How far can radiation from a nuclear bomb travel?

Someone told me that if a nuclear bomb went off in the Middle East, the radiation could travel to us (In little ole' Kansas) and kill us, or at least make us very sick. But that doesn't seem right to me. It can't really travel that far, can it? And even if it could, wouldn't it be so dilluted that it wouldn't really do anything?How far can radiation from a nuclear bomb travel?It is highly unlikely radiation from a nuclear bomb in the Middle East would make you sick in Kansas. However, some detectable radioactive fallout would be carried through the atmosphere for a long time, and some of that could be deposited on Kansas. There are many different types of radiation that are created in a nuclear blast. Visible light is a form of radiation (the "flash"). Thermal radiation is emitted (heat).



Ionizing radiation can make you sick by damaging the DNA in your cells. Examples of ionizing radiation are gamma radiation (high energy electrons), beta radiation (lower energy electrons), alpha radiation (very low energy particles). The wave of ionizing radiation emitted as a direct result of the nuclear blast would not travel that many miles from the blast, depending on the size and altitude of the blast (but certainly not to the other side of the Earth). However, it would affect tons of dust and debris that are put into the atmosphere by the blast. Some of the high energy radiation would actually cause some of this dust and debris to become radioactive; in other cases radioactive particles would be carried by the dust and debris. Especially the lighter particles can travel through the atmosphere for a long distance and for a long time before settling out or being distributed by rain or snow.



One example of radioactive debris traveling in the atmosphere was after the Chernobyl disaster. The explosion and fire pumped masses of radioactive debris from the reactor structure into the air that was deposited over Europe in the following months. I was in Germany at the time and recall a temporary warning about drinking milk, since the radioactive fallout would be falling on the cow pastures.How far can radiation from a nuclear bomb travel?
I've included a link to an awesome website. It's a java applet and you can basically select any major city and simulate a nuclear bomb blast, it will the diagram the impact zones and range with information on what you can expect if you're in that area after the bomb explodes... please go check it out... then select my answer as best.. I've been answering a lot and haven't been selected at all lately. I could use a break! lol Enjoy!!How far can radiation from a nuclear bomb travel?Technically you are correct. It wouldn't be the radiation that wold kill you, it would be the after affect that would. The ppm (parts per million) would be severly "diluted". The radioactive winter would be the killer. Because the dust from the blast would stay suspended in our atmosphere for hundreds and possibly thousands of years, the sun wouldn't be able to penetrate the cloud to feed the plant life. Causing a chain reaction which in fact would eventually get to us. In short we would starve.How far can radiation from a nuclear bomb travel?
Hundreds if not thousands of miles. it depends on the winds and what direction it blew.

Yes it would get diluted somewhat but very little.

Ever hear of Chernoble? (nuclear meltdown at power plant) in the Ukraine? radiation spread north to scandinavia.

how about Hiroshima, and Nagasaki?

non of the radiation from those explosions ever reached the midwest of the USAHow far can radiation from a nuclear bomb travel?There's radiation from the nuclear blast itself, and there's fallout, which can be dispersed throughout the world. Certain radioactive materials, such as Strontium-92, or Caesium-137, have long half-lives and are particularly nasty in radioactivity. Trapped in dust, they can be blown across continents and oceans, and settle halfway around the world.



That was the reason why, a while back, the Pentagon shut down the "escalation" between India and Pakistan, threatening neighborly nuclear warfare, because the US was in the track of fallout from such nuclear explosions. It became part of OUR security interest to do so.