• Question: Will nuclear weapons lead to WW3?

    Asked by mizzlily to Dilwar, Lou, Rachel, Simon, Susan on 18 Nov 2013.
    • Photo: Simon Langley-Evans

      Simon Langley-Evans answered on 18 Nov 2013:


      We have had nuclear weapons for nearly 70 years and WW3 has thankfully never come. I think that if somebody used a nuclear weapon now it probably would not result in global war, as long as it wasn’t Russia, America or China nuking each other. We have to hope that the leaders of these countries have more sense.

      I am the oldest of the scientists here and I lived through the Cold War. That was really scary because everybody thought that the world would end in nuclear war between the USA and the Soviet Union. When I was your age we used to get leaflets through the door and information films telling us what to do in the event of a nuclear attack. I once sat on a bus following a convoy of nuclear missiles down a normal road. Things were so bad that I honestly believed I would not live to my 30s. Luckily, I am still here- and so are you!

    • Photo: Louise Brown

      Louise Brown answered on 18 Nov 2013:


      I don’t think anyone would last very long if we did have a nuclear war. If one country fired one, another country would just fire one back and we would probably all be dead, so that would just be silly!

      Thankfully it doesn’t look like that will happen! My uncle always tells me about the cold war and how he joined a ‘ban the bomb’ protest! It sounded very scary!

    • Photo: Susan Skelton

      Susan Skelton answered on 19 Nov 2013:


      I really hope not!
      I think if one country did fire a nuclear weapon they wouldn’t last long as other countries will attack them quickly. But I wish everyone would get rid of their nuclear weapons, just to be on the safe side!

    • Photo: Dilwar Hussain

      Dilwar Hussain answered on 19 Nov 2013:


      Hi mizzlily,
      That is a good question. I don’t think it will. Countries tend to have nuclear weapons to deter other countries attacking them and to be taken seriously. Plus the effects will last more than 700,000 years through increased development of cancers and birth defects. So that is a nuclear No-no. If one nation decides to hit another country who also has a nuclear weapon, then the other country will just strike back resulting in what’s called Mutually Assured Destruction (MAD) – a fitting name to a terrible event.
      The nuclear weapons that a number of countries like the US, Russia, UK, France, China, India, Pakistan & Israel possess are about a thousand times more powerful than the ones dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan 1945. Although, nuclear weapons are being destroyed in Russia and the US through a joint programme, I don’t think they will completely get rid of them since they are a nation’s best kept secret and final deterrence.

    • Photo: Rachel Dakin

      Rachel Dakin answered on 19 Nov 2013:


      it’s a scary thought mizzlily but like everyone else says I think it’s the people controlling the weapons that are the danger.

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