Editing Tsar Bomba (section)

== Analysis ==
[[File:Tsar Bomba Paris.png|thumb|Total destructive radius, superimposed on [[Paris]] with the red circle indicating the area of total destruction (radius {{convert|35|km|mi|0|disp=sqbr}}), and the yellow circle the radius of the fireball (radius {{convert|3.5|km|mi|0|disp=sqbr}})]]
The Tsar Bomba is the single most physically powerful device ever deployed on Earth, the most powerful nuclear bomb tested and the largest human-made explosion in history.<ref>{{cite web |last=Sudakov |first=Dmitry |date=24 September 2009 |title=Tsar Bomba's Blast Wave Orbited Earth Three Times in 1961 |url=http://english.pravda.ru/russia/history/17-09-2009/109339-tsar_bomba-0 |access-date=24 September 2009 |publisher=Pravda.ru}}</ref> For comparison, the largest weapon ever produced by the US, the now-decommissioned [[B41 nuclear bomb|B41]], had a predicted maximum yield of {{cvt|25|MtonTNT}}. The largest nuclear device ever tested by the US ([[Castle Bravo]]) yielded {{cvt|15|MtonTNT}} because of an unexpectedly high involvement of [[Isotopes of lithium#Lithium-7|lithium-7]] in the fusion reaction; the preliminary prediction for the yield was from {{cvt|4|to|6|MtonTNT}}. The largest weapons deployed by the Soviet Union were also around {{cvt|25|MtonTNT}} (e.g., the [[R-36 (missile)|SS-18]] Mod.&nbsp;3 [[warhead]]).<ref name=atomicheritage/>

The weight and size of the Tsar Bomba limited the range and speed of the specially-modified bomber carrying it. Delivery by an [[intercontinental ballistic missile]] would have required a much stronger missile (the [[Proton (rocket family)|Proton]] started its development as that delivery system). It has been estimated that detonating the original {{cvt|100|MtonTNT}} design would have increased the world's total fission fallout since the invention of the atomic bomb by 25%.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://nuclearweaponarchive.org/Russia/Sovwarhead.html |title=Soviet Nuclear Weapons |work=nuclearweaponarchive.org}}</ref> It was decided that a full 100&nbsp;Mt detonation would create a nuclear fallout that was unacceptable in terms of pollution from a single test, as well as a near-certainty that the release plane and crew would be destroyed before it could escape the blast radius.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.atomicforum.org/russia/tsarbomba.html |title=Tsar Bomba |access-date=3 November 2007 |publisher=Atomic Forum |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071204024711/http://www.atomicforum.org/russia/tsarbomba.html |archive-date=4 December 2007 }}</ref>

The Tsar Bomba was the culmination of a series of high-yield [[thermonuclear weapon]]s designed by the Soviet Union and the United States during the 1950s (e.g., the [[Mark 17 nuclear bomb|Mark&nbsp;17]]{{citation needed|date=February 2023}} and B41 nuclear bombs).<ref name=atomicheritage />