How long does a nuke have a affect on a area? Well first let us talk about the nuke in general being made up of either Uranium, plutonium, or Thorium or fusion of hydrogen into helium. Usually Uranium in today's standards the explosion is 10 million times the energy produced by the combustion of a atom with coal. The two isotopes mostly used are U-235 and U-238 U-235 being used .7% of the times of nukes and U-238 being used 99.3%. Using these elements a nuke could last up to 4 months (Including Nuclear Waste). The nuke destroys the body or any living thing in it's radius (Cockroaches being a exception). Nuclear Power is not being only used on Bombs they have been used as Nuclear Plants. US had 109 that were certified and there were about 400 in the world. US gets 20% of it's electricity from Nuclear Plants and Means of Nuclear Energy.  

Photo Credit: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Operation_Upshot-Knothole_-_Badger_001.jpg

Source: McCarthy, John. October 17th, 1995. Freqently Asked Questions about Nuclear Energy. http://www-formal.stanford.edu/jmc/progress/nuclear-faq.html

Plasma Weapons? True or Fiction?

The closest to plasma weaponry is in the scientists hands and their process can be summarised as this. In our progress of Plasma we are able to have a ring of plasma for 2 feet. We have not been able to exactly have weapons with plasma inside. To give you a good comparison on the power and heat on plasma. The sun is about 6000K hot and plasma happens to be 6600K and up to 7700K! We have not however made it to go over 4ft and will hopefully work up to that point and beyond. However there has been a lighting gun which has been tested and was a success. Lighting makes the air to plasma and could be considered a plasma weapon but has not been released to use under any circumstance and can only be used by those who are certified. They have tested on many targets and hope to finish their research as the weapon could shock itself and potentially blow up. However Russia has attempted to make a plasma shield over artillery and are testing it on Russian tank shells. That is as far as the US and Russia have gotten to plasma weaponry or plasma in general.


Sited Work
http://www.army.mil/article/82262/

New Progress on Plasma Weapons." Military.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 29 Jan. 2014.

http://youtu.be/I11ClvQ6Fpc