How Many Nukes Would it Take to Destroy Civilization

There are several factors to account for when you ask how many nukes it would take to end the world. First is the use of the weapon, be it EMP interdiction, urban centyer stratigic factory elimination, Elimination of hardenerd targets, energy denial targeting, military area denial, ocean supply denial or use as air denial and communications capability. How high the burst is. what Kilotonage or megatonage is used and the weather patterns invoved. How much land or sea surface area is invoved with the burst. As well as target area.

Perhaps just using several thousand across the world will be enough to induce a small nuclear winter... not to mention the fact that radiation will possibly kill many people after. Famine and the collapse of agriculture and civilization will be equally devastating.

I have one criticism of the graphic however. It does not take into consideration population density. It simply notes how much land is occupied without regard for the fact that most people are concentrated in major urban centers.

A nuclear exchange involving most countries in the world as targets would be enough to wipe out over half the world population. But even then, I imagine there will be many places that will not be targeted and be left out of the conflict.

It's only a matter of time now before the world DOES end!!!

Why Isn't North Korea listed on that map on there?

"Whose askin'?"

mmmhmmm thermonuclear warheads and mustard.

erm... 2 in cali, one in washington state, one in texas, one in florida, one in illinois, one in new york, one in boston... basically one in every major population center. maybe one in every other pop center... the fallout might do the rest. if i wanted to destroy the world, i'd use bio-warfare though... leaves cities and the environment intact.

Not sure. . . I don't think the B83s are used by us anymore.

The correct answer is none. Human beings and our selfish and mean nature are destroying civilization worse than any nuke or atomic bomb. Liberals hate Conservatives and Conservatives hate Liberals. Religious people hate non-religious people and non-religious people hate religious people.

Most nukes are so old they barely even work anymore, if used you'd find missiles carrying nukes to be duds and only hit houses and roads and stuff and that is all they will do. Come on most nations with nukes don't even take care and maintenance of them because it costs too much. So get rid of them, turn the nuclear material back into nuclear power plant fuel and stop the wars and fighting and help each other out.

So If i hide under the fridge with the roaches I will still be safe Right?

Well if you take into account nuclear winter it would take a lot less than about 1,000 nukes. Extinction of humans (and all other life) could probably take place with a lot less.

MY dad was in charge of a place called Sun Site in Los Alamos NM when I was a kid. I was born there. I remember being stopped going in and coming out of the gates by MP's with automatic weapons, guard towers and 15' fences. It was the safest place for a kid to live in the world. Zero crime, zero divorces etc.
Dad made triggers for the Hydrogen Bomb and later the Neutron Bomb, my God Father worked on the A Bomb's that were dropped in WWII.
Our only hope is nuclear deterrence and the fact that assured mutual destruction would result. How many bombs to destroy the world? Only 1 if you are within a 100 miles of it's detonation. Your world would become a past tense rather quickly I am afraid.

...let's ask Mr. Owl. ''Mr. Owl, how many nukes would it take to destroy civilization?'' ''Let's see: a-one, a-two, a-thr........ ''.

it doesn't look like this accounts for nuclear fallout. i'm no expert, but pretty sure it would take less than a million nuclear warheads to wipe our species out. the radiation from the fallout would contaminate food and water supply and radiation poisoning would contribute quite significantly.

I agree that these nuclear weapons need to be destroyed but I was raised on the image of the earth exploding into tiny fragments if we had a nuclear war. Nuclear fallout aside it is pleasing to know that we humans do not posses the capability to completely destroy our planet in a nuclear war just our selves... if you listen carefully you can hear mother nature cheering us on :D

If you want to snuff us out in giant explosions, I agree with the numbers. However, it would be easier to just pop off about 100 Hiroshima sized nukes (about 15 kiloton each) in their respective silos, cause nuclear winter and kill us all. I figured that out when I was 8 years old (third grade) and several decades later in 2006 the American Geophysical Union confirmed my findings. Not that they new I existed, but it was a thrill! A National Academy of Sciences study also found that a global ozone hole would contribute to the destruction of life on Earth for at least ten years afterward. Here is the thing. Countries like the US, Russia and China, who have had nukes for a while, tend to know better. Unfortunately other newcomers to the nuclear club like India, South Africa, North Korea. Israel, Pakistan, and soon Iran, the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Syria, and others, may easily be considered wild cards in the face of reason. This is why the number of nukes world wide should be ZERO!!!

So according to this very simple math, which though not 100% acurate becuase not including all factors, the US could destroy the world 4 times over. I thought our goal was just Russia? and they could destroy one whole more world than us, although i have heard rumors sometimes they should blanks.

That's pretty cool to see.