So consider this list “10 of the biggest explosions since the dawn of time,” measured by magnitude of the blast, loss of lives and impact on world history.
1. Atomic blasts over Hiroshima and Nagasaki (August 6 and 9, 1945)
Ordered by U.S. President Harry S. Truman to force Japan into submission and prevent greater loss of life from an endless war, the devastating dropping of the “Little Boy” atomic bomb was the first use of a nuclear weapon in world history. The bomb contained 130 lbs. of uranium-235 and detonated at approx.
1,900 feet above the city with a force that equaled about 13 kilotons of TNT.
Scientists considered “Little Boy” to be inefficient, estimating that less than 2% of the bomb’s nuclear material actually fissioned in the blast, and yet its effect was devastating: the blast radius was about 1 mile across, killing approximately 140,000 (mostly civilians) almost instantly, with thousands more to die of radiation poisoning and other injuries in the weeks and years to come.
Three days after the Hiroshima blast, U.S. forces dropped the “Fat Man” atomic bomb over Nagasaki, prompting the Japanese to surrender on August 15. It would be the second, and to date, last use of a nuclear weapon in history, killing an estimated 80,000 Japanese.
2. Soviet Nuclear Test, Novaya Zemlya (October 1961)
Novaya Zemlya (Russian also spelled Novaja Zemlja, lit. New Land; also known in English and in Dutch as Nova Zembla, Norwegian Gåselandet (Goose Land)) is an archipelago in the Arctic Ocean in the north of Russia and the extreme northeast of Europe at Cape Zhelaniya (see also extreme points of Europe). The archipelago is administered by Arkhangelsk Oblast as Novaya Zemlya Island Territory. Its population is 2,716 (2002 census), of which 2,622 reside in Belushya Guba, an urban-type settlement that is the administrative center of Novaya Zemlya District. The indigenous population consists of about 100 Nenetses who subsist mainly on fishing, trapping, polar bear hunting and seal hunting.
Novaya Zemlya consists of two major islands, separated by the narrow Matochkin Strait, and a number of smaller islands. The two main islands are Severny (northern) and Yuzhny (southern). Novaya Zemlya separates the Barents Sea from the Kara Sea. The total area is about 90,650 square kilometres (35,000 sq mi).
As Novaya Zemlya was a sensitive military area during the Cold War years, the Soviet Air Force maintained a presence at Rogachevo air base on the southern part of the island. It was used primarily for interceptor aircraft operations but also provided logistical support for the nearby nuclear test area. It was the site of the October 30, 1961 explosion of Tsar Bomba, the largest, most powerful nuclear weapon ever detonated.
3. MINOR SCALE, U.S. Defense Nuclear Agency, White Sands Missile Range (June 27, 1985)
The ironically named “MINOR SCALE” blast in the desert of New Mexico in 1985 consisted of up to 4,800 short tons of Ammonium Nitrate Fuel Oil (ANFO). Considered by many to be the largest artificial, non-nuclear explosion in recorded history, the test simulated the effects of an 8-KT nuclear weapon in order to test possible responses of weapon systems and the blast’s effects on communications equipment, vehicles and buildings.
4. Krakatoa volcanic eruptions (August 26-27, 1883)
Krakatoa (Indonesian: Krakatau), also known as Krakatau, is a volcanic island made of a’a lava in the Sunda Strait between the islands of Java and Sumatra in Indonesia. The name is used for the island group, the main island (also called Rakata), and the volcano as a whole. The island exploded in 1883, killing approximately 40,000 people, although some estimates put the death toll much higher. The explosion is still considered to be the loudest sound ever heard in modern history, with reports of it being heard nearly 3,000 miles from its point of origin. The shock wave from the explosion was recorded on barographs around the globe.
The best known eruption of Krakatoa culminated in a series of massive explosions on August 26–27, 1883, which was among the most violent volcanic events in modern and recorded history. With a Volcanic Explosivity Index (VEI) of 6, the eruption was equivalent to 200 megatons of TNT (840 PJ) — about 13,000 times the nuclear yield of the Little Boy bomb (13 to 16 kt) that devastated Hiroshima, Japan, during World War II and four times the yield of the Tsar Bomba (50 Mt), the largest nuclear device ever detonated. The 1883 eruption ejected approximately 21 km3 (5.0 cu mi) of rock, ash, and pumice.The cataclysmic explosion was distinctly heard as far away as Perth in Western Australia, about 1,930 miles (3,110 km) away, and the island of Rodrigues near Mauritius, about 3,000 miles (5,000 km) away.
Near Krakatoa, according to official records, 165 villages and towns were destroyed and 132 seriously damaged, at least 21,007 (official toll) people died, and many thousands were injured by the eruption, mostly from the tsunamis that followed the explosion. The eruption destroyed two-thirds of the island of Krakatoa. Eruptions at the volcano since 1927 have built a new island in the same location, named Anak Krakatau (Indonesian: “Child of Krakatoa”). This island currently has a radius of roughly 2 kilometres (1.2 mi) and a high point around 300 metres (980 ft) above sea level, growing 5 metres (16 ft) each year.(link)
5. The Halifax Cargo Ship Explosion, Nova Scotia, Canada (December 6, 1917)
The Halifax Explosion occurred on Thursday, December 6, 1917, when the city of Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, was devastated by the huge detonation of the SS Mont-Blanc, a French cargo ship, fully loaded with wartime explosives, which accidentally collided with the Norwegian SS Imo in “The Narrows” section of the Halifax Harbour. About 2,000 people were killed by debris, fires, or collapsed buildings and it is estimated that over 9,000 people were injured. This is still the world’s largest man-made accidental explosion.
