Home (Megaton)
Home  
 
 
Home » Astronomy » Megaton


 

Megaton

Astronomy Megaparsec (mpc)Megrez

megaton TNT (MT):
Unit of measure for the energy of an explosion. The Hiroshima atomic bomb liberated an energy of 0.015 MT.

 


Megaton
an explosive force equal to one million metric tons of TNT. The energy released in the explosion of one megaton of TNT is equal to 4.2 x 1022 ergs.

The huge 15 megaton airburst explosion which occurred in remote Siberia, near the Podkamennaya Tunguska River, at about 7:30 a.m. on June 30, 1908.

4 megatons—more than 650 times the strength of the weapons developed by Oppenheimer during World War II.
Security hearings
In his role as a political advisor, Oppenheimer made numerous enemies. The FBI under J.

Let's use the energy unit of 1 megaton of TNT (=4.2× 1015 Joules) to describe the energy of the impact. This is the energy one million tons of dynamite would release if it was exploded and is the energy unit used for nuclear explosions.

Estudios indican que el cráter se formó hace unos 50,000 años por una masa o masas de hierro viajando a más de 11 kilómetros/segundo (7 millas/seg) y que liberó una energía entre 10 y 20 megatones en el impacto.

The energy delivered to the atmosphere by this impact was roughly equivalent to that of a 10-megaton thermonuclear explosion and caused the destruction of forest over an area of about 2,000 square kilometres.

explosive yield of a large nuclear warhead—is the only common terrestrial measure of energy adequate to describe the violence of these occurrences.) We see that 100-million-megaton events, ...

5 megatons of TNT - pretty puny compared to other impacts. One of the biggest impacts on the Earth took place in Iowa, near what is now the town of Manson (near Fort Dodge).

15 megatons of TNT per second. This actually corresponds to a surprisingly low rate of energy production in the Sun's core-about 0.3 µW/cm³ (microwatts per cubic cm), or about 6 µW/kg of matter.

17, there was an explosion with the power of a 20 megaton nuclear bomb above the Tunguska River in Siberia. Trees in the forest around the river were flattened up to 30 km from the explosion, which was heard up to 1000 km away.

To give you some idea of the power of E=mc2 if we consider your basic 10 megaton nuclear explosion (pictured), the energy given off (10 megatons) represents the energy found in 47 grams of matter (about one and a two thirds ounces).

Solar flares, capable of releasing as much energy as one billion one-megaton nuclear bombs, are formed by the destruction of magnetic fields - called magnetic reconnection - according to the leading theory.

When looked at in terms of matter and energy, imagine that the amount of material it takes to create a 1 megaton nuclear explosion could fit into a coffee jar.

The largest of the impacts belonged to fragment G on 18 July, which left a bruise 12,000 kilometres across, unleashing the equivalent of six million megatons of TNT on poor, battered Jupiter.

Another rich source of information (also covering nuclear weapons) is the book "Megawatts and Megatons: A Turning Point in the Nuclear Age?" by Richard L. Garwin and Georges Charpak, 431 pp, $30, Knopf, New York, 2001.

In a matter of just a few minutes they heat material to many millions of degrees and release as much energy as a billion megatons of TNT.

Here are educated guesses about the consequences of impacts of various sizes: Impactor Diameter (meters)Yield (megatons)Interval (years) Consequences
< 50
< 10
< 1 ...

The energy of the blast was estimated to be between 10 and 20 megatons of TNT, 1,000 times more powerful than the bomb dropped on Hiroshima, or equivalent to Castle Bravo, the most powerful nuclear bomb ever detonated by the US.

This energy is equivalent to that which would be released from the explosion of 100 billion one-megaton hydrogen bombs per second. The nuclear "burning" of hydrogen in the core of the sun extends out to about 25 percent of the sun's radius.

It is estimated that the explosion had the force of a 10-20 megaton hydrogen bomb and detonated in the atmosphere about 6-8 km above the surface, which would explain why no crater has ever been found.

See also: Energy, Earth, Light, Sun, Atmosphere