Can I die from an atomic bomb?

Question

I live 15 miles away from Washington DC. If North Korea put a bomb there would I die?!?!

Answer 1

Possibly from the fallout, but you would be too far away to become 10,000 degrees in less than a second.

Answer 2

depends on the megaton.

Answer 3

yes and no, depends on where you are.

Answer 4

Well over 600 nuclear weapons have been detonated in , on or over this planet to date....All but an all out nuclear war is survivable !

Answer 5

With only a few bombs. You go for the big targets. The Great lakes, Lake ockeechobie & such. Mess up there fresh water for a few million years.

Answer 6

North Korea does not have the range, Russia, France, UK do have the range. Get worrying.

Answer 7

Well.....you'd have a bad day........

Answer 8

The highest yield N. Korea has achieved is estimated to be about 20-30Kt, about the yield of the device dropped on Nagasaki. In Nagasaki the zone of total destruction was about 1 mile with fire spreading downwind to two miles. At 15 miles you might suffer first degree burns if you were in the open.



When we think of nuclear weapons we think of three stage thermonuclear weapons, which are roughly 100-1000 times as powerful as anything N. Korea has tested. They also have no means of delivering a nuclear warhead into Washington DC. Their ICBM, if and when they test it, would only reach the West coast of the US. It is useful to also note their mid-range missile tests suffered two mid-flight failures before they had a successful one. I have no evidence, but that profile is exactly what we would produce from wanting to test our ship-borne anti-missile laser system, and a third test to see what the missile would do if we didn't burn a hole in it. As I say, I have no evidence... but we would have been stupid not to. Real world testing mostly paid for by a hostile power is pretty tempting.



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dL9_Tldmrhs

Answer 9

You might. A 1 MT weapon will have a 50% lethality range of roughly R = 5 statue miles. That means half the kills will be inside that radius, the other half outside it. You live in the outside area but there is still a 50% kill rate. Of course the farther you're away from five miles of epicenter, the less likely you'll die.

Answer 10

You will not die if an atomic bomb was dropped on Washington D.C.



The bomb will destroy everything within 3 miles from D.C. Some buildings up to 7 miles away will collapse. Anything within 16 miles of the blast will receive lots of heat.



Your body will burn, but you will not die. The burns on your body will never heal.

Answer 11

yes but look on the good side it'll get Trump too

Answer 12

It depends whether you have already obtained your degree certificate from any University for your B.Sc. (Physics).

Answer 13

Have you ever dug into the equations which created the atomic bomb?



If not. Let me help. There's no heat involved.



Which begs the question. Why is there a giant fireball when you watch an atomic bomb on television?



Understand the equations. And what you'll find is the world's a little less scary from those who might try to control you through fear and scary imagery.

Answer 14

Only if the bomb is detonated.

Answer 15

Yeah, not much getting around it, you would probably die but if you pulled some blankets over your self prior to the blast you would not stink as bad when the clean up crew comes through your neighborhood later.



Hope this helps.

Answer 16

There's a possibility of you dying, because of exposure to high levels of nuclear radiation. And then there's an even greater possibility of you surviving, because atomic bomb explosions only spread for about 3 miles, and the spread of radiation is slow, and you'll have plenty of time to drive away. And there's the more likely possibility of everyone surviving because North Korea doesn't have the range or accuracy.

Answer 17

korea is bae, why would it do that

Answer 18

If North Korea nuked Washington, we would All die in the ensuing mass destruction of war and fallout.

Answer 19

yes because an atomic bomb is very powerful. you will die either from the explosion or intense radiation

Answer 20

Given the conditions you imposed in your question, probably not. North Korea doesn't have any nuclear devices powerful enough to do significant damage at 15 miles.

Answer 21

Die due to high radiation exposure.

Answer 22

Its not strategic for a nation with few bombs to bomb the capital . just as in ww2 US did not nuke Tokyo.

Answer 23

If the fallout blows towards you then yes

Answer 24

Many more people died from the fire in Hiroshima than from the initial blast.

Many more people died from radiation over the next 50 years than died from the explosion.

So the huge risk to you would be the increase in cancer rates caused through fallout.

Answer 25

"The Day After" - watch it, it is quite sobering.

Answer 26

If it were a respectable nuke, then yes, you are toast.

Answer 27

If you don't die from the initial explosion, you'll die from the nuclear fall-out. In a worldwar everybody will die.

Answer 28

It wouldnt be an A-bomb, it would be a nuclear weapon.

Answer 29

No, the largest atomic bomb to my knowledge is Russia's Topol (SS-25) which extends out to about 7 miles.

Answer 30

If the blast didn't get you the radiation poisoning would.

Answer 31

Watch this informative video :- https://youtu.be/HZXn5Ct0PJg

Answer 32

Yes an atomic bomb have a capacity to destroy an whole area of radius 100 km. If you come into that radius, you will die.

Answer 33

Long story short: if you see a flash, immediately "duck and cover", and get to a sturdy place inside the house, especially away from any windows.

But to your exact question:



If it's a low Hiroshima-yield weapon, and you're a full 15 miles (24km) away, you'll feel warmth like somebody pointed a bunch of heat lamps at you and turned them on for a few seconds, but it's just that. And *at that distance* and *that yield*, you won't get enough radiation to be of any significance.

That's because the intensity of heat and radiation drops off *very* significantly with distance:

http://www.stat.ucla.edu/~dinov/courses_students.dir/data.dir/AtomicBombSurvivorsData.htm#faq2

As to fallout: again, *that* yield and at *that* distance, fallout is probably not a problem, but if you're *absurdly* unlucky, who knows, maybe it all somehow wafts totally and exactly in your direction. So I would hunker down for a while, to let the short-term fallout settle, and await further instructions.



But if NK has managed to produce an ICBM that can reach DC (as opposed to just *putting* one there somehow), they'll probably have managed something much higher than a Hiroshima-strength weapon to put inside it! How strong? Who knows. And the shock-wave becomes a factor. Thus: duck and cover, and get to someplace sturdy and not next to glass.



And now you can stop worrying about this issue, and consciously forget this advice, because it's now in your long-term-storage memory, and will pop up as need be.



I say this from my experience in a big earthquake: I never went around saying "remember: get to a doorframe and close the door and huddle!", but when a big earthquake did happen, I did it before I even realized I was doing it. "Next thing I knew, I was suddenly there."

Answer 34

I actually did some research on this in ww2 people dug holes in the ground about 3miles deep to try and survive the blast,although they survived the blast the radiation sunk through the ground, eventually killing them. The closer you are to the center of the blast the deeper you shall dig i say a good 5-6miles deep should do the trick. Then after the blast you would have to wait like a few weeks to a month to make sure the radiation clears.

Answer 35

Yes

Answer 36

Depends where your standing

Answer 37

Certainly. Dying is the one talent we all share.



An atomic bomb?? This certainly has been ramped up as a likelihood for all of us in this last year of 'post-truth' electioneering. We will all die.

Why did so many Americans vote for destabilisation of the entire world if you are frightened of the A-bomb?

The whole ENTIRE world is wondering.

Answer 38

50/50 odds of survival.

Answer 39

Yes

Answer 40

Yep, you'd be a goner!

Answer 41

Dont fear of dying. One day everyone has to be departed so why waste your energy thinking about silly stuff and things ain't in your hand. Enjoy play Xbox , have sx and love this life

Answer 42

It depends some people just get injured

Answer 43

your question is wrong. you should ask can i save myself from AB