Regarding the Russian superbomb:
http://nuclearweaponarchive.org/Russia/TsarBomba.html
It produced 50 MT which works out to be . . .
209,000,000 MJ (I think -- 210 PJ)
Equivalent to 5 billion kg of gasoline or 1.6 billion gallons.
The U.S. consumes 390 million gallons of gasoline per day, so this
bomb would supply us with the equivalent of 4 days worth. Not so
impressive. Or appalling, depending on how you look at it. Imagine
what we are doing to the landscape releasing that much energy!
As I said before though, the size of this bomb illustrates the
immense energy density of fusion compared to other sources of energy.
It is 8 m x 2.1 m. (See the photos of the bomb at that website.)
- Jed
