Does hiding under a desk really protect you from a nuclear detonation?

I heard they made them do that for the convenience of casualty identification. Probably an urban legend.

I remember we used to bomb drills in elementary school in mids 90s nyc but they would just stand in the hallway and they were called "indoor fire drills". kek

A desk may save you from debris but it won't save you from the hundreds of degrees of thermal radiation. It all depends on several factors including the yield of the bomb, its composition, it's design, etc. A 30 kt gun type fission weapon will have different effects than a 100 kt thermonuclear mostly fusion or boosted fission weapon with a lead tamper.

But windows will be shattered at distances far away from any thermal radiation. Obviously hiding under a desk won't do shit if you're in the epicentre, but it'll save you from being shredded by glass.

no.

it was only meant to serve as method of keeping kids from worrying.

No dude they just said that shit to make civilians feel safe. Ever heard of duck and cover?

Yes, second only to a fridge.

If you're really far away and you're getting hit by debris then yeah. if it's a non nuclear weapon then yeah. If it's a small nuclear weapon and you're a decent distance away then yeah. If you're trying to just survive and there's nothing to do but hope and pray for chance, then why the fuck wouldn't you try.

Not if you're within the fireball.

Beyond that it COULD potentially save your life, if you were fast enough.

There's the story of that one man who survived both the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings, and managed to save a bunch of his office mates' lives by telling them to all put the stairwell at the corner of the building between them and the blast.

>Not if you're within the fireball.
Really? I didn't know that. Thanks for pointing it out.

People have a misunderstanding about the strength and types of detonations. For example the bomb dropped on Hiroshima was a deliberate air burst, detonating at about 2,000 ft of altitude to maximize blast effects and minimize residual radiation and fallout. For people outside the relatively small radiation radius and not exposed to thermal radiation, the biggest threat was blast pressure collapsing buildings.

nuclearsecrecy.com/nukemap/?&kt=15&lat=40.72422&lng=-73.9961&hob_opt=2&hob_psi=5&hob_ft=1968&zm=14

Was anyone else here forced too watch that video with the fucking turtles in high school history? You know the one I'm talking about.

> Duck, and cover!

Yes. Little known fact is that the desk acts a a perfect shield against nuclear blasts, and back in the day they were finished with lead paint, which would immunize you from any radiation effects. One of the reasons the bombs on Japan were so successful in producing mass casualties is because japs never used desks, they just sat on mats or some bullshit, why do you think no western nation has been hit with a nuke since? We have desks everywhere: schools, offices, homes. The Russians never bombed us because our strong protestant work ethic meant the entine country was filled with anti nuke shielding desks, a nuke eould produce next to no casualties. This is the true reasonthe standing desk trend is so dangerous. Fucking ergonomic hipsters don't realize that they are a serious national security threat.