I’ve always wondered why only nuclear bombs detonate before hitting the ground and not the actual moment of impact. Does it affect the amount of damage? or does it reduce nuclear waste and radiation?
In: Physics
Maybe a bit above five, but…
There are four main effects from a nuclear weapon:
* Fireball: Everything within is vaporized
* Blast: Everything within a certain range is flattened
* Thermal radiation: Everything within a certain range is burned
* Ionizing radiation: Everything within a certain range is irradiated
So we now have to decide what effect we want from the weapon. The fireball is relatively small, and we don’t necessarily need things vaporized, so we don’t need a ground burst. Probably the only exception would be a hardened target like a bunker or missile silo.
With the exception of the short-lived neutron bomb, we aren’t really relying on radiation either.
We do want the blast and thermal radiation to do more damage at longer distances though to destroy cities and/or kill troops. A ground burst attenuates these effects because half of these effects of the weapon go straight into the ground. An air burst allows these effects to spread much farther away from the blast. Also, a ground burst produces more radioactive fallout, and that can drift uncontrollably over days, not a good thing if your forces are anywhere near the blast.
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