The 12 largest man-made explosions in history

Nothing like nuclear weapons epitomize the absolute destructive power that humanity has unlocked.

Although many countries have conducted nuclear tests, only the US and USSR have tested nuclear weapons larger than 10 megatons. For scale, these weapons are at least 500 times stronger than the bomb used over Nagasaki.

To put the size of history's largest nuclear blasts to scale, we have used Alex Wellerstein's Nukemap.

In the maps, the first ring of the blast is the fireball, followed by the radiation radius. In the pink radius, almost all buildings are demolished and fatalities approach 100%. In the gray radius, stronger buildings would weather the blast, but injuries are nearly universal. In the orange radius, people with exposed skin would suffer from third-degree burns, and flammable materials would catch on fire, leading to possible firestorms.