Nuclear yield comparison: how much bigger is each blast?
A kiloton is the energy of 1,000 tons of TNT. Pick two weapons, explosions or war totals — from a hand grenade to the Tsar Bomba — and compare their energy and relative radius to scale.
Little Boy — Hiroshima (1945) · 15 kt — Tsar Bomba (1961) · 50 Mt
Tsar Bomba (1961) releases 3,333 times more energy than Little Boy — Hiroshima (1945)
Tsar Bomba (1961) equals 3,330 times Hiroshima
Little Boy — Hiroshima (1945) (blue)
Tsar Bomba (1961) (red)
Blast radius scales with the cube root of energy: the larger circle is about 15 times wider. Relative scale only — no real distances or damage estimates.
Full scale (logarithmic)
Each step multiplies the energy; on a linear scale a grenade would vanish next to the Tsar Bomba. Tap a row to set it as B.
* Estimated, approximate or disputed figure. Yields of weapons in service are not official unless stated.
Popular comparisons
FAQ
What was the yield of the Hiroshima bomb?
About 15 kt, the most cited estimate; Nagasaki was roughly 21 kt.
How many kilotons of explosives were used in WWII?
A widely repeated popular estimate puts all explosives used in the war at around 3 megatons. There is no official tally, so treat it as an order of magnitude. No reliable total exists for World War I, which is why it is not listed.
Why doesn't the circle grow like the kilotons?
A blast wave spreads through volume: under the scaling laws in Glasstone and Dolan, radius grows with the cube root of energy. A thousand times more energy means a radius about ten times larger.
Does this tool estimate damage?
No. It compares released energy and relative scale only; real-world effects depend on many factors not modelled here.
More context: Weapons · Modern warfare · Military history
Sources / References
- Glasstone, S. and Dolan, P. J., The Effects of Nuclear Weapons, 3rd ed., DoD/DOE, 1977 (scaling laws).
- U.S. Department of Energy, “The Manhattan Project: An Interactive History”.
- Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, “Nuclear Notebook” (Kristensen and Korda); Federation of American Scientists.
- Rigby, S. E. et al., Beirut yield estimate, Shock Waves, 2020.
- U.S. Air Force GBU-43/B fact sheet; U.S. Army TM 43-0001-28 (artillery and mortar ammunition).
- Jane's / open sources for M67, RPG-7, TM-62M, Mk 82/84 and FAB-3000.
- Atomic Heritage Foundation (Castle Bravo, Tsar Bomba, W54).
- Rhodes, R., The Making of the Atomic Bomb, 1986 (order of magnitude of WWII explosives).