What would it be like for you in those last few seconds when a nuclear blast takes place?
First, expect no warning, or perhaps an air raid warning may go off—perhaps not.
To begin with, there will be a flash of light. It will be so intense that it instantly fries anything that comes in contact. The temperature, for an instant, is in the millions of degrees. Fires will erupt in various places.
The heat from the flash is intense. Many will die immediately.
People's eyes are instantly gone, if their eyes are facing the light. Eye lids do little to protect the eyes.
People may be standing on a sidewalk. Then, when the blinding flash occurs, the light and heat will turn the sidewalk a darker color and vaporize anyone standing there, leaving an impression of their shadow on the sidewalk.
This is followed by an ear-piercing noise with the ground shaking and collapsing (depending on the distance a person is from the blast and the size of the blast).
The blast (or shock wave) rushes out from the center at the speed of sound—slightly over 700 miles an hour.
This is far faster than the speed of a tornado, and it is in all directions. The power of the blast is unbelievable. Everything in its path is flattened instantly. As the blast rushes out several miles from the center, it becomes less powerful depending on the size of the bomb.
Then the blast, with it's debris, reverses direction and is sucked inward at the same speed. Anything that might have withstood the first blast may be destroyed by the implosion at over 700 miles an hour.
A huge fireball also appears.
Then there is the third part of the nuclear explosion—the radio-active killer. This we call the silent killer. There is more than one kind of this killer. It cannot be seen. It is not heard. It is the invisible rays. It might be compared to an x-ray machine multiplied so many times, how can it be measured? These invisible rays can destroy and kill.
Depending on the dose a person receives, they might die instantly, or may suffer for many years. They may die a very slow, agonizing death. Other diseases may come forth, such as cancer. In addition, radio-active dust is in the clouds, and it rains down on everything for huge distances. The radio-active clouds travel as the wind directs it. Anyone even in the vicinity of where the blast went off many years later can become radio-active and die. It can kill grass, trees, animals, insects, birds, people—just about everything. It does not easily penetrate thick cement structures or several feet of water.
When the smoke clears there may be a crater. It depends on the size of the hydrogen bomb. It also depends on where the explosion takes place, example, a high air drop, a low air drop or an underground explosion.