TNT equivalent
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TNT equivalent is a convention for expressing energy, typically used to describe the energy released in an explosion. The "ton of TNT" is a unit of energy defined by that convention to be 4.184 gigajoules,[1] which is the approximate energy released in the detonation of a metric ton (1,000 kilograms or one megagram) of TNT. The convention intends to compare the destructiveness of an event with that of conventional explosive materials, of which TNT is a typical example, although other conventional explosives such as dynamite contain more energy.
Contents
Kiloton and megaton
The "kiloton (of TNT)" is a unit of energy equal to 4.184 terajoules.
The "megaton (of TNT)" is a unit of energy equal to 4.184 petajoules.
The kiloton and megaton of TNT have traditionally been used to describe the energy output, and hence the destructive power, of a nuclear weapon. The TNT equivalent appears in various nuclear weapon control treaties, and has been used to characterize the energy released in such other highly destructive events as an asteroid impact.[2]
Historical derivation of the value
A gram of TNT releases 2673–6702 J (joules) upon explosion.[3] The energy liberated by one gram of TNT was arbitrarily defined as a matter of convention to be 4184 J,[4] which is exactly one kilocalorie.
An explosive's energy is normally expressed as the thermodynamic work produced by its detonation, which for TNT has been accurately measured as 4686 J/g from a large sample of air blast experiments, and theoretically calculated to be 4853 J/g.[5]
The measured, pure heat output of a gram of TNT is only 2724 J,[6][clarification needed] but this is not the important value for explosive blast effect calculations.
Alternative TNT equivalency can be calculated as a function of when in the detonation the value is measured and which property is being compared.[7][8][9][10]
A kiloton of TNT can be visualized as a cube of TNT 8.46 metres (27.8 ft) on a side.
Grams TNT | Symbol | Tons TNT | Symbol | Energy [Joules] | Energy [Wh] | Corresponding mass loss |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
gram of TNT | g | microton of TNT | μt | 4.184×103 J or 4.184 kilojoules | 1.163 Wh | 46.55 pg |
kilogram of TNT | kg | milliton of TNT | mt | 4.184×106 J or 4.184 megajoules | 1.163 kWh | 46.55 ng |
megagram of TNT | Mg | ton of TNT | t | 4.184×109 J or 4.184 gigajoules | 1.163 MWh | 46.55 μg |
gigagram of TNT | Gg | kiloton of TNT | kt | 4.184×1012 J or 4.184 terajoules | 1.163 GWh | 46.55 mg |
teragram of TNT | Tg | megaton of TNT | Mt | 4.184×1015 J or 4.184 petajoules | 1.163 TWh | 46.55 g |
petagram of TNT | Pg | gigaton of TNT | Gt | 4.184×1018 J or 4.184 exajoules | 1.163 PWh | 46.55 kg |
Conversion to other units
1 ton TNT equivalent is approximately:
- 1.0×109 calories
- 4.184×109 joules
- 3.96831×106 British thermal units
- 3.08802×109 foot pounds
- 1.162×103 kilowatt hours
Examples
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Megatons of TNT | Energy [Wh] | Description |
---|---|---|
1×10−9 | 1.162 kWh | Under controlled conditions one kilogram of TNT can destroy (or even obliterate) a small vehicle. |
1×10−8 | 11.62 kWh | The approximate radiant heat energy released during 3-phase, 600 V, 100 kA arcing fault in a Lua error in Module:Convert at line 1851: attempt to index local 'en_value' (a nil value). compartment within a 1-second period.[11][further explanation needed] |
1.2×10−8 | 13.94 kWh | Amount of TNT used (12 kg) in Coptic church explosion in Cairo, Egypt on December 11, 2016 that left 25 dead[12] |
1×10−6 – 44×10−6 | 1.16–51.14 MWh | Conventional bombs yield from less than one ton to FOAB's forty four tonnes. The yield of a Tomahawk cruise missile is equivalent to 500 kg of TNT, or approximately 0.5 tons.[13] |
