There are always some ideas suggesting that the energy released from nuclear bomb explosions around the world could potentially destroy the Earth multiple times over! But is this really true?
The written history of humanity spans only a few thousand years, and we have only entered the industrial civilization for a few hundred years, while the Earth has existed for 4.57 billion years and has undergone countless upheavals. Species on Earth have also evolved and changed over various periods, with dinosaurs dominating the planet for more than 100 million years. However, today the Earth remains stable, yet humanity still worries that we may not be able to withstand certain types of natural disasters in the future and face extinction. Or perhaps we ourselves will destroy the Earth with nuclear bombs. So, is this really a possibility?
Very few nuclear bombs in the world have a yield of tens of millions of tons.
The most powerful nuclear bomb is the hydrogen bomb, a theoretically upgraded version that could achieve a yield of over 10 billion tons of explosives. The largest nuclear bomb ever detonated in history was the Tsar Bomba, detonated by the Soviet Union in 1961. Its explosive yield reached 50 megatons of TNT. For humanity, the Tsar Bomba has an incredibly devastating power, but for the Earth, that amount of explosive energy is merely a scratch on the surface compared to the energy released by natural disasters like major earthquakes.
Humans claim to be the masters of the Earth, but in reality, we find it very difficult to control our own fate, as we are vulnerable when facing many types of natural disasters.
Currently, there are over 10,000 nuclear bombs in the world, but very few have a yield of tens of millions of tons, and even a few million tons is quite limited. If tens of thousands of these nuclear bombs were to explode simultaneously, their destructive power would surely be astonishing. However, as previously mentioned, this energy would not significantly impact the Earth, and the destruction of the Earth itself is highly unlikely.
The great scientist Einstein once said that matter contains enormous energy. But whether it is nuclear fusion or fission, the theoretical energy conversion ratio is still very limited, and the actual conversion level is always lower than theoretical expectations.
Humanity has only recently mastered nuclear energy and nuclear bombs, and we have yet to fully control nuclear fusion reactions. In terms of energy control, humanity has only achieved initial successes. Theoretically, if we could master antimatter energy and achieve a 100% mass-to-energy conversion ratio, then we could potentially reach the capability to completely destroy the Earth. However, theory remains theory; to date, we have not been able to prove the validity of antimatter, nor has anyone been able to seek and harness antimatter energy.
Therefore, if all of humanity’s current nuclear bombs were to detonate together, the certain casualty would not be the Earth itself, but rather the habitat of humanity and various species of flora and fauna on our planet. In such a scenario, humanity could face mass extinction, while the Earth would continue to exist as it has after previous mass extinction events.
