10 Fascinating Reattachment Surgeries

10. Everett Knowles

Right Arm Reattachment

This was the first successful reattachment of a human limb. In 1962, 12 year old Everett Knowles was trying to hop a freight train in Somerville, Massachusetts and was thrown against a stone wall ripping his right arm off cleanly at the shoulder. Knowles walked away from the tracks using his left hand to hold his right arm inside a bloody sleeve and was then rushed to the emergency-room. Chief surgical, Dr. Ronald Malt immediately assembled a team of experts he would need. After hours of surgery the doctors reconnected the blood vessels, pinned the arm bone together, and grafted skin and muscle together. After the boys hand turned pink and a pulse returned to the wrist doctors reattached four major nerve trunks. After four years of recovery, Knowles had the same use of his right arm and hand as a natural lefty. He eventually drove a six-wheel truck and lifted sides of beef at his job.
Interesting Fact: After the accident Everett became a celebrity of sorts. He was interviewed repeatedly and received letters and souvenirs from major league baseball players and astronauts, even a fan club was formed.

 

9. Kaitlyn Lasitter

Right Foot Reattachment

Teenager Kaitlyn Lasitte made international news in 2007 after her accident at an amusement park. The accident occurred while she was riding the Superman Tower of Power at Six Flags Kentucky. During the ride a cable snapped and wrapped around both of her legs and severed both feet. In a recent deposition Kaitlyn said she remembers something hard hitting her in the head before the ride plunged and then felt “yanked” from her seat before being restrained by her safety belt. Then she remembers feeling like she was on fire and smelling burning flesh. Doctors were able to reattach her right foot, but unfortunately were not able to reattach her left foot and had to have some of her left leg amputated below the knee.

Interesting Fact: Kaitlyn’s medical bills total in the hundreds of thousands of dollars. The doctors and hospitals have agreed to wait for payment until the family’s case against the theme park is resolved.

 

8. Arsenio Matias

Both Hands Reattached

In 2005 at a factory in North Bay Shore New York, Arsenio Matias was operating a vacuum form machine which presses plastic into parts for store displays. Suddenly something went wrong and the machine cut both of his hands off at the wrists. Matias looked down to see blood gushing from his wrists and both of his hands lying on the floor beside the machine he had just been operating. After the accident coworkers put him in a chair and told him to raise his arms over his head to slow the bleeding. Two other coworkers tied their belts around his arms and others ran to a nearby store to get ice to store his hands in. A County police helicopter then airlifted him to University Hospital. Four weeks after the complex reconstructive microsurgery he was able to leave the hospital. Matias then faced about a year of rehabilitation including exercises to regain strength in his hands and increase his range of motion.

Interesting Fact: The Occupational Safety and Health Administration cited the company for 17 alleged serious violations, including limited training for employees and periodic servicing of manufacturing machinery and six other violations.

 

7. Yang Chiung-ming and Chen Ming-kuo

2 left arms reattached

This often is mistaken as an urban legend but it really happened. In 1997 there was a mass tug-of-war contest along the Keelung River in Taipei in celebration of Retrocession Day. Over 1600 participants joined in the contest. The largest man in each group stood at the very front of each team. The contest began and both teams of about 800 people each started pulling as hard as they could. Unfortunately the large nylon rope was rated for less than half of the total force they were exerting on it. Suddenly the center of the nylon rope snapped and the force caused the rope to rebound and tear off the left arm of the two men at the front of each group. The victims were taken to Mackay Memorial Hospital and underwent seven hours of microsurgery to reattach their arms.

Interesting Fact: Many reports claim the men had their arms wrapped around the rope but the severing of the limbs was caused by sheer rebounding force of the broken rope ripping off the men’s arms.

 

6. Paul Gibbs

Left Ear Reattachment

In 2008 Paul Gibbs a 26-year-old student from Leeds was camping out with a group of friends when he was attacked by three men. He suffered brain damage when he was hit over the head with a motorbike helmet before his left ear was sliced off. Because his ear was not found until 17 hours after the attack the surgeons stitched it inside Gibbs stomach so some of the tissue will re-grow. The plan is to later reconstruct the ear using some of the cartilage from his ribcage and eventually reattach his ear.

Interesting Fact: Ear reconstruction has been dated as far back as 600 BC in India when doctors were reported to have used skin from other parts of the body to reconstruct ear lobes.

5. Garrett La Fever

Big Toe Reattached as a Thumb

After losing his thumb in a 2007 woodworking accident Garrett La Fever made the decision to have surgeons remove the big toe on his right foot and reattach it onto his right hand to use as a thumb. In a six-hour surgery at Saint Mary’s Pros Center in San Francisco, the director of microsurgery, and plastic surgeon worked in tandem to remove Garret’s toe and reattach it where his thumb once was. The operation involved disconnecting then reattaching blood vessels, nerves tendons and bone. Less than two months after the surgery Garrett could easily sign his name and button his clothes. His second toe on his right foot eventfully compensated and deviated toward that side which created a more symmetric foot.