1.9×10−6 | 2.90 MWh | An American television show, MythBusters, used 2.5 tons of ANFO to make "homemade" diamonds. |
5×10−4 | 581 MWh | A real 0.5-kilotonne-of-TNT (2.1 TJ) charge at Operation Sailor Hat. If the charge were a full sphere, it would be 1 kilotonne of TNT (4.2 TJ). |
1×10−3 – 2×10−3 | 1.16–2.32 GWh | Estimated yield of the Oppau explosion that killed more than 500 at a German fertilizer factory in 1921. |
2.3×10−3 | 2.67 GWh | Amount of solar energy falling on 4,000 m2 (1 acre) of land in a year is 9.5 TJ (2,650 MWh) (an average over the Earth's disk). |
3×10−3 | 3.49 GWh | The Halifax Explosion in 1917 was the accidental detonation of 3,000 tons of TNT. |
4×10−3 | 9.3 GWh | Minor Scale, a 1985 United States conventional explosion, using 4,744 tons of ANFO explosive to provide a scaled equivalent airblast of an eight kiloton (33.44 TJ) nuclear device,[14] is believed to be the largest planned detonation of conventional explosives in history. |
1.5×10−2 – 2×10−2 | 17.4–23.2 GWh | The Little Boy atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima on August 6, 1945, exploded with an energy of about 15 kilotons of TNT (63 TJ), and the Fat Man atomic bomb dropped on Nagasaki on August 9, 1945, exploded with an energy of about 20 kilotons of TNT (84 TJ). The modern nuclear weapons in the United States arsenal range in yield from 0.3 kt (1.3 TJ) to 1.2 Mt (5.0 PJ) equivalent, for the B83 strategic bomb. |
1 | 1.16 TWh | The energy contained in one megaton of TNT (4.2 PJ) is enough to power the average American household for 103,000 years.[15] The 30 Mt (130 PJ) estimated upper limit blast power of the Tunguska event could power the aforementioned home for just over 3,104,226 years. To put that in perspective, the energy of that blast could power the entire United States for 3.27 days.[16] |
3 | 3.5 TWh | The total energy of all explosives used in World War Two (including the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombs) is estimated to have been three megatons of TNT. |
8.6 | 10 TWh | The energy released by an "average" tropical cyclone in one minute, primarily from water condensation. Winds constitute a quarter of a percent of that energy.[17] |
21.5 | 25 TWh | The complete conversion of 1 kg of matter into pure energy would yield the theoretical maximum (E = mc2) of 89.8 petajoules, which is equivalent to 21.5 megatons of TNT. No such method of total conversion as combining 500 grams of matter with 500 grams of antimatter has yet been achieved. In the event of proton–antiproton annihilation, approximately 50% of the released energy will escape in the form of neutrinos, which are almost undetectable.[18] Electron–positron annihilation events emit their energy entirely as gamma rays. |
24 | 28 TWh | Approximate total yield of the 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens. |
25, 50, 100 | 29 TWh, 58 TWh, 116 TWh | During the Cold War, the United States developed hydrogen bombs with maximum theoretical yields of 25 megatons of TNT (100 PJ). The Soviet Union developed a prototype weapon, nicknamed the Tsar Bomba, which was tested at 50 Mt (210 PJ), but had a maximum theoretical yield of 100 Mt (420 PJ).[19] The effective destructive potential of such a weapon varies greatly, depending on such conditions as the altitude at which it is detonated, the characteristics of the target, the terrain, and the physical landscape upon which it is detonated. |
26.3 | 30.6 TWh | Megathrust earthquakes 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake released record ME surface rupture energy, or potential for damage at 26.3 megatons of TNT (110 PJ). |
200 | 232 TWh | The total energy released by the eruption of Mt. Krakatoa in Indonesia in 1883. |
540 | 628 TWh | The total energy produced worldwide by all nuclear testing and combat combined, from the 1940s till now is about 540 megatons. |
