[Spoilers] Big Order - Episode 4 discussion

Sorry if this seems rambly, but it's 0630 here and I've got a nasty toothache. I was a 74D (Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear weapons specialist) in the Army from 1997-2000 before switching to a 19K (M1 Abrams crewmember) until I was injured and discharged.

An airburst causes lower fallout over a much wider area and can potentially spread to a significant portion of the globe - including the country that launched the missile. Is there LESS fallout? Sure - but any amount of fallout is undesirable when it's collateral damage. Better pray it rains in the surrounding area before a neighboring country gets upset over the fallout dispersing over their border. The fallout consists of lighter material that's lifted into the atmosphere by the air currents after the superhot fireball and possible firestorm caused by the explosion.

A ground detonation causes worse fallout in a more localized area. Since the fallout from a ground detonation nuke is heavier, it doesn't travel nearly as far.

So in short, an airburst nuke creates a superheated column of air over the fireball, plus wider damage and a less (but still significant) column of hot air over the area of the firestorm that may or may not happen depending on a ton of different factors. That lifts lighter fallout particles (not to mention the radioactive particles released in the blast itself) up into the stratosphere where it spreads those light particles over a significant portion of the globe. A ground burst nuke lifts more and heavier particles from the explosion itself, but those are generally dispersed downwind of the explosion and don't reach the stratosphere. Even so, the fallout from both air burst and ground burst is only at dangerous levels of radiation for a month or so after detonation. In both cases.

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