TNT equivalent

The TNT equivalent is a unit of energy commonly used to quantify the energy released (or "yielded") in explosions. The ton (or tonne) of TNT equivalent is equal to 4.184 gigajoules (GJ) which is approximately the amount of energy released in the detonation of one ton of TNT explosive.

The units, kiloton and megaton of TNT, have commonly been used to rate the energy yield, and hence destructive power, of nuclear weapons. These units have been used in various nuclear weapon control treaties as well as in numerous article and books.

Amounts, symbols and energy yields
Various tonnages of TNT equivalent energy and their commonly used energy yield expressions are tabulated below:

Some example usages

 * The Massive Ordinance Air Blast (MOAB) bomb, the largest conventional bomb ever produced in the United States, has a TNT equivalent energy yield of approximately 11 tons (11 t).


 * The W54 nuclear warhead device, now retired, developed by the United States in the early 1962s, had a TNT equivalent energy yield of 10 to 20 tons (10 to 20 t) and was probably the smallest nuclear device ever produced in the United States.


 * The code-named Little Boy nuclear fission bomb air-dropped by the United States on Hiroshima, Japan in World War II had a TNT equivalent energy yield of approximately 15 kilotons (15 kt).


 * During the Cold War that followed World War II, the United States tested a nuclear weapon that had a TNT equivalent energy yield of 15 megatons (Mt) and the Soviet Union tested a nuclear weapon with a TNT equivalent energy yield of 50 megatons (Mt).


 * The magnitude 9.0 Tohoku-Oki earthquake that occurred off the east coast of Japan on March 11, 2011 has been estimated to have released 9.1×1018 joules which amounts to TNT equivalent of 2,175 megatons (Mt) or 2.175 gigatons (Gt).