1,460 | 1.69 PWh | The total global nuclear arsenal is about 15,000 nuclear warheads[20][21][22] with a destructive capacity of around 1460 megatons[23][24][25][26] or 1.460 gigatons (1,460 million tons) of TNT. |
62,500 | 73 PWh | The total solar energy received by Earth per minute is 440 exajoules. |
875,000 | 1,000 PWh | Approximate yield of the last eruption of the Yellowstone supervolcano. |
6,000,000 = 6×106 | 6,973 PWh | The estimated energy at impact when the largest fragment of Comet Shoemaker–Levy 9 struck Jupiter is equivalent to six million megatons (six trillion tons) of TNT. |
9.32×106 | 10,831 PWh | The energy released in the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami was over 200,000 times the surface energy and was calculated by the USGS at 3.9×1022 joules,[27] slightly less than the 2004 Indian Ocean quake. This is equivalent to 9,320 gigatons of TNT, or approximately 600 million times the energy of the Hiroshima bomb. |
9.56×106 | 11,110 PWh | Megathrust earthquakes record huge MW values, or total energy released. The 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake released 9,560 gigatons TNT equivalent. |
1×108 | 116,222 PWh | The approximate energy released when the Chicxulub impact caused the mass extinction sixty six million years ago was estimated to be equal to 100 teratons (i.e. 100 exagrams or approximately 220.462 quadrillion pounds) of TNT. That is roughly eight billion times stronger than each of the bombs that hit Hiroshima and Nagasaki and the most energetic event on the history of Earth for hundreds of millions of years, far more powerful than any volcanic eruption, earthquake or firestorm. Such an explosion annihilated everything within a thousand miles of the impact in a split second. Such energy is equivalent to that needed to power the whole Earth for several centuries. |
5.972×1015 | 6.94 × 1027 Wh | The explosive energy of a quantity of TNT the mass of Earth. |
7.89×1015 | 9.17 × 1027 Wh | Total solar output in all directions per day. |
1.98×1021 | 2.3 × 1033 Wh | The explosive energy of a quantity of TNT the mass of the Sun. |
2.4×1028 – 4.8×1028 | 2.8–5.6 × 1040 Wh | On a much grander scale, a type 1a supernova explosion gives off 1–2×1044 joules of energy, which is about 2.4 to 4.8 hundred billion yottatons (24 to 48 octillion (2.4–4.8×1028) megatons) of TNT, equivalent to the explosive force of a quantity of TNT over a trillion (1012) times the mass of the planet Earth. The Type 1a supernova is essentially the fusion detonation of all the fusable fuel in a star of about 1.4 solar masses within a few seconds, and is a standard candle used for intergalactic distance measurements. |
2.4×1030 – 4.8×1030 | 2.8–5.6 × 1042 Wh | The largest supernova explosions witnessed, so-called gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) released more than 1046 joules of energy.[28] |
1.3×1038 | 1.5 × 1050 Wh | A merger of two black holes, first observation of gravitational waves, released 5.3×1047 joules |
Relative effectiveness factor
The relative effectiveness factor (RE factor), relates an explosive's demolition power to that of TNT, in units of the TNT equivalent/kg (TNTe/kg). The RE factor is the relative mass of TNT to which an explosive is equivalent: The greater the RE, the more powerful the explosive.
This enables engineers to determine the proper masses of different explosives when applying blasting formulas developed specifically for TNT. For example, if a timber-cutting formula calls for a charge of 1 kg of TNT, then based on octanitrocubane's RE factor of 2.38, it would take only 1.0/2.38 (or 0.42) kg of it to do the same job. Using PETN, engineers would need 1.0/1.66 (or 0.60) kg to obtain the same effects as 1 kg of TNT. With ANFO or ammonium nitrate, they would require 1.0/0.74 (or 1.35) kg or 1.0/0.42 (or 2.38) kg, respectively.
