A cool little simulator. You have a google earth-type satellite map. You can choose from a supplied list of cities, or type in any address. You can select the weapon type and yield (15-2000 kt), and when you detonate, the map displays the blast radius and damage area. http://www.nucleardarkness.org/nuclear/nuclearexplosionsimulator/
I know, I know, it's a little lame. I was just having fun blowing up my own neighborhood. Although, when you look at the size of those red circles it's a little sobering. Drop a 2 megaton bomb on Chicago and imagine that entire radius incinerated.
What's more sobering is the red circle is just the fireball, the path of destruction goes far beyond.
If you set off a little 15 kt bomb in Manhattan, just the fireball alone makes 9/11 seem insignificant, and that's not taking into consideration the blast wave, and the radiation. Strategically placed, just one small terrorist device could shut down New York for a very long time. 3 or 4 could effectively wreck the country.
it's useless, there are bigger yields than there are in the simulator, and most deployments are from MIRV type warheads, i.e. more than one.
I wouldn't say it's totally useless. I don't believe it was intended to cover every scenario or weapon used in a full-blown nuclear exchange. But it does give a general idea what we'd face in this post-9/11 era of terrorism.
the USSR's first ICBM had a 3MT warhead. big warheads, not hard to build. and underwear bombing a plane? I'm not as worried as that post makes me think you are.
