What is the Difference Between the Largest and Smallest Nuclear Explosions?
By tuning the design and operating mechanism of a nuclear bomb, the yield can be modified to be of a very wide range. For instance, hydrogen bombs, which fuse atomic nuclei to produce nuclear explosions, tend to be more energetic than atomic bombs, which break apart atomic nuclei for nuclear explosions instead. The smallest nuclear explosions are “fizzles,” like North Korea’s test on 9 Oct 2006, which had a yield of about a kiloton of TNT, and early tests of small tactical nuclear weapons, such as in Operation Plumbbob during 1957 in the United States. Some of the nuclear explosions in Operation Plumbbob were very small, such as Pascal-A, the world’s first underground nuclear explosion, which had a yield of just 55 tons (its yield was officially listed as “slight”, although the yield of every other test in Operation Plumbbob was made public). Pascal-B, another test, had a yield of about 500 tons. Balloon shots Lassen and Wheeler had yields under half a kiloton. A surface shot, Franklin