Interesting Fact: Toe-to-thumb surgery is nothing new; the first successful operation was reported in 1969. The thumb is responsible for 40 percent of the function of the hand which is why doctors recommend this type of procedure after loosing a thumb.

 

4. Veterinarian Chang Po-yu

Left Forearm Reattachment

When I first saw the photo above I thought for sure it was photo shopped but unfortunately for Chang Po-yu it is not. In 2007 at the Shaoshan Zoo, Chang was removing tranquilizer darts before treating a Nile croc which had not been eating for a month. Chang, had failed to notice that the crock had not yet been fully anaesthetized and as he put his arm through bars of the crocodile’s cage the croc bit the Veterinarian forearm off. After Chang was rushed to the hospital a zoo employee launched a battle to retrieve his arm by shooting two bullets at the crocodile. Although the bullets failed to penetrate the crocodile’s hide, it was stunned enough to cause it to drop the arm. Chang’s arm was then rushed to the hospital where it was reattached after 5 hours of surgery.

Interesting Fact: The Nile croc is the largest African crocodile species. The croc can reach 16 feet (5 meters) in length and are estimated to kill 200 people a year.

 

3. Emily Stinnett

Scalp Reattachment

In 2004, four year old Emily Stinnett and another girl were playing in the back yard on the swings when a pit bull broke free from its chain and bit Emily on her head and then dragged her around the yard. The dog ended up ripping off huge chunks of her scalp. After Emily was rushed to Kosair Children’s Hospital in Louisville a deputy sheriff shot and killed the out-of-control dog. The Doctors told the sheriff that in order for the child to survive they needed to find the rest of her scalp. A search around the backyard yielded nothing. Then after it was realized that the dog consumed parts of the scalp the dog’s stomach was cut opened and the scalp was located and rushed to the hospital. Doctors were able to reattach the majority of Emily’s scalp but unfortunately some of the scalp pieces later died even after leech therapy. Emily survived and faced a series of painful skin grafts.

Interesting Fact: Leeches (mentioned above) are now used in microsurgery to stimulate circulation in reattachment operations for organs with critical blood flow, such as eye lids, fingers, ears and in Emily’s case the scalp.

 

2. Kim Tran’ unidentified boy friend

Penis Reattachment

I knew if I didn’t include at least one penis reattachment on this list there would be great disappointment. During my severed penis reattachment research I came across several cases but this one has to take the cake. In 2005 in Anchorage Alaska a 44 year old unidentified man was breaking up with his girlfriend Kim Tran. An argument ensued, however at some point around midnight they decided to have sex and the man allowed his girlfriend to tie his arms to the window handle above the bed. She then took a kitchen knife and severed the man’s penis. Tran then flushed the penis down the toilet, untied the man and drove him to the hospital. After finding a nurse Tran said she was leaving to move her car but drove home instead. Police rushed to the home and found her cleaning up the bloody scene. Police were able to get the details about what had happened to the penis and summoned the Anchorage utility company. Lifting the toilet from the base the workers tipped it into the tub and the penis fell out. It had been lodged in the “S” curve of the toilet for more than two hours. Officials put it on ice and drove it to the emergency room. At around 6 AM, about six hours after the knife attack, hospital officials said the surgery was successful.

Interesting Fact: Dr. Sarah Troxel who went through training for microsurgery at Stanford and also performed this surgery said. “I’d say it’s more likely that it might not work very well.” I think it seemed kind of appropriate that since a woman cut off the penis it was only fair that another woman should sew it back on.

 

1. Sandeep Kaur

Face Reattachment

This is truly an incredible story and is what inspired the list. In 1994 nine year old Sandeep Kaur from India had her face and scalp completely amputated from a threshing machine. The machine caught one of Sandeep’s braids causing her head to be pulled in. Sandeep’s mother, who witnessed the accident, said: “I didn’t know where her face was. Everything was peeled off.” Abraham Thomas, one of India’s top microsurgeons was on duty when Sandeep arrived at the hospital unconscious with her face in two pieces in a plastic bag. The surgeon managed to reattach Sandeep’s face back onto her skull and reconnect the arteries. The above picture shows Sandeeps face right before it was reattached and Sandeep at age 19, ten years after the accident. Sandeep is now training to become a nurse.

Interesting Fact: Sandeep Kaur’s groundbreaking surgery also inspired the recent face transplant procedures from donors.

