Blast Wave Effects Calculator

Jean M. Bele

Physics Dept., Laboratory for Nuclear Science, MIT

  • The blast model in this website is a simulation showing the destruction damage that the nuclear weapon can inflict on human, structures at the ground-level, low and high altitude . A new map simulation is coming soon.
  • The blast effects are usually measured by the amount of overpressure, the pressure in excess of the normal atmospheric value, in pounds per square inch (psi)


The atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima during World War II yielded 15 kilotons. Some 70,000 people probably died as a result of initial blast, heat, and radiation effects. Nearly every structure within one mile of ground zero was destroyed, and almost every building within three miles was damaged. The atomic bomb dropped on Nagasaki was almost 20 kilotons. Of the 52,000 homes in Nagasaki, 14,000 were destroyed and 5,400 more seriously damaged. It will never be known for certain how many people died as a result of the atomic attack on Nagasaki. The best estimate is 40,000 people died initially, with 60,000 more injured. By January 1946, the number of deaths probably approached 70,000, with perhaps ultimately twice that number dead total within five years1
Today most powerful nuclear weapon yields are over 1000 kilotons, almost 660 more powerfull then the Hiroshima bomb.


1  The Manhattan Project an interactive history.  US Dept of Energy - Ofice of History and Heritage Resources


For a specific effect, choose the energy yield of the nuclear weapon explosion (kilotons):

Enter the energy yield in kilotons: