If A Nuclear Bomb Explodes Nearby,here's Why You Should Never, Ever Get In A Car - Foreign Affairs - Nairaland
Nairaland Forum / Nairaland / General / Politics / Foreign Affairs / If A Nuclear Bomb Explodes Nearby,here's Why You Should Never, Ever Get In A Car (1446 Views)
Iran Will Never Have A Nuclear Weapon, Trump Tweets / Guam Is Telling Its Citizens How To Survive A Nuclear Attack By North Korea. / Letter Bomb Explodes At IMF Building In France (2) (3) (4)
| If A Nuclear Bomb Explodes Nearby,here's Why You Should Never, Ever Get In A Car by Mazeltovscotty(m): 1:52am On May 25, 2017 |
Vehicles offer little protection from nuclear fallout, but there's one important exception to the no-car rule. The first thing you'd see if a nuclear bomb exploded nearby is a flood of light so bright, you may think the sun blew up. Wincing from temporary blindness, you'd scan the horizon and see an orange fireball. The gurgling flames would rise and darken into purple-hued column of black smoke, which would turn in on itself. As a toadstool-like mushroom took shape, the deafening shock front of the blast would rip through the area — and possibly knock you off your feet. Congratulations! In this hypothetical scenario, you've just survived a nuclear blast with an energy output of about 10 kilotons (20 million pounds) of TNT. That's roughly 66% of energy released by either atom bomb dropped on Japan in 1945.  This scenario may sound far-fetched, but more than 14,900 nuclear weapons exist in the world, and kiloton-class nukes (like the one we just described) are now proliferating in favor of larger weapons. In fact, a 10-kiloton-or-less nuclear detonation by a terrorist is the first of 15 disaster scenarios that the US government has planned for. No one could fault you for panicking after the sight and roar of a nuclear blast. But there is one thing you should never do, according to Brooke Buddemeier, a health physicist and radiation expert at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. "Don't get in your car," he tells Business Insider — don't try to drive, and don't assume that the glass and metal of a vehicle can protect you.  Avoiding driving after a nuclear blast is wise because streets would probably be full of erratic drivers, accidents, and debris. But Buddemeier says there's another important reason to ditch the car: a fearsome after-effect of nuclear blasts called fallout. Fallout is a complex mixture of fission products, or radioisotopes, that are created by splitting atoms. Many of the fission products decay rapidly and emit gamma radiation, an invisible yet highly energetic form of light. Exposure to too much of this radiation in a short time can damage the body's cells and its ability to fix itself — a condition called acute radiation sickness. "It also affects the immune system and the your ability to fight infections," Buddemeier says. Only very dense and thick materials, like many feet of dirt or inches of lead, can reliably stop the fallout. "The fireball from a 10-kiloton explosion is so hot, it actually shoots up into the atmosphere at over 100 miles per hour," Buddemeier says. "These fission products mix in with the dirt and debris that's drawn up into the atmosphere from the fireball." Trapped in sand, dirt, cement, metal, and anything else in the immediate blast area, the gamma-shooting fission products can fly more than five miles into the air. The larger pieces drop back down, while lighter particles can be carried by the wind before raining over distant areas. "Close in to the [blast] site, they may be a bit larger than golf-ball-size, but really what we're talking about are things like salt- or sand-size particles," Buddemeier says. "It's the penetrating gamma radiation coming off of those particles that's the hazard." Which brings us back to why a car is a terrible place to take shelter. "Modern vehicles are made of glass and very light metals, and they offer almost no protection," he says. "You're just going to sit on a road some place [and be exposed]." Buddemeier says he's asked people what their knee-jerk response to a nuclear blast might be. It wasn't comforting. "There was actually a lot of folks who had this notion — and it may be a Hollywood notion — of 'oh, jump in the car and try to skedaddle out of town if you see a mushroom cloud.'" he says. However, fallout is carried by high-altitude winds that are "often booking along at 100 miles per hour," he says, and "often not going in the same direction as the ground-level winds. So your ability to know where the fallout's gonna go, and outrun it, are… Well, it's very unlikely." What you should do instead of driving  Your best shot at survival after a nuclear disaster is to get