12/03/2026
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Today I will explain how nuclear weapons work.
As you may know, nuclear weapons are the most dangerous things human beings have ever created. It is widely accepted that no country can win a nuclear war. It would be a lose-lose situation: mutually assured destruction. In reality, the destruction would not only affect the countries involved, but the entire Earth.
You see, depending on its yield, one nuclear bomb can destroy an entire city in seconds. Imagine destroying the whole of Harare, the whole of Nairobi, or the whole of Lagos in just a few seconds. How wild is that?
The explosion alone creates a giant fireball hotter than the surface of the Sun. It produces intense heat that can start fires miles away.
When the bomb explodes, it releases invisible rays and tiny particles called radiation. These are extremely harmful to humans.
Moreover, if many nuclear weapons were used in a war, the fires from destroyed cities could send massive clouds of smoke and dust high into the atmosphere, which could block sunlight. If sunlight is blocked, plants cannot perform photosynthesis (photosynthesis is how plants make their own food). Plants need sunlight to make their food. Without enough sunlight, many plants would die. If many plants die, global food production would fall sharply.
At the same time, less sunlight would lower temperatures across the planet. This combination of darkness, cold temperatures, and food shortages is known as nuclear winter.
The United States was the first country to build nuclear weapons. Soon after, the Soviet Union (now Russia) followed. Today, there are nine countries known to have nuclear weapons. These countries are:
▪️ United States
▪️ Russia
▪️ China
▪️ France
▪️ United Kingdom
▪️ India
▪️ Pakistan
▪️ Israel (though Israel neither confirms nor deny it)
▪️ North Korea
The United States is the only country that has used nuclear weapons on people. It did so twice in Japan during World War II. Two Japanese cities were bombed:
▪️
