Here Come The Boom!

Story by Dionel Grice and LaRai Sampson. Edited by Sean Beach. Image from www.clker.com. Image from www.youtube.com.

On a cloudy fall day in 1961, a Tupolev Tu-4 bomber flies over the island of Novaya Zemlya in the Soviet Union. Reaching a height of 35,000 feet, the pilot drops the Tsar Bomba. The Tsar Bomba was a 100 megaton nuclear bomb.That's like someone getting 100 million tons of TNT and detonating it. Milliseconds after the bomb touches the ground, the device detonates, shooting a flash of light through the air. It was visible from over 6,000 miles away. It was and remains the biggest nuclear bomb ever in world history.

One megaton of nuclear material is equal to 1 million tons of TNT.

Due to the explosion, the nuclear bomb test pilot was nearly killed. This bomb was designed to destroy everything in a 15-mile radius, and cause third degree burns within a 64-mile radius. Today the Tsar is a reminder of the Cold War arms race. Yet after all that destruction we still receive nuclear bomb threats from terrorists. But why? It brings no peace whatsoever.

The Tsar bomb was designed to be 100 megatons.

Even after the test, countries still threaten others with nuclear warfare. In my opinion all nuclear supplies should be banned from earth. It’s just super cruel.

Dionel Grice, Sean Beach and LaRai Sampson are 7th grade scholars at Friendship Tech Prep Academy.