It all started 13.8 billion years ago with the big bang. Since then, we have seen explosions caused by nature as well as humans. We have found the 10 biggest detonations that have occurred on Earth. All explosions are measured in their equivalents of tons of TNT. While there are other explosives like dynamite, we measure an explosion in the TNT yielded. Most of the large explosions are compared with the atom bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki known as the little boy and the fat man.
Texas City Disaster
We are going to start off this list with one of the largest non-nuclear explosions in the history of humankind. To date, it is known as the deadliest industrial incident in the history of America. The accident occurred on 16 April 1947 in the port of Galveston Bay in Texas City, Texas. A fire started onboard SS Grandcamp, a French-registered vessel around mid-morning. The fire detonated about 2300 tons of ammonium nitrate (a compound used in high explosives and fertilizers). The fire triggered a chain reaction, detonating several refineries and a neighbouring cargo ship that carried more than 1000 tons of ammonium nitrate as well. The explosion also blew 2 planes out of the sky, all in all killing about 600 people and injuring another 3500.
Halifax Explosion
On the morning of 6 December 1917, SS Mont-Blanc (a French cargo ship filled with high explosives for WW1) collided with SS Imo (a Norwegian vessel) in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. The force with which the 2 ships exploded was higher than any other man-made explosion ever. The blast produced 3 kilo tons of TNT and sent a white plume rippling 20000 feet above the city. It provoked a tsunami which washed up as high as 18 meters. Everything within a 2 km distance was destroyed, with 2000 people killed and 9000 injured, total devastation. It is considered one of the world’s largest artificial explosion by accident.
Tunguska Event
The Tunguska was a massive explosion that occurred on June 30, 1908 near the Podkamennaya Tunguska River in Russia. This mysteries explosion flattened some 2000 square kilometers of the Siberian forest, almost the size of Tokyo. According to scientists, the blast may have been caused by the impact of an asteroid or comet. They think that the size of the asteroid was seven times more than that of the Titanic, approximately 185000 metric tons. The explosion was almost 250 times more powerful than the one dropped on Hiroshima. While there were no confirmed deaths, some property was damaged in this explosion.
Ivy Mike
On the eve of Halloween in 1952, American scientists tested the first ever hydrogen bomb on the Marshall Islands, 9000 kms away. The explosion yelled 10.4 megatons of explosives, which is 700 times the power of the atom bomb dropped on Hiroshima that killed 160000 people. The Ivy Mike was 6 meters in height and 2 meters in diameter and was called ‘sausage’ by scientists due to its shape. The scientists observed the explosion from a boat 50 kilometer away from the detonation site. While information about similar tests were public, the Ivy Mike test was kept a secret, so that Soviet Union, now Russia do not get any information. For that time, Ivy Mike set the record for the largest explosion by the U.S.
Castle Bravo
66 years ago, United States tested Castle Bravo, the largest thermonuclear weapon ever detonated by them. It was a part of a larger operation that tested high-yield nuclear devices conducted by the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission and Department of Defense. Just like Ivy Mike, the operation took place in Marshall Islands at Bikini Atoll. However, the differences end there. While the ivy mike was a “wet” device, Castle Bravo was a “dry” thermonuclear device. Scientists miscalculated about the yield, which resulted in the biggest American nuclear contamination accident. They predicted that the explosion would yield approximately 5 to 6 million tons of TNT. In real life, however, it produced 15 megaton yield, more than double of what was predicted. The explosion was 1000 times more powerful than the nuclear devices used in 1945 in Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Nuclear test #123
The next explosion on this list is Nuclear test #123, which was one of the 57 nuclear tests conducted in the year 1961 by the Soviet Union. The test was also known as ‘Joe 106’. The nuclear device was dropped on 23 October 1961 at Novaya Zemlya. Test #123 used a 12.5 megaton nuclear bomb. A bomb of this size could easily incinerate everything within a distance of 5.46 square kilometers and cause third degree burns in 3390 square kilometers. No information about this detonation have ever been made public and there are no pictures or videos available as well.
Tsar Bomba
Tsar Bomba is the most powerful explosion in the history. It is also the largest man-made explosion developed by the Soviet Union. It was a hydrogen bomb that was tested on 30 October 1961 in the remote location of Novaya Zemlya island chain, which lies north of the Russian mainland. Initially, the bomb was intended to be about 100 megatons. However, the fallout from the explosion would have been detrimental. Even with a yield of 57 megatons, the bomb caused a lot of collateral damage. Villages far away from the site were completely levered. Even building in Norway and Finland saw some damage.
The Mount Tambora Eruption
The next on our list is the largest earthbound explosion ever recorded by humankind. Mount Tambora is an active stratovolcano in Sumbawa, Indonesia. In 1815, Mt. Tambora erupted, creating ‘the’ most powerful explosion in history. An estimate of 800 megatons of TNT was unleashed due to the eruption, making it more than 14 times stronger than the Tsar Bomba. The eruption was heard even 2600 km away in Sumatra. After the eruption, the mountain was just 2.85 km tall, 1.45 km shorter than what it was before the explosion. The ash column created was 43 km high, which blocked the Sun and as a result, 1816 was the second coldest year in our history. Almost 10000 people died directly because of the eruption and 70000 people died from the climate change caused due to the eruption.
Cretaceous Tertiary Event
We all grew up with listening about dinosaurs and how they have been extinct for over 65 million years ago. Well, the event that led to their extinction may have been Cretaceous Tertiary Event. While it is not confirmed, many scientists believed that an asteroid impact created the Chicxulub Crater that is located off the coast of Yucatan Peninsula. The explosive force of the impact is said to be equivalent to 96 tera ton of TNT. It is the largest known Earthbound explosion and there is enough geological evidence to prove that.
Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9
Image source- The planetary society
In 1994, comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 collided with Jupiter. The gravitational pull of the panel ripped apart the comet into fragments. These specks were up to 3 km wide and struck at the planet at the speed of 60 kilometer per second, which resulted in 21 visible impacts. The comet is named after Eugene Merle Shoemaker. The exact age of the comet is unknown; however, it is estimated to be about 600 to 1000 million years old. The largest collision, about the size of the Earth, was estimated to have yielded over 6000 gigaton of TNT.
