Gauging safe distance from nuclear explosion with your thumb?

[RainDreamer]

This is actually true. (Confirmed by my grandfather, who was a nuclear weapon technician who worked with some of the test detonations). It was a literal rule of thumb (and maybe THE rule of thumb the concept is named after). Well, true after a fashion. You can't gauge the exact yield, but it's 'if the cloud cannot be fully obscured by your thumb held up at arm's length, you're too close and need to be running from the fallout'. It's an informal measurement for grunts to decide what they need to do in case of battlefield nukes.

That sounds interesting ! Sounds truly like something people would say back in the 50s to soldiers.

[Sidereus]

Remember the overly optimistic "Duck and cover" educational films...

"Duck and Cover" may have been somewhat overly optimistic, but it wasn't really bad advice, either.

Consider that a lot of the serious injuries suffered by people who observed the Chelyabinsk meteor were caused by the shock wave from the explosion (which was equivalent to about 500 kilotons, or 20-30 times larger than the bomb used on Hiroshima) blew out the windows they were standing in front of.

So if you're not close enough to be instantly vaporized, but you're still close enough to get hit with the shock wave, ducking and covering would be a good way to keep from being injured from exploding windows or other flying debris that you might get hit with if you're standing there gawking or gauging the distance to the mushroom cloud with your thumb...

(and maybe THE rule of thumb the concept is named after).

The phrase is much older than the atomic age, with the earliest known use occurring in the late 1600s. It's thought that it might have come from carpenters using their thumbs as a measuring tool.

[fredinno]

It's probably false, but then the 1950's propaganda (on which the Fallout universe is based) was a wierd period with promises of a brighter future thanks to the atom. Remember the overly optimistic "Duck and cover" educational films, the projects for using nukes to make artificial lakes, or the wacky ideas like nuclear planes, Orion propulsion, and the Ford Nucleon.

http://gtspirit.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/ford-nucleon_2.jpg

Don't forget nuclear planes!