What is the Tsar Nuclear Bomb and how it could destroy the entire Earth within a few hours

The Tsar Bomba, developed by the Soviet Union in 1961, remains the most powerful nuclear weapon ever tested. It had a yield of around 50 megatons of TNT, making it more than 3,000 times stronger than the bomb dropped on Hiroshima.

Originally designed to yield 100 megatons, the Tsar Bomba’s strength was reduced by half to avoid excessive nuclear fallout. Even with the reduction, the explosion generated a fireball eight kilometres wide and a mushroom cloud over 60 kilometres high.

If deployed over a large city, the Tsar Bomba could completely obliterate everything within a radius of around 35 kilometres, cause third-degree burns up to 100 kilometres away, and shatter windows hundreds of kilometres from the blast centre.

A single detonation would inject massive amounts of radioactive particles into the atmosphere, disrupting weather patterns, causing widespread radiation poisoning, and contributing to what is known as "nuclear winter," a dramatic cooling of Earth's surface.

If multiple Tsar-class bombs were detonated across the world in a coordinated attack, the combined effects of immediate explosions, radioactive fallout, firestorms, and long-term environmental collapse could make the planet uninhabitable within hours.

The Tsar Bomba was never intended for practical military use. It served as a political statement during the Cold War, showcasing Soviet nuclear capabilities and acting as a deterrent against adversaries.

While no bomb of such size has been deployed since, concerns remain over the destructive potential of modern nuclear arsenals. The Tsar Bomba serves as a reminder of the scale of devastation possible with nuclear technology.