Transcript
Turns out where you stand in a building makes a massive difference when sheltering from an atomic bomb shockwave!
In case it’s ever relevant.
Researchers simulated a blast from a 750 kilaton warhead, like what could be carried by the Russian’s appropriately named Satan II missile.
((For reference, hiroshima was a mere 15 kT.))
When detonated high above a city, it generates a dual blast wave of pressure and high speed air that extends out for miles
Close by you’d have no chance, but there’s a moderate damage zone, where, if you’re lucky enough to be in a building made of concrete, then survival IS possible. But so is pancaking.
They simulated a multi-room setup where the blast comes in through room 1 and blows on through. And here’s where it gets funky. Because that blast air is pressurized, when it goes inside it expands outwards and get faster. The 100mph wind hitting the building would suddenly expand to over 300.
For reference, those indoor skydiving places are usually 100 to 130 mph.
Standing in that front hallway, the blast would throw you 30-60 ft in less than a second.
BUT if you hide in the corner of the wall FACING the blast, you can avoid most of it!
Then all you’d have to deal with is the radiation, fires, and mutant zombies.