Linus Pauling: Take the Bravo Bomb, that we exploded at Bikini,
and with similar bombs exploded since then by the USSR and Great
Britain. What damage would it do if it were used in a nuclear
war? It would smash a city flat over an area 20 miles in
diameter. When it is exploded, 2 or 3 miles, or 4 miles above
the surface of the Earth, above the center of the city, it would
just smash the city flat and kill everybody in this area 20
miles in diameter. It is estimated that the blast-fire and
immediate radiation effects that you get in the first second
after the explosion of the bomb would, in the case of a bomb
exploded over New York, kill 6.5 million people. In addition,
the bomb produces great amounts of radioactive materials. In the
case of a "ground burst", which means a burst within a couple of
miles of the surface of the earth, so that the fireball strikes
the earth - the fireball has the temperature of the sun, it is a
great ball 4 miles in diameter - when the fireball strikes the
surface of the Earth it