With more news on Edgerunners just around the corner, I feel it's fitting to return to Cyberpunk. Let's start off with the most impressive feat in terms of character strength...
The Night City Holocaust was when a micro-nuke went off and destroyed the Arasaka Towers, devastated much of Night City and left 12000 people dead. Adam Smasher and Johnny Silverhand survived this explosion (Johnny while already mortally wounded from being torn in half by Adam). Looking into this, there's actually a word of god statement from Mike Pondsmith about the yield of the nuke.
L = 4.2672m X 10
= 42.67200m
100 tons of TNT is equal to 4.184e+11 joules, while 500 tons of TNT is equal to 2.092e+12 joules.
(Low end)
E = 1.9/42.67200
= 0.0445256843 X 4.184e+11
= 1.86295463e10 joules
= 4.4525684273423 tons of TNT
(High end)
E = 1.9/42.67200
= 0.0445256843 X 2.092e+12
= 9.31477316e10 joules
= 22.262842160612 tons of TNT
On top of that, we also see the fireball in the game itself, so let's also have a go at scaling off that.
23 + 51 = 74
74 pixels = 366m
366m/2 = 183m
Entering that into Nukemap and messing around until we find our result of and we get 7.3 kilotons (or 3.054e+13 joules) for an airblast radius of 183m (the explosion is officially an airblast). Alternately, using the MIT Nuke Calculator we have a yield of 69.56 kilotons (2.91039e+14 joules) for an airburst with a radius of 183m. Once again, let's find the energy that Johnny Silverhand and Adam Smasher withstood.
(Low end)
E = 1.9/42.67200
= 0.0445256843 X 3.054e+13
= 1359814398522 joules
= 325.0034413293499 tons of TNT
(High end)
E = 1.9/42.67200
= 0.0445256843 X 2.91039e+14
= 1.29587106e13 joules
= 3.0972061663479922 kilotons
Final Results
Suitcase nuke destroys Arasaka Towers (official yield - low end) = 100 tons of TNT
Suitcase nuke destroys Arasaka Towers (official yield - high end) = 500 tons of TNT
Johnny Silverhands durability (based off official yield - low end) = 4.453 tons of TNT
Johnny Silverhands durability (based off official yield - high end) = 22.263 tons of TNT
Suitcase nuke destroys Arasaka Towers (unofficial yield - low end) = 7.3 kilotons
Suitcase nuke destroys Arasaka Towers (unofficial yield - high end) = 69.56 kilotons
Johnny Silverhands durability (based off unofficial yield - low end) = 325.003 tons of TNT
Johnny Silverhands durability (based off unofficial yield - high end) = 3.097 kilotons
I feel the official numbers are more reliable than the unofficial numbers (Mike Pondsmith himself spent a ton of time calcing the Arakasa explosion himself to gauge the impacts on Night City), but I felt like doing my own scaling in anycase.
The Night City Holocaust was when a micro-nuke went off and destroyed the Arasaka Towers, devastated much of Night City and left 12000 people dead. Adam Smasher and Johnny Silverhand survived this explosion (Johnny while already mortally wounded from being torn in half by Adam). Looking into this, there's actually a word of god statement from Mike Pondsmith about the yield of the nuke.
The suitcase nuke was based off the prospective terrorist bomb concept, which had a yield of half a kiloton, or 500 tons of TNT. According to the Cyberpunk Red Corebook, the explosion was 0.1 kilotons (100 tons of TNT).
We have our official figures, so let's figure out the amount of energy that Johnny Silverhand and Adam Smasher would have to withstand. The average surface area of a man is 1.9m^2 (this is for Johnny Silverhand, Adam Smasher would be even higher). As for our distance, the bomb was set off on the 120th floor, and the original Arasaka Towers had a height of 130 floors, giving us a distance of 10 floors. Your average floor is 14 feet in height, or 4.2672m.
L = 4.2672m X 10
= 42.67200m
100 tons of TNT is equal to 4.184e+11 joules, while 500 tons of TNT is equal to 2.092e+12 joules.
(Low end)
E = 1.9/42.67200
= 0.0445256843 X 4.184e+11
= 1.86295463e10 joules
= 4.4525684273423 tons of TNT
(High end)
E = 1.9/42.67200
= 0.0445256843 X 2.092e+12
= 9.31477316e10 joules
= 22.262842160612 tons of TNT
On top of that, we also see the fireball in the game itself, so let's also have a go at scaling off that.
23 + 51 = 74
74 pixels = 366m
366m/2 = 183m
Entering that into Nukemap and messing around until we find our result of and we get 7.3 kilotons (or 3.054e+13 joules) for an airblast radius of 183m (the explosion is officially an airblast). Alternately, using the MIT Nuke Calculator we have a yield of 69.56 kilotons (2.91039e+14 joules) for an airburst with a radius of 183m. Once again, let's find the energy that Johnny Silverhand and Adam Smasher withstood.
(Low end)
E = 1.9/42.67200
= 0.0445256843 X 3.054e+13
= 1359814398522 joules
= 325.0034413293499 tons of TNT
(High end)
E = 1.9/42.67200
= 0.0445256843 X 2.91039e+14
= 1.29587106e13 joules
= 3.0972061663479922 kilotons
Final Results
Suitcase nuke destroys Arasaka Towers (official yield - low end) = 100 tons of TNT
Suitcase nuke destroys Arasaka Towers (official yield - high end) = 500 tons of TNT
Johnny Silverhands durability (based off official yield - low end) = 4.453 tons of TNT
Johnny Silverhands durability (based off official yield - high end) = 22.263 tons of TNT
Suitcase nuke destroys Arasaka Towers (unofficial yield - low end) = 7.3 kilotons
Suitcase nuke destroys Arasaka Towers (unofficial yield - high end) = 69.56 kilotons
Johnny Silverhands durability (based off unofficial yield - low end) = 325.003 tons of TNT
Johnny Silverhands durability (based off unofficial yield - high end) = 3.097 kilotons
I feel the official numbers are more reliable than the unofficial numbers (Mike Pondsmith himself spent a ton of time calcing the Arakasa explosion himself to gauge the impacts on Night City), but I felt like doing my own scaling in anycase.