At 8:40 in the morning, the SS Mont-Blanc, chartered by the French government to carry munitions to Europe, collided with the unloaded Norwegian ship Imo, chartered by the Commission for Relief in Belgium to carry relief supplies. Mont-Blanc caught fire ten minutes after the collision and exploded about twenty-five minutes later (at 9:04:35 AM). All buildings and structures covering nearly 2 square kilometres (500 acres) along the adjacent shore were obliterated, including those in the neighbouring communities of Richmond and Dartmouth. The explosion caused a tsunami in the harbour and a pressure wave of air that snapped trees, bent iron rails, demolished buildings, grounded vessels, and carried fragments of the Mont-Blanc for kilometres. During World War I, Halifax became a huge international port and naval facility. Halifax has one of the world’s largest ice-free natural harbours and was well connected through direct railway connections to other Canadian and North American cities. The harbour became a major shipment point for war supplies, troop ships to Europe from Canada and the United States, and hospital ships returning the wounded. All neutral ships bound for North America had to report to Halifax for inspection. After German submarine attacks began in 1916, Halifax’s harbour assumed an even larger role as an assembly point for merchant ships awaiting naval escort in convoys. A large army garrison protected the city with forts, gun batteries, and anti-submarine nets. These factors drove a major military, industrial and residential expansion of the city.(link)
6. Explosion at Port Chicago (July 17, 1944)
Two ships loaded with more than 4,600 tons of explosives to be used in WWII collided at Port Chicago, 30 miles north of San Francisco. This impact, coupled with an additional 400 tons of explosives sitting on adjacent railway cars, killed around 320 workers, damaged buildings, caused injury as far away as San Francisc, and caused tremors felt as far away as Nevada. The Port Chicago disaster was a deadly munitions explosion that occurred on July 17, 1944, at the Port Chicago Naval Magazine in Port Chicago, California, United States. Munitions detonated while being loaded onto a cargo vessel bound for the Pacific Theater of Operations, killing 320 sailors and civilians and injuring 390 others. Most of the dead and injured were enlisted African-American sailors.
A month later, continuing unsafe conditions inspired hundreds of servicemen to refuse to load munitions, an act known as the Port Chicago Mutiny. Fifty men, called the Port Chicago 50, were convicted of mutiny and sentenced to long prison terms. Forty-seven of the 50 were released in January 1946; the remaining three served additional months in prison. During and after the trial, questions were raised about the fairness and legality of the court-martial proceedings. Due to public pressure, the United States Navy reconvened the courts-martial board in 1945; the court affirmed the guilt of the convicted men. Widespread publicity surrounding the case turned it into a cause célèbre among African Americans and white Americans; it and other race-related Navy protests of 1944–1945 led the Navy to change its practices and initiate the desegregation of its forces beginning in February 1946. In 1994, the Port Chicago Naval Magazine National Memorial was dedicated to the lives lost in the disaster.(link)
7. Chernobyl Nuclear Plant Disaster, U.S.S.R. (April 25, 1986)
The worst nuclear power plant disaster in history occurred April 25, 1986 in the U.S.S.R. region of Chernobyl. Four inexperienced engineers conducted an electrical experiment on Chernobyl’s number 4 reactor, setting off a cataclysmic chain of events that caused the reactor to explode, blowing off its concrete and steel lid. The blast sent more than 50 tons of radioactive material into the atmosphere, killed 32 people at the scene and led to an estimated 5,000 deaths from cancer and other radiation-caused illnesses in the following years.
8. The Yellowstone Caldera Eruption, Wyoming, USA (640,000 years ago)
Perhaps the largest explosion the Earth has known occurred approx. 640,000 years ago at the site of the Yellowstone Caldera in the northwest corner of Wyoming. The blast was estimated to be about 2,500 times the magnitude of the 1980 Mount St. Helens eruption, affected an area of approx 34 miles by 45 miles, and spread a layer of ash over most of North America. The area is now commonly referred to as the “Yellowstone supervolcano” referring to its potential for massive devastation that many scientists feel will re-occur some day in the distant (or not so distant) future.
9. Gamma Ray Burst, 12 billion light years from Earth (observed on Earth in 1998)
Scientists in 1998 observed an almost unfathomable burst of gamma ray energy 12 billion light years away from us. They measured it to have released an amount of energy equaling all the estimated 10 billion trillion stars in the universe. Its distance from our own galaxy prevented the blast from affecting us or our sun, yet the scale of the explosion has led astronomers to label it the biggest documented explosion in history.
10. The Big Bang, Birth of the Universe (13.7 billion years ago)
Though still the subject of debate in the scientific and theological communities, the “Big Bang” would have to be considered the largest explosion EVER. The forces involved may not meet a strict definition of “explosion,” yet Georges Lemaitre’s Big Bang theory postulates that all the mass in the universe began as a condensed “primeval atom” that burst forth with such dense energy and high temperature and pressure to give birth to everything within the universe. While initially discounted by his peers when Lemaitre introduced the concept in 1931, other related discoveries such as the cosmic microwave background radiation in 1964 helped solidify the Big Bang as the most well-reasoned theory on the origin of the cosmos.