10 Strange Phenomena of the Mind

We have all some experience of a feeling, that comes over us occasionally, of what we are saying and doing having been said and done before, in a remote time – of our having been surrounded, dim ages ago, by the same faces, objects, and circumstances – of our knowing perfectly what will be said next, as if we suddenly remember it! – Charles Dickens

 

10. Déjà Vu

Déjà vu is the experience of being certain that you have experienced or seen a new situation previously – you feel as though the event has already happened or is repeating itself. The experience is usually accompanied by a strong sense of familiarity and a sense of eeriness, strangeness, or weirdness. The “previous” experience is usually attributed to a dream, but sometimes there is a firm sense that it has truly occurred in the past.

 

9. Déjà Vécu

Déjà vécu (pronounced vay-koo) is what most people are experiencing when they think they are experiencing deja vu. Déjà vu is the sense of having seen something before, whereas déjà vécu is the experience of having seen an event before, but in great detail – such as recognizing smells and sounds. This is also usually accompanied by a very strong feeling of knowing what is going to come next. In my own experience of this, I have not only known what was going to come next, but have been able to tell those around me what is going to come next – and I am right. This is a very eerie and unexplainable sensation.

 

8. Déjà Visité

Déjà visité is a less common experience and it involves an uncanny knowledge of a new place. For example, you may know your way around a a new town or a landscape despite having never been there, and knowing that it is impossible for you to have this knowledge. Déjà visité is about spatial and geographical relationships, while déjà vécu is about temporal occurrences. Nathaniel Hawthorne wrote about an experience of this in his book “Our Old Home” in which he visited a ruined castle and had a full knowledge of its layout. He was later able to trace the experience to a poem he had read many years early by Alexander Pope in which the castle was accurately described.

 

7. Déjà Senti

Déjà senti is the phenomenon of having “already felt” something. This is exclusively a mental phenomenon and seldom remains in your memory afterwards. In the words of a person having experienced it: “What is occupying the attention is what has occupied it before, and indeed has been familiar, but has been forgotten for a time, and now is recovered with a slight sense of satisfaction as if it had been sought for. The recollection is always started by another person’s voice, or by my own verbalized thought, or by what I am reading and mentally verbalize; and I think that during the abnormal state I generally verbalize some such phrase of simple recognition as ‘Oh yes—I see’, ‘Of course—I remember’, etc., but a minute or two later I can recollect neither the words nor the verbalized thought which gave rise to the recollection. I only find strongly that they resemble what I have felt before under similar abnormal conditions.”
You could think of it as the feeling of having just spoken, but realizing that you, in fact, didn’t utter a word.

 

6. Jamais Vu

Jamais vu (never seen) describes a familiar situation which is not recognized. It is often considered to be the opposite of déjà vu and it involves a sense of eeriness. The observer does not recognize the situation despite knowing rationally that they have been there before. It is commonly explained as when a person momentarily doesn’t recognize a person, word, or place that they know. Chris Moulin, of Leeds University, asked 92 volunteers to write out “door” 30 times in 60 seconds. He reported that 68 per cent of his guinea pigs showed symptoms of jamais vu, such as beginning to doubt that “door” was a real word. This has lead him to believe that jamais vu may be a symptom of brain fatigue.

5. Presque Vu

Presque vu is very similar to the “tip of the tongue” sensation – it is the strong feeling that you are about to experience an epiphany – though the epiphany seldom comes. The term “presque vu” means “almost seen”. The sensation of presque vu can be very disorienting and distracting.

 

4. L’esprit de l’Escalier

L’esprit de l’escalier (stairway wit) is the sense of thinking of a clever comeback when it is too late. The phrase can be used to describe a riposte to an insult, or any witty, clever remark that comes to mind too late to be useful—when one is on the “staircase” leaving the scene. The German word treppenwitz is used to express the same idea. The closest phrase in English to describe this situation is “being wise after the event”. The phenomenon is usually accompanied by a feeling of regret at having not thought of the riposte when it was most needed or suitable.

 

3. Capgras Delusion

Capgras delusion is the phenomenon in which a person believes that a close friend or family member has been replaced by an identical looking impostor. This could be tied in to the old belief that babies were stolen and replaced by changelings in medieval folklore, as well as the modern idea of aliens taking over the bodies of people on earth to live amongst us for reasons unknown. This delusion is most common in people with schizophrenia but it can occur in other disorders.

 

2. Fregoli Delusion

Fregoli delusion is a rare brain phenomenon in which a person holds the belief that different people are, in fact, the same person in a variety of disguises. It is often associated with paranoia and the belief that the person in disguise is trying to persecute them. The condition is named after the Italian actor Leopoldo Fregoli who was renowned for his ability to make quick changes of appearance during his stage act. It was first reported in 1927 in the case study of a 27-year-old woman who believed she was being persecuted by two actors whom she often went to see at the theatre. She believed that these people “pursued her closely, taking the form of people she knows or meets”.

