A nuclear blast causes massive damage. First, the blast causes a huge shock wave that causes most of the destruction. Most buildings in the area are reduced to rubble. The shock waves themselves cause extreme pressure that destroys tissues. Thermal radiation leads to severe burns and eye injuries. Aside from that, an electromagnetic pulse from a nuclear explosion will destroy electronics, radars will blackout, and produce ionizing radiation (same thing as a CT scan) that has the capacity to kill and maim.
Nuclear war is a haunting thought and one that has been brought up repeatedly over the last few months. Nobody wants nuclear war, but Democrats have argued that Donald Trump is not “fit” to hold the power of the US nuclear arsenal. How much power does the US President truly have when it comes to nukes? And what would it take to launch a nuclear war?
First of all, the nuclear weapons themselves. The US nuclear arsenal is aging and declining. Only 15,350 nukes exist in the whole world. According to the Federation of American Scientists, the US has “1,750 deployed ‘strategic’ nuclear weapons,’ and 180 ‘tactical,’ sometimes called ‘non-strategic’ nuclear warheads ready to fire — a total of 1,930 nuclear weapons.”
