Explosions are destructive and horrifying but amazing phenomenons to watch, at least in videos. Talking about explosion you might wonder how cool the greatest explosion ever would have been unless it does not kill you?
Explosions
The universe started with an explosion, the Big Bang, as modern science suggests. It caused the formation of stars and other celestial bodies. The stars survived till the energy was sufficient for them to get their mass intact and exploded with huge explosions when the energy became deficient. These explosions, called supernovae, are unquestionably one of the greatest explosion in the Universe.
But, not just these dying stars, living star collisions, neutron star collision and intergalactic collisions can also cause large explosions in the Universe. Terrestrial explosions are no match for these interstellar explosions. However, these explosions are hard to be compared on the basis of energy released.
Among terrestrial explosions, the artificial explosions can be compared numerically. We are much familiar to artificial explosions, aren’t we? People have developed highly destructive explosives in time being.
Among various explosives, the greatest ones are nuclear weapons. Although nuclear warhead testing has been halted by most of countries in the world, some countries are still testing such explosive weapons, of course, you have heard about nuclear warhead tests of North Korea. So let me drive you through the greatest explosion ever.
The Greatest Explosion Ever (Natural)
The greatest natural explosion ever are interstellar. These explosions can rip apart stars and even galaxies. The explosions can be evaluated by studying the radiations coming from remnant. Since we do not have a complete picture of the Universe, discoveries are being made and as we explore the Universe more, much powerful explosions could be revealed.
Till date the greatest explosion after the Big Bang is believed to have occurred in the Ophiuchus galactic cluster. It was discovered in the beginning of 2020 and reported in Astrophysical Journal and overtook the spot of explosion generated by a super massive black hole. Study of the radio fossils (X-ray emitting gas) in this galactic cluster suggests that there had been an explosion which released an enormous amount of energy.
According to Melanie Johnston-Hollitt, one of the researcher, the energy released from it is comparable to 20 billion, trillion megatonnes of TNT explosion every second throughout 240 million years. This is a ridiculous amount of energy. Considering the world energy consumption of 2018, this volume of energy can power the entire world for 32 billion, trillion years. This time period is eternity for Earth.
The Greatest Explosion Ever (Artificial)
Terrestrial and artificial explosions are not much massive as compared to interstellar ones, still they can destroy large cities of the world completely. When it comes to artificial explosions, nothing can be compared to nuclear explosions. The energy released and hence destruction is colossal.
After the second world war, the first event where nuclear explosives were used, a number of nuclear tests increased gradually. The new test explosions were greater than before and the testing went on. Finally, the greatest artificial explosion, the Tsar Bomba, a hydrogen bomb was tested on 30th October 1961 by the Soviet Union. This remains the greatest explosion in human history and it released 210,000 Terajoules of energy. This energy is equal to the explosion of 50 thousand kilotonnes of TNT. This bomb weighed 27 tonnes and was dropped using parachute.
Soon Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty was signed and it stopped nuclear tests, hence making Tsar Bomba the greatest explosion mankind have ever executed. Though several countries like North Korea, India, Israel and Pakistan have not signed that treaty and are testing nuclear weapons, their explosions are still no match for Tsar Bomba. It will remain the greatest artificial explosion ever.
