagines hypothetical alien civilizations with resources beyond our present ones, there is nothing stopping one from making absolutely huge weapons, at least to my knowledge.

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