NorK Nukes Need Neutering!

North Korea reported that it tested a nuclear device this weekend, which "...made our military very happy!"

But independent monitoring of the seismic energy released by the blast showed only 4.2 Richter, so the NorK device had a maximum yield of 2 KiloTons.

Whoopie-Ding! The Free World is shaking in its boots, Ronery Kim.

Nucrear Fijjre, Fizzle, uhhh, DUD! 244K
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Karridine

According to Wikipedia, an earthquake of magnitude 3.5 is equivalent to 178 metric tons of TNT, while a 4.0 is equivalent to 1 kT, and a 4.5 is 5.6 kT.

Noting that the Richter scale is logarithmic, and according to the USGS link, a magnitude 4.2 was recorded. Since a 0.5 magnitude increase corresponds to 5.6 times the magnitude, we have:

1 kT x (5.6)^(0.2/0.5) = 2 kT

For comparison, the Hiroshima bomb was 15 kT.

If NK intended the test to be 400 kT, then their device indeed fizzled.

Tip of the Karridine Kepi to Robert O, (at LGF) for his accurate math and this timely post!

North Korea! What a joke! Democratic Socialist Workers’ Paradise of Starving North Korea!