How were the Manhattan Project scientists able to predict the possibility of the atmosphere igniting after using an atomic bomb, and how did they come to the conclusion that the atmosphere wouldn’t ignite?

Question

Did the non-zero risk of the atmosphere igniting increase as nuclear weapon yields got larger and larger?

Obviously a result of watching Oppenheimer.

In: 789

Answer 1

Kyle Hill made a good video about this. It may not be totally ELI5 but it should answer your question better than the comments here. Not to say that the comments are wrong, but the video gives a good explanation.

If you watched Oppenheimer, I’m sure you can manage this video.