TNT equivalent
|
Date
|
Record
|
Hint
|
Answer
|
11 tons
|
2003
|
Largest non-nuclear weapon test
|
American weapon, claims to be the largest conventional explosive
|
MOAB
|
44 tons
|
2007
|
Largest non-nuclear weapon test
|
Russian bomb, claims to be 4 times more powerful than the American one, but authenticity is questioned
|
FOAB
|
3,000 tons
|
6 December 1917
|
Possible largest accidental explosion
|
A Norwegian steamship collided with a French cargo ship carrying TNT in a Canadian harbour-town
|
Halifax Explosion
|
6,000 tons
|
4th October, 1918
|
Possible largest accidental explosion
|
A devastating explosion at an explosives facility in Sayreville, New Jersey
|
T. A. Gillespie Company Shell Loading Plant explosion
|
22,000 tons
|
9th August, 1945
|
Largest explosion ever used in armed combat
|
The nuclear bomb used at Nagasaki
|
Fat Man
|
15 megatons
|
June 30, 1908
|
Largest impact event known to man
|
A massive explosion occurring in Siberia, strongly believed to be a meteor impact event
|
Tunguska Event
|
57 megatons
|
October 30, 1961
|
The largest manmade explosion/largest nuclear explosion
|
Despite humans detonating over 2,000 nuclear weapons through history, the yield of this Soviet nuke accounts for 10% of the yield for all nuclear weapons combined
|
Tsar-Bomba
|
800 megatons
|
April 5, 1815
|
Largest recorded explosion ever experienced by humans/Largest volcanic eruption on record
|
This volcano on the island of Sumbawa erupted causing global climate change and harvest failure
|
Mount Tambora
|
96 teratons
|
65,000,000 B.C.
|
Largest explosion known to have taken place on Earth
|
An impact event at the end of the Cretaceous Period that caused the death of 60% of life on Earth, including the total extinction of these large reptiles
|
Dinosaurs
|
2.5Ã-1035 tons
|
230,000,000 B.C.
|
Largest recorded supernova
|
A supernova observed in 2006
|
SN2006gy
|
2Ã-1038 tons
|
11,000,000,000 B.C.
|
Largest explosion ever recorded
|
A gamma-ray burst observed in 2008, the equivalent of 100 Billion times the yield of all man-made nukes exploding every second for 100 Billion years, condensed to 23 minutes
|
GRB 080916C
|