Bomb victims can experience third-degree burns in mere seconds. When a nuclear bomb goes off, it releases an intense flux of photons that creates a wave of extreme heat. in 1954, was 15 megatons, and produced a fireball with a radius of 1.42 kilometers.įor argument’s sake, however, let’s say we’re working with a 10 kiloton bomb. By contrast, Castle Bravo, the first hydrogen bomb tested by the U.S. The fireball created by the Fat Man bomb dropped on Nagasaki was a 20 kiloton bomb with a 0.1 kilometer radius.

First, not all bombs are created equal - different bombs are made differently, and explode with different intensities.

nuclear test Upshot-Knothole Badger on ApNational Nuclear Security Administrationįor those of you who aren’t nuclear physicists bent on destruction, there are some important things to know about A-bombs. What happens if the mushroom cloud is eclipsed by your digits? Instead of arguing whether the architects of the Fallout universe referenced the nuclear rule of thumb on purpose or not, let’s chase the bigger answer. It does not, however, explain his shit-eating grin. This explanation explains why Vault Boy appears to be winking - an otherwise strange gesture for a security company. If the cloud was bigger than your thumb, teachers explained, you’d know that you were in the radiation zone and should start running. The reason people think this - and plenty do - is that Americans used to be taught that if a nuclear bomb exploded in the distance they should hold out their arms, stick up their thumbs, and see if the cloud was bigger or smaller than their opposable digit. Most people probably think this is just him being a positive, chill, corporate bro, but there’s plenty of reason to believe that Vault Boy is doing something else entirely: squinting at a mushroom cloud. Vault Boy poses with his hand stuck out in front him, thumb pointing up, and a wink and a smile. He’s basically the post-apocalyptic wasteland version of Micky Mouse - or perhaps, given the potential lethality of his message, Joe Camel. We also wonder if that smile is because he is in fact far enough away from the blast to be safe, or if it’s a knowing smile that comes when someone accepts their own mortality.If you’ve ever played the Fallout video game series, you’ve almost certainly seen a picture of Vault Boy, the mascot of the Vault-Tec Corporation. But after looking at the picture, it’s hard not to think that’s exactly why Vault Boy has his thumb out.ĭespite the veracity of the claim, fans will never be able to look at Vault Boy the same way. Did they find it somewhere, get it from someone who lived during the atomic bomb testing heyday of the 50s, or just make it up? Bethesda has not yet divulged the origin of this theory, or even if that’s what Vault Boy is doing. But it does bring up the question for where this “fact” started and where the Fallout developers first picked up this tidbit. That doesn’t necessarily make it any less interesting. From what we could find online, there are no notable sources verifying this claim. While this is a fun and interesting fact, it seems sites like Reddit and the occasional meme are the only references for this helpful fact.

Vault boy thumbs up easy drawing