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10 Reasons Why Nuclear War Is Still Terrifying

Nuclear war still remains a massive threat, even if the Cold War is over. These reasons show why nuclear war is still terrifying for everyone involved.

By Skunk UzekiPublished 5 years ago 5 min read
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The Cold War was a weird time in American history that had both Russians and Americans fraught with panic. It was a time where the biggest threat to existence was nuclear war. The threat of using atom bombs was very real—and there were certain times where it almost seemed imminent.

Ever since World War II, nukes had a certain “doomsday device” reputation to them that made humanity leery of them. People avoid war, even today, because they are terrified of seeing mushroom clouds in their countries.

But, is the fear that nukes strike really warranted? If you look at the facts, you’ll soon realize that nuclear war is still terrifying for a reason, and that it could potentially end humanity as we know it.

There’s a common misconception that nuclear warheads get dropped and automatically kill everyone in a certain radius—and that there’s no real aftershock. This just isn’t true. After a nuclear bomb is detonated, radioactive material goes into the air, which is then breathed by people in the surrounding areas.

Once the air becomes too clogged with fallout, the sky turns dark and unleashes a “black rain.” This rain is not made of water, but is actually a thick, unctuous oil that is loaded with radioactive fallout. The fallout gets anyone who touches it sick, and also leeches into the food supply.

The full death toll of a nuclear bomb includes fallout victims who die days after the bomb, cancer victims who die due to the fallout, as well as the immediate victims. Just because you survived the bomb doesn’t mean you’ll survive. That’s why nuclear war is still terrifying from the get-go.

But, it’s not just dying; it’s the way you die.

Have you ever really heard about what radiation does to the human body? Let’s talk about what radiation poisoning does in lethal quantities to illustrate the horrors.

It starts off with flu-like symptoms, but quickly turns into something else. You start to throw up. Your hair falls out, and then your skin starts to turn red. You begin to notice purple-black spots appearing on your body and everything begins to hurt. Your skin begins to rot while you’re alive.

Still able to feel everything, but in too much pain to eat or drink, you’re left to suffer until you bleed to death. You’re literally rotting while alive. Since you’re radioactive, your family can’t even approach you to say goodbye.

The nuclear weapons used in Hiroshima and Nagasaki were absolutely devastating, but somewhat containable. These days, the nukes produced by countries would make those appear laughably small.

The largest nuclear bomb ever tested, Tsar Bomba of Russian fame, was 50 megatons of power. The explosion was so powerful, people still felt the aftershocks in Norway and worried about an earthquake.

Multiple accidents involving nuclear weapon transport almost wiped out parts of the United States.

In 1961, a US Air Force B-52 fell apart in the skies over Goldsboro, North Carolina. The plane was carrying two large nuclear warheads with a 3.8 megaton payload each. Both, thankfully, were duds.

Of the facts about nuclear war worth knowing, we would have seen North Carolina blow up with a payload over 300 times the power of what happened in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. This would have wiped out Philadelphia, Washington, Baltimore, and New York City.

Scarily enough, this isn’t the only time nukes have been lost or dropped. Around 11 other nuclear bombs have gone missing after accidents, never to be seen again. An additional 1,200 accidents happened during two decades of the Cold War.

We like to think that we, at least, have failsafes when it comes to launching nuclear weapons, but this isn’t true. There have been many occasions where tech ended up almost killing the entire planet thanks to the detection of nuclear warheads.

During the height of the Cold War, a Russian computer showed five different nuclear warheads headed to key locations in the USSR. Soviets were very close to retaliating, but the man who was in charge of retaliation, Stanislav Yevgrafovich Petrov, refused to push the button. A call then came through saying that it was a false alarm.

Oddly enough, the same thing happened to America. Both times, nuclear war was averted. But if nothing else, they are just some of the close calls to nuclear war that are still terrifying enough to consider when you realize we are on the brink of discussion by a single computer glitch.

Radioactivity from nuclear fallout can and does cause birth defects.

Most people are aware that radioactive fallout can cause cancer and other similar illnesses. However, people tend to forget that radiation is also teratogenic, which means it’s a cause of birth defects. One of the reasons that nuclear war is still terrifying is that you can’t really recover from the damage it does to your DNA…or the DNA of your children.

Years after the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings, children were born with rare deformities that could only be attributed to nuclear weaponry. Once you have that chromosomal damage, your ability to have defect-free children plummets.

Nuclear winter is a real thing.

Of the facts about nuclear fallout, you may have heard of “nuclear winter.” Do you really know what that means? This is an era of cold and darkness that’s caused by the sheer amount of smoke and fallout that will be released into the air after a nuclear war.

During a nuclear winter, the sun will be obscured and the global temperatures will drop. In many parts of the globe, no food will be able to be grown. As a result, people who weren’t even involved in the nuclear war will die out—as will the rainforests and every other major ecosystem.

If you can't guess, the main reason nuclear war is still terrifying is because it's almost a guaranteed doomsday sentence. One theory suggests that enough nuclear explosions could potentially have a mass extinction similar to what killed off the dinosaurs.

The effects of nuclear weapons testing can still be found in teeth.

A study of over 300,000 babies' teeth during the Cold War showed a sudden spike in Strontium 90. This radioactive compound is a trademark fallout compound that is associated with nuclear testing, bomb fallout, and radioactive decay.

The findings, which were taken during the later part of the Cold War, proved that the weapons were dangerous—even when not used in war. Considering that we're suffering even when they are not being used, it's safe to say nuclear war is still terrifying, if only theoretical.

We're literally as close to nuclear war as we've ever been.

According to the most recent studies done on international policy, America is just as close to being on the brink of nuclear war as we were during the Cold War. All it takes is one false step in a negotiation situation, one despot who wants to show his mettle, or one bloviating US president to make it happen.

Terrified yet?

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About the Creator

Skunk Uzeki

Skunk Uzeki is an androgynous pothead and a hard partier. When they aren't drinking and causing trouble, they're writing articles about the fun times they have.

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