into some sort of "robust structure" as quickly as possible and stay there, Buddemeier says. He's a fan of the mantra "go in, stay in, tune in". "Get inside ... and get to the center of that building. If you happen to have access to below-ground areas, getting below-ground is great," he says. "Stay in: 12 to 24 hours." The reason to wait is that levels of gamma and other radiation fall off exponentially after a nuclear blast as "hot" radioisotopes decay into more stable atoms and pose less of a danger. This slowly shrinks the dangerous fallout zone — the area where high-altitude winds have dropped fission products. (Instead of staying put, however, a recent study also suggested that moving to a stronger shelter or basement may not be a bad idea if you first ducked into a flimsy one.) "Try to use whatever communication tools you have," he says. He added that a hand-cranked radio is a good object to keep at work and home, since emergency providers, in addition to broadcasting instructions, will be tracking the fallout cloud and trying to broadcast where any safe corridors for escape are located. There is only one exception to the "no cars" rule, says Buddemeier: If you're in a parking garage with your car, the concrete might act as a shield. In that case, you could stay there and listen to a radio inside your car. If everyone followed these guidelines after nuclear blast, he says, hundreds of thousands of lives could be saved.   |
| Re: If A Nuclear Bomb Explodes Nearby,here's Why You Should Never, Ever Get In A Car by Nobody: 2:06am On May 25, 2017 |
The effect of "little boy" can never leave the Japanese. How sad such bombs are still in some countries weapons arsenals. 1 Like |
| Re: If A Nuclear Bomb Explodes Nearby,here's Why You Should Never, Ever Get In A Car by Mazeltovscotty(m): 2:08am On May 25, 2017 |
cc: mukina2, osystein, HumbledbYGrace |
| Re: If A Nuclear Bomb Explodes Nearby,here's Why You Should Never, Ever Get In A Car by Karlman: 2:37am On May 25, 2017 |
OP Buhari is an atomic bomb...it was thrown into this country in 2015 by a group of greedy terrorists...and up till now nigerians like their fellow victims in hiroshima and nagasaki are yet to recover from the effects that atomic bomb named buhari. 3 Likes 2 Shares |
| Re: If A Nuclear Bomb Explodes Nearby,here's Why You Should Never, Ever Get In A Car by fulaniHERDSman(m): 5:25am On May 25, 2017 |
Karlman:   |
| Re: If A Nuclear Bomb Explodes Nearby,here's Why You Should Never, Ever Get In A Car by Mazeltovscotty(m): 7:35am On May 25, 2017 |
Karlman:lolzz, let's be open minded about this |
| Re: If A Nuclear Bomb Explodes Nearby,here's Why You Should Never, Ever Get In A Car by Nobody: 8:18am On May 25, 2017 |
This thread reminds me of the 2 major differences between the Amerikans and the Russians 1.) The Russians are afraid of war. The Amerikans are not. 2.) The Russians are ready for war. The Amerikans are not. Now, unless Amerika goes to war with Russia, which may happen quickly if Trump is impeached or overthrown, the US will implode - And if the US goes to war with Russia, walahi, she will explode. Either way - A win win for Mother Russia. Hahahahahahahaaa 3 Likes
|
| Re: If A Nuclear Bomb Explodes Nearby,here's Why You Should Never, Ever Get In A Car by seunny4lif(m): 9:36am On May 25, 2017 |
Zoharariel: 1 Like 1 Share
|
| Re: If A Nuclear Bomb Explodes Nearby,here's Why You Should Never, Ever Get In A Car by Mazeltovscotty(m): 10:19am On May 25, 2017 |
Zoharariel:let me ask. In a simple logical sentence, tell me one valid reason why you think Russia could defeat America in an event of war. |
| Re: If A Nuclear Bomb Explodes Nearby,here's Why You Should Never, Ever Get In A Car by Nobody: 10:57am On May 25, 2017 |
A nuclear explosion 'nearby' will likely kill you immediately or you'll be dead from the fallout within oncoming days/weeks, useful info to have though 2 Likes |
| Re: If A Nuclear Bomb Explodes Nearby,here's Why You Should Never, Ever Get In A Car by Nobody: 12:43pm On May 25, 2017 |
Have u ever been banned on NL? 1bkaye: |
| Re: If A Nuclear Bomb Explodes Nearby,here's Why You Should Never, Ever Get In A Car by Nobody: 12:45pm On May 25, 2017 |
Piiko:Only by spambots, lol why? |
| Re: If A Nuclear Bomb Explodes Nearby,here's Why You Should Never, Ever Get In A Car by Nobody: 12:48pm On May 25, 2017 |
Curious I saw u viewing the thread without commenting for a while, means you are always of good conduct. 1bkaye: |
| Re: If A Nuclear Bomb Explodes Nearby,here's Why You Should Never, Ever Get In A Car by Nobody: 12:50pm On May 25, 2017 |
Piiko:Lool no o I think I just get lucky |
| Re: If A Nuclear Bomb Explodes Nearby,here's Why You Should Never, Ever Get In A Car by Nobody: 12:53pm On May 25, 2017 |
