READING

1 What is ‘a war’? How do you understand this term?

THE WORLD AFTER NUCLEAR WAR

Now we may say that in this war there will be no winner.

Nuclear explosions will throw large clouds of soot1 into the atmosphere. The American
scientist Professor Krudzen spoke about fiery storms which would take place after the
explosions. Everything would burn in these storms, even metals. After these fiery storms
there would be a lot of soot in the air over cities and towns. Soot does not let light go
through it. As a result there would be great changes in the climate.

Another American scientist, Carl Sagan, published a work which shows what could be in
the world if 5,000 megatons of nuclear fuel were used (about 12% of all the nuclear fuel
which all the countries have together today). This explosion would destroy 1,000 big cities
by fiery storms. Clouds of soot and smoke would not let sunlight reach the earth. Only one
million of all the sun's energy which we receive today would reach the ground. There
would be soot in the air for a long time. A nuclear night would come. Black clouds would
rise over the destroyed cities, but they would be moved by winds from place to place. So
the climate would change all over the world.

The Russian scientists V. Alexandrov and G. Stenchikov wrote about nuclear winter which
would take place all over the world, not only at the places of explosions. In the first month
after the nuclear bombing the air would become colder by 15 to 20'C. All rivers, lakes,
seas and oceans would freeze, there would be no harvest, all plants and animals and
microorganisms would die, because it would be very cold and there would be no water and
sunlight.

We spoke about the explosion of 5,000 megatons, but 100-500 megatons of nuclear fuel
would be enough for a nuclear winter. Only one American submarine can carry 100
megatons of nuclear fuel, which is enough to destroy all the world.

So everybody must remember that a nuclear war is a war without winner. Everybody and
everything will die during the nuclear winter.
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1
Soot is black powder which rises in the smoke from a fire and collects on the inside of chimneys.