What are the Largest Non-Nuclear Explosions in History?
Since the invention of high explosives, there have been numerous powerful non-nuclear explosions which have killed or injured upwards of 1,000 people at a time. Because measuring the exact magnitude of an explosion is impossible without careful measurements, and most large non-nuclear explosions are in fact accidental, it is impossible to say which of these explosions is the largest. Often, the amount of explosives detonated is known, but the size of an explosion cannot be directly calculated from the weight of the explosives alone, so an accurate ranking scheme is impossible. There are five major non-nuclear explosions that many agree are among the largest, if not the largest. These are the Halifax explosion (1917, estimated equivalent 2.9 kilotons (kt) of TNT), the Texas City disaster (1947, 2-4 kt), the “British Bang” military test on Heligoland in the North Sea (1947, 4 kt), the Minor Scale military test in New Mexico (1985, 4 kt), and the Port Chicago disaster (1944, 5 kt). The Ha