RE factor examples
Explosive, Grade | Density (g/ml) |
Detonation Vel. (m/s) |
R.E. |
---|---|---|---|
Ammonium nitrate (AN + <0.5% H2O) | 1.72 | 2700[29] | 0.42 |
Mercury(II) fulminate | 4.42[30] | 4250 | 0.51[31] |
Black powder (75% KNO3 + 19% C + 6% S) | 1.65 | 600 | 0.55 |
Tanerit Simply® (93% granulated AN + 6% red P + 1% C) | 0.90 | 2750 | 0.55 |
Hexamine dinitrate (HDN) | 1.30 | 5070 | 0.60 |
Dinitrobenzene (DNB) | 1.50 | 6025 | 0.60 |
HMTD (hexamine peroxide) | 0.88 | 4520 | 0.74 |
ANFO (94% AN + 6% fuel oil) | 0.92 | 5270 | 0.74 |
TATP (acetone peroxide) | 1.18 | 5300 | 0.80 |
Tovex® Extra (AN water gel) commercial product | 1.33 | 5690 | 0.80 |
Hydromite® 600 (AN water emulsion) commercial product | 1.24 | 5550 | 0.80 |
ANNMAL (66% AN + 25% NM + 5% Al + 3% C + 1% TETA) | 1.16 | 5360 | 0.87 |
Amatol (50% TNT + 50% AN) | 1.50 | 6290 | 0.91 |
Nitroguanidine | 1.32 | 6750 | 0.95 |
Trinitrotoluene (TNT) | 1.60 | 6900 | 1.00 |
Hexanitrostilbene (HNS) | 1.70 | 7080 | 1.05 |
Nitrourea | 1.45 | 6860 | 1.05 |
Tritonal (80% TNT + 20% aluminium)* | 1.70 | 6650 | 1.05 |
Amatol (80% TNT + 20% AN) | 1.55 | 6570 | 1.10 |
Nitrocellulose (13.5% N, NC; AKA guncotton) | 1.40 | 6400 | 1.10 |
Nitromethane (NM) | 1.13 | 6360 | 1.10 |
PBXW-126 (22% NTO, 20% RDX, 20% AP, 26% Al, 12% PU’s system)* | 1.80 | 6450 | 1.10 |
Diethylene glycol dinitrate (DEGDN) | 1.38 | 6610 | 1.17 |
PBXIH-135 EB (42% HMX, 33% Al, 25% PCP-TMETN’s system)* | 1.81 | 7060 | 1.17 |
PBXN-109 (64% RDX, 20% Al, 16% HTPB’s system)* | 1.68 | 7450 | 1.17 |
Triaminotrinitrobenzene (TATB) | 1.80 | 7550 | 1.17 |
Picric acid (TNP) | 1.71 | 7350 | 1.20 |
Trinitrobenzene (TNB) | 1.60 | 7300 | 1.20 |
Tetrytol (70% tetryl + 30% TNT) | 1.60 | 7370 | 1.20 |
Dynamite, Nobel's (75% NG + 23% diatomite) | 1.48 | 7200 | 1.25 |
Tetryl | 1.71 | 7770 | 1.25 |
Torpex (aka HBX, 41% RDX + 40% TNT + 18% Al + 1% wax)* | 1.80 | 7440 | 1.30 |
Composition B (63% RDX + 36% TNT + 1% wax) | 1.72 | 7840 | 1.33 |
Composition C-3 (78% RDX) | 1.60 | 7630 | 1.33 |
Composition C-4 (91% RDX) | 1.59 | 8040 | 1.34 |
Pentolite (56% PETN + 44% TNT) | 1.66 | 7520 | 1.33 |
Semtex 1A (76% PETN + 6% RDX) | 1.55 | 7670 | 1.35 |
RISAL P (50% IPN + 28% RDX + 15% Al + 4% Mg + 1% Zr + 2% NC)* | 1.39 | 5980 | 1.40 |
Hydrazine mononitrate | 1.59 | 8500 | 1.42 |
Mixture: 24% nitrobenzene + 76% TNM | 1.48 | 8060 | 1.50 |
Mixture: 30% nitrobenzene + 70% nitrogen tetroxide | 1.39 | 8290 | 1.50 |
Nitroglycerin (NG) | 1.59 | 8100 | 1.54 |
Octol (80% HMX + 19% TNT + 1% DNT) | 1.83 | 8690 | 1.54 |
Nitrotriazolon (NTO) | 1.87 | 8120 | 1.60 |
DADNE (1,1-diamino-2,2-dinitroethene, FOX-7) | 1.77 | 8330 | 1.60 |
Gelignite (92% NG + 7% nitrocellulose) | 1.60 | 7970 | 1.60 |
Plastics Gel® (in toothpaste tube: 45% PETN + 45% NG + 5% DEGDN + 4% NC) | 1.51 | 7940 | 1.60 |
Composition A-5 (98% RDX + 2% stearic acid) | 1.65 | 8470 | 1.60 |
Erythritol tetranitrate (ETN) | 1.72 | 8100 | 1.60 |
Hexogen (RDX) | 1.78 | 8700 | 1.60 |
PBXW-11 (96% HMX, 1% HyTemp, 3% DOA) | 1.81 | 8720 | 1.60 |
Penthrite (PETN) | 1.71 | 8400 | 1.66 |
Ethylene glycol dinitrate (EGDN) | 1.49 | 8300 | 1.66 |
TNAZ (trinitroazetidine) | 1.85 | 8640 | 1.70 |
Octogen (HMX grade B) | 1.86 | 9100 | 1.70 |
HNIW (CL-20) | 1.97 | 9380 | 1.80 |
Hexanitrobenzene (HNB) | 1.97 | 9400 | 1.85 |
— (AFX-757) | N/A | N/A | 1.85 |
MEDINA (Methylene dinitroamine) | 1.65 | 8700 | 1.93 |
DDF (4,4’-Dinitro-3,3’-diazenofuroxan) | 1.98 | 10,000 | 1.95 |
Heptanitrocubane (HNC) | 1.92 | 9200 | N/A |
— (AFX-777) | N/A | N/A | 1.97 |
— (PAX-28) | N/A | N/A | 2.16 |
Octanitrocubane (ONC) | 1.95 | 10,600 | 2.38 |
*: TBX (thermobaric explosives) or EBX (enhanced blast explosives), in a small, confined space, may have over twice the power of destruction. The total power of aluminized mixtures strictly depends on the condition of explosions.
