A magnitude 5.0 earthquake is about 200 tons of TNT, magnitude 6.0 is 6,270 tons, 7.0 is 199,000 tons, 8.0 is 6,270,000 tons. What is the atomic bomb equivalent of energy released during a 7.0 quake? An 8.0 quake? A 9.0 quake? A 7.0 is 199,000 tons, 8.0 is 6,270,000 tons, and a 9.0 is 99,000,000 tons.
What is the atomic bomb equivalent to a 9.0 earthquake?
Got it! The amount of seismic energy released by a 9.0-magnitude earthquake equals about 475 million tons of TNT, according to the United States Geological Survey. For comparison, the bomb dropped on Hiroshima in 1945 released an equivalent of 15,000 tons of TNT.
How much energy is released by an earthquake compared to an atomic bomb?
One notch up the magnitude scale translates to 30 times more energy. Therefore, the 1906 San Francisco earthquake produced over 30 times more energy than the explosion of the atomic bomb that destroyed Hiroshima. The quake that caused the tsunami in Asia in 2004 produced over 1000 times more energy than the bomb.
Is an earthquake stronger than a nuclear bomb?
The amount of energy released by the Hiroshima nuclear bomb was about 1012 J, whereas one magnitude 8.9 earthquake released about 1018 J of seismic energy (Figure 9). This is a million times more energy (i.e. a factor of 106) than the Hiroshima bomb.
How many megatons is a 9.0 earthquake?
25 Scary Statistics About The 2011 Japan EarthquakeQuestionAnswer1.The Earthquake – Magnitude of the quake:9.02.The Earthquake – Energy released by the quake:480 megatons (a magnitude 9.0 earthquake releases as much energy as 32,000 magnitude 6.0 earthquakes)23 more rows
What is the atomic bomb equivalent to a 7.0 quake?
Similarly, a magnitude 7 quake releases about a million times more energy than a magnitude 3. A magnitude 5 earthquake releases as much energy as the Hiroshima atomic bomb — the equivalent of 15 kilotons of TNT. A magnitude 6 earthquake is equivalent to 30 Hiroshima bombs.
Can a nuke start an earthquake?
A nuclear explosion can cause an earthquake and even an aftershock sequence. However, earthquakes induced by explosions have been much smaller than the explosion, and the aftershock sequence produces fewer and smaller aftershocks than a similar size earthquake. Not all explosions have caused earthquakes.
Would a nuke cause a tsunami?
Conceivably tsunami waves can also be generated from very large nuclear explosions. However, no tsunami of any significance has ever resulted from the testing of nuclear weapons in the past. Furthermore, such testing is presently prohibited by international treaty.
What happens if you drop a nuke in a volcano?
The explosion of the bomb mixed with the build-up of pressure inside a volcano could amplify the eruption. The force would release even more ash and lava, spreading it even further than it would’ve gone with the volcano’s own power.
How strong is a 9.0 earthquake?
A magnitude 9.0 earthquake can last for five minutes or longer, and the amount of energy released is about 1,000 times greater than that of a 7.0. According to the U.S. Geological Survey, the most powerful quakes could leave few if any masonry buildings standing, destroy bridges and toss objects into the air.
How much TNT is in a nuke?
Thus, a 1 kiloton nuclear weapon is one which produces the same amount of energy in an explosion as does 1 kiloton (1,000 tons) of TNT. Similarly, a 1 megaton weapon would have the energy equivalent of 1 million tons of TNT.
How many tons of TNT is a nuke?
The Nature of an Atomic Explosion. The most striking difference between the explosion of an atomic bomb and that of an ordinary T.N.T. bomb is of course in magnitude; as the President announced after the Hiroshima attack, the explosive energy of each of the atomic bombs was equivalent to about 20,000 tons of T.N.T.
How much TNT would it take to cause an earthquake?
For example, a magnitude 1.0 earthquake is roughly equivalent to the energy release from an explosion of about 70 pounds of TNT (a mid-sized construction site blast), a magnitude 2.0 earthquake is similar to an explosion of 1 metric ton of TNT, and a magnitude 4.0 earthquake is approximately equivalent to the energy …
How much energy is released in an atomic bomb?
The first test of a fission (“atomic”) bomb released an amount of energy approximately equal to 20,000 tons of TNT (84 TJ). The first thermonuclear (“hydrogen”) bomb test released energy approximately equal to 10 million tons of TNT (42 PJ).
How much energy does a earthquake release?
The energy release can also be roughly estimated by converting the moment magnitude, Mw, to energy using the equation log E = 5.24 + 1.44Mw, where Mw is the moment magnitude.
How much energy is in the atomic bomb of Hiroshima?
It exploded with an energy of approximately 15 kilotons of TNT (63 TJ) and caused widespread death and destruction throughout the city. The Hiroshima bombing was the second man-made nuclear explosion in history, after the Trinity nuclear test.
How much force is released in an earthquake?
A magnitude 4.0 earthquake is only equivalent to about 6 tons of TNT explosives, but because the Richter scale is a base-10 logarithmic scale, the amount of energy released increases quickly: A magnitude 5.0 earthquake is about 200 tons of TNT, magnitude 6.0 is 6,270 tons, 7.0 is 199,000 tons, 8.0 is 6,270,000 tons, …