Summary of Explosives and Bombs

Firecracker

• Explosive: 1 g
• Purpose: Create noise
• Origin: China

M67 Grenade

• Type: Fragmentation hand grenade
• Use: U.S. Army (since 1968 to present)
• Explosive: 180 g of Composition B
• Effect: Steel fragments can kill within a radius of ≈5 m

M18 Claymore

• Type: Directional anti-personnel mine
• Developed for: U.S. Armed Forces (since 1960 to present)
• Explosive: 680 g of C-4
• Effect: Steel balls can kill at a distance of ≈50 m

AGM-114K Hellfire II

• Type: Air-to-surface missile
• Production: American, since 1993
• Explosive: Equivalent to 9 kg of TNT
• Range: Can hit targets at distances up to 8 km

Tallboy

• Type: Earthquake bomb
• Use: Royal Air Force during World War II
• Explosive: 2400 kg of Torpex D1
• Transport: Could only be carried by a modified Avro Lancaster

Father of All Bombs (FOAB)

• Type: Thermobaric bomb
• Design: Russian, dropped from a bomber
• Explosive: Equivalent to 44 tons of TNT
• Relevance: Considered the most powerful conventional weapon (non-nuclear)

Beirut Explosion (2020)

• Cause: Equivalent to ≈1 kiloton of TNT (2750 t of substance)
• Impact:
  • Deaths: 218
  • Injured: 7,000+
  • Displaced: ≈300,000

Little Boy

• Type: Atomic bomb
• Use: Bombing of Hiroshima on August 6, 1945
• Explosive: ≈15 kilotons of TNT
• Detonation: At an altitude of ≈600 m
• Impact: Approximately 100,000 people died

W-78 (Minuteman III)

• Type: Intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM)
• Service: Currently in service
• Warheads: Three W-78 thermonuclear warheads
• Explosive per warhead: 350 kilotons of TNT

Tsar Bomba

• Type: Aerial thermonuclear bomb
• Relevance: The most powerful nuclear bomb ever created and tested (50 megatons of TNT)
• Event: Tested on October 30, 1961, detonated at an altitude of about 4,000 m
• Transport: Dropped by parachute from a Tu-95V aircraft