Nuclear examples
Weapon | Total yield (kilotons of TNT) |
Weight (kg) |
R.E. ~ |
---|---|---|---|
Davy Crockett (nuclear device) | 0.022 | 23 | 1,000 |
Fat Man (dropped on Nagasaki A-bomb) | 20 | 4600 | 4,500 |
Classic (one-stage) fission A-bomb | 22 | 420 | 50,000 |
Russian suitcase nuke (in service of GRU) | 2.5 | 31 | 80,000 |
Typical (two-stage) nuclear bomb | 500–1000 | 650–1120 | 900,000 |
W56 thermonuclear warhead | 1,200 | 272–308 | 4,960,000 |
W88 modern thermonuclear warhead (MIRV) | 470 | 355 | 1,300,000 |
B53 nuclear bomb (two-stage) | 9,000 | 4050 | 2,200,000 |
B41 nuclear bomb (three-stage) | 25,000 | 4850 | 5,100,000 |
Tsar nuclear bomb (three-stage) | 50,000–56,000 | 26,500 | 2,100,000 |
GBU-57 bomb (Massive Ordnance Penetrator, MOP) | 0.0035 | 13,600 | 0.26 |
Grand Slam (Earthquake bomb, M110) | 0.0065 | 9,900 | 0.66 |
Bomb used in Oklahoma City (ANFO base on racing fuel) | 0.0018 | 2,300 | 0.78 |
BLU-82 (Daisy Cutter) | 0.0075 | 6,800 | 1.10 |
MOAB (non-nuclear bomb, GBU-47) | 0.011 | 9,800 | 1.13 |
FOAB (advanced thermobaric bomb, ATBIP) | 0.044 | 9,100 | 4.83 |
See also
- Nuclear weapon yield
- Nuclear arms race
- Orders of magnitude (energy)
- Relative effectiveness factor
- Ton
- Tonne
- Tonne of oil equivalent, a unit of energy almost exactly 10 tonnes of TNT
- Table of explosive detonation velocities
- Brisance
References
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Blast effects of external explosions (Section 4.8. Limitations of the TNT equivalent method) Archived August 10, 2016, at the Wayback Machine
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. In NIST SI Guide 2008
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Sorin Bastea, Laurence E. Fried, Kurt R. Glaesemann, W. Michael Howard, P. Clark Souers, Peter A. Vitello, Cheetah 5.0 User's Manual, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, 2007.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ "The Ingenuity Gap: Facing the Economic, Environmental, and Other Challenges", Thomas F. Homer-Dixon, p. 249.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. (Calculated from 2007 value of 936 kWh monthly usage)
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. (Calculated from 2007 value of 3,892,000,000,000 kWh annual usage)
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. cites 6e14 watts continuous.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ See Currently deployed U.S. nuclear weapon yields Archived September 7, 2016, at the Wayback Machine, Complete List of All U.S. Nuclear Weapons Archived December 16, 2008, at the Wayback Machine, Tsar Bomba Archived June 17, 2016, at the Wayback Machine, all from Carey Sublette's Nuclear Weapon Archive.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0096340215571913?journalCode=bosb
- ↑ http://www.nrdc.org/nuclear/nudb/datab14.asp
- ↑ http://bos.sagepub.com/content/71/4/77.full.pdf
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ US Army FM 3-34.214: Explosives and Demolition, 2007, page 1–2.
- ↑ "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercury(II)_fulminate"
- ↑ Whitehall Paraindistries[1]
- Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- Nuclear Weapons FAQ Part 1.3
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