Theres 1 indian meme I just saw that comes to mind, am sure that's why the MOD let u go, u are stunning 1bkaye: |
| Re: If A Nuclear Bomb Explodes Nearby,here's Why You Should Never, Ever Get In A Car by Nobody: 12:57pm On May 25, 2017 |
Piiko:Lool you want my head to swell? Thank you lol, I never really do anything that bad tbh  |
| Re: If A Nuclear Bomb Explodes Nearby,here's Why You Should Never, Ever Get In A Car by Nobody: 1:01pm On May 25, 2017 |
If it swells I will call you "Hey bighead" 1bkaye: 1 Like |
| Re: If A Nuclear Bomb Explodes Nearby,here's Why You Should Never, Ever Get In A Car by Nobody: 1:37pm On May 25, 2017 |
Mazeltovscotty: I'll give u 7 good reasons using the Donbass war in Ukraine as a case study - with Russia backing the separatist forces on 1 hand while Amerika backs the Ukrainian forces with her financial & overrated military gears on the other. 1.) Electronic Warfare: Russian/Separatists employ advanced systems to jam communication & GPS signals, disrupting Ukrainian C2, maneuver of forces, air operations & targeting. 2.) Sanctuary: Russia provides advisors, training, weapons, equipment & safe haven for separatists & their Russian partners bound for operations inside Ukraine - while the Ukrainian forces (and their CIA/MI6 collaborators) are prohibited from attacking targets inside Russia 3.) Air Superiority: Russian/Separatist forces have denied Ukrainian forces the ability to attack, collect intelligence, maneuver & resupply their forces in Ukraine's sovereign airspace - making Ukrainian forces to halt all flight operations in Eastern Ukraine due to the effective Russian/Separatist employment of shoulder fired man-portable air defense systems (MANPADS) which have downed numerous Ukranian fixed & rotary-wing aircrafts - and advanced radar guided surface-to-air-missiles such as the BUK & S400Triumf formidable weapons of the irunmoles. Hahahahahahaa 4.) Intelligence, Surveillance & Reconnaissance: Russian Separatist forces employ unmanned aerial vehicles(UAVs), including the Aesop 100 & 4-post, to overfly the Ukrainian forces, often coinciding with artillery & rocket attacks - likely collecting video/imagery intelligence to aid targeting & assess attack effectiveness as well as collecting signals intelligence to monitoring the mostly unencrypted Ukrainian communications. 5.) Command & Control: Russian/Separatist forces use secure/encrypted communications systems and their own cell phone network, while the Ukrainian forces lack signals intelligence collection or jamming systems to collect or disrupt these capabilities. 6.) Artillery & Rockets: Russian/Separatist forces employ long-range artillery & multiple launch rocket systems such as the GRAD - with capacity to put large amount of munitions into a target area at ranges up to 30-40 kilometers 7.) Supply & Logistics: Russian/Separatist forces receive supplies from Russia into the Donetsk & Luhansk oblasts through the unsecured Ukraine-Russian border Bonus 8.) Russia winning in Syria: While it took Amerika & her terrorist mercenaries less than 9months to topple & kill Gaddafi in Libya and Saddam in Iraq; well, President Bashar-Al Assad is still sitting in his underground bunker, sipping arabian-flavoured tea & smoking sheesha while watching his allies (the Russian/Iranian forces) on a secured Comm link - as they decimate the Amerikan-backed liver-eating terrorists on daily basis - with Amerika shamelessly calling for cease-fire on their behalf 2 Likes 1 Share
|
| Re: If A Nuclear Bomb Explodes Nearby,here's Why You Should Never, Ever Get In A Car by seunny4lif(m): 2:26pm On May 25, 2017 |
Zoharariel: 1 Like 1 Share
|
| Re: If A Nuclear Bomb Explodes Nearby,here's Why You Should Never, Ever Get In A Car by Mazeltovscotty(m): 4:14pm On May 25, 2017 |
Zoharariel:is this your point? |
| Re: If A Nuclear Bomb Explodes Nearby,here's Why You Should Never, Ever Get In A Car by Jakumo(m): 6:23am On May 26, 2017 |
These are the steps required in the event of a nearby nuclear blast. 1. Bend over 2. Pucker up 3. Kiss your quivering buttocks a fond goodbye 4. Die. 4 Likes 3 Shares |
(1) (Reply)
Mugabe & Grace ‘watching Mnangagwa’s Inauguration’ On TV Goes Viral / Breaking - Chaos At Russian Metro As Apple Pay And Google Pay Stop Working / The Poorest President In The World
(Go Up)
| Sections: politics (1) business autos (1) jobs (1) career education (1) romance computers phones travel sports fashion health religion celebs tv-movies music-radio literature webmasters programming techmarket Links: (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) (8) (9) (10) Nairaland - Copyright © 2005 - 2024 Oluwaseun Osewa. All rights reserved. See How To Advertise. 72 |