The Day We Almost Set the World on Fire

What were the chances that the first nuclear blast would set the entire Earth on fire? More science: http://nerdist.com/topic/science-tech/ Watch more Because Science: http://nerdi.st/BecSci Follow Kyle Hill:   / sci_phile   Follow us on FB:   / becausescience   Follow us on Twitter:   / becausescience   Follow us on Instagram:   / becausescience   Follow Nerdist:   / nerdist   Because Science every Thursday. Learn More: Reference paper: http://large.stanford.edu/courses/201... Factor of safety: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Factor_... The weight of a butterfly: https://thebulletin.org/2015/02/the-w... Nuclear war as a global catastrophic risk: https://regulatorystudies.columbian.g... Inverse Compton scattering: http://venables.asu.edu/quant/proj/co... The impossibility of atmospheric fire: http://large.stanford.edu/courses/201... Bethe, Teller, Trinity, and the End of Earth: https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/... Radiative processes in plasmas: https://www.lehigh.edu/~eus204/teachi... Bremsstrahlung main losses: http://www.ira.inaf.it/~ddallaca/P-Ra...