When an atomic bomb explodes, a fireball creates shock and heat waves that destroy structures in the immediate vicinity of the blast. The rising fireball sucks up debris to form a mushroom cloud. Damage can occur over large distances. For example, the radius for severe damage could be approximately 18 km (11 mi) for a 10-megaton blast. Radioactive fallout may be dispersed worldwide through global atmospheric processes. |
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| An aerial photograph reveals the devastation inflicted on Hiroshima, Japan, by an atomic bomb that was dropped on the city on August 6, 1945. Seventy thousand people were killed instantly, and 68 percent of the city was destroyed in the blast. The death toll eventually climbed to 200,000 due to radiation sickness |
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