How far do you have to be from a nuke for it to just knock you off your feet?

[cmyk]

@beowulff

Actually, he used the windshield of a truck as the only protection…

Right! Thanks!

[smithsb]

Shock wave from a detonation by definition is at the speed of sound or faster. Speed decays like any other pressure differential over distance. You feel the shock wave through the ground (denser medium) quicker than the shock wave through the air. At a typical “viewing” distance of 2.5 miles from 80,000 lb of controlled detonations in Iraq, the gap would be around 1.5 seconds from the ground shock to the air shock.

Different explosives have different detonation speeds. It also depends on explosive density and shape.

[Pel2na]

@ivylass

I was watching The Day After recently and I’m afraid I had to giggle. Jason Robards is trapped in his car on a road when lo and behold, just over the hills, there’s a huge mushroom cloud.

I was always under the impression that if you could see it, you were dead. Maybe not right away, but if you were close enough to see it, you were going to get a lethal dose of radiation.

Am I wrong?

Back in the 50’s, when the government was doing atmospheric tests 10-15 times a year, it was considered a fun day trip from Las Vegas to go out in the desert to watch. I’m not sure how close they were, but someone even put up some bleachers!

[HMS_Irruncible]

@Bryan Ekers

Of course, it would have been doubly hilarious if afterward someone said “Wow, did you hear that?”

Only if the other guy responded “BEER WHAT???”