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

*Oppenheimer* exaggerates the severity of the concern, here, in service of the dramatic irony of Robert Oppenheimer believing he’s “ignited” nuclear conflict between world powers. Manhattan Project scientists actually *didn’t* think the atomic bomb (or Teller’s later thermonuclear bomb) would ignite the atmosphere, but the question having been raised, they sought mathematical proof that it was impossible. That’s been altered in the storytelling for the situation to be that they thought it *might* and tried to prove that it *could*, but it’s really the opposite of that.