 

1. Prosopagnosia

Prosopagnosia is a phenomenon in which a person is unable to recognize faces of people or objects that they should know. People experiencing this disorder are usually able to use their other senses to recognize people – such as a person’s perfume, the shape or style of their hair, the sound of their voice, or even their gait. A classic case of this disorder was presented in the 1998 book (and later Opera by Michael Nyman) called “The man who mistook his wife for a hat”.

10 Ugliest Creatures

10. Mata Mata

The mata mata is a freshwater turtle found predominantly in South America, notably in the Amazon and Orinoco basins. The animal’s peculiar physical aspect distinguishes it from other members of its order. It is an animal highly skilled in hunting techniques. French naturalist, Pierre Barrère described it thus:

“large land turtle with spiky and ridged scales”. The mata mata is quite visually distinctive: its head is triangular, large, and extremely flattened, with many tubercles and flaps of skin, most notably a ‘horn’ on the nose. There are two barbels on the chin and two additional filamentous barbels at the jaw. The snout is long and tubular. The upper jaw is neither hooked nor notched.

9. Horseshoe Bat

Horseshoe bats (the Rhinolophidae family) are a large family of bats including approximately 130 species grouped in 10 genera. All rhinolophids have leaf-like protuberances on their noses. In rhinolophines species, these take the shape of a horseshoe; in hipposiderine, they are leaf- or spear-like. They emit echolocation calls through these structures, which may serve to focus the sound. Most rhinolophids are dull brown or reddish brown in color. They vary in size from small to moderately large.

8. Star Nosed Mole

The Star-nosed Mole is a small North American mole found in eastern Canada and the north-eastern United States. It lives in wet lowland areas and eats small invertebrates, aquatic insects, worms and molluscs. It is a good swimmer and can forage along the bottoms of streams and ponds. Like other moles, this animal digs shallow surface tunnels for foraging; often, these tunnels exit underwater. It is active day and night and remains active in winter, when it has been observed tunnelling through the snow and swimming in ice-covered streams.

7. Sloth

Sloths are medium-sized mammals that live in Central and South America. Sloths are omnivores. They may eat insects, small lizards and carrion, but their diet consists mostly of buds, tender shoots, and leaves. Sloth fur also exhibits specialized functions: the outer hairs grow in a direction opposite from that of other mammals. In most mammals, hairs grow toward the extremities, but because sloths spend so much time with their legs above their bodies, their hairs grow away from the extremities in order to provide protection from the elements while the sloth hangs upside down.

6. Naked Mole Rat

The Naked Mole Rat, also known as the Sand Puppy, or Desert Mole Rat, is a burrowing rodent native to parts of East Africa. Typical individuals are 8–10 cm long and weigh 30–35 g. Queens are larger and may weigh well over 50 g, the largest reaching 80 g. They are well-adapted for their underground existence. Their eyes are just narrow slits, and consequently their eyesight is poor. However, they are highly adapted to moving underground, and can move backwards as fast as they move forwards. Their large, protruding teeth are used to dig. Their lips are sealed just behind their teeth while digging to avoid filling their mouths with soil. Their legs are thin and short. They have little hair (hence the common name) and wrinkled pink or yellowish skin.

5. Axolotl

The Axolotl (or ajolote) is the best-known of the Mexican neotenic mole salamanders belonging to the Tiger Salamander complex. Larvae of this species fail to undergo metamorphosis, so the adults remain aquatic and gilled. Their heads are wide, and their eyes are lidless. Their limbs are underdeveloped and possess long, thin digits. Axolotls have barely visible vestigial teeth which would have developed during metamorphosis. The primary method of feeding is by suction, during which their rakers interlock to close the gill slits. Axolotls have 4 different colours, 2 naturally occurring colours and 2 mutants. The 2 naturally occurring colours are wildtype (Varying shades of brown usually with spots) and melanoid (black). The 2 mutants colours are leucistic (pale pink with black eyes) and albino (golden, tan or pale pink with pink eyes).

4. Tarsier

Tarsiers are prosimian primates of the genus Tarsius. Tarsiers have enormous eyes and long feet. Their feet have extremely elongated tarsus bones, which is how they got their name. They are primarily insectivorous, and catch insects by jumping at them. They are also known to prey on birds and snakes. As they jump from tree to tree, tarsiers can catch even birds in motion. Tarsiers have never formed successful breeding colonies in captivity, and when caged, tarsiers have been known to injure and even kill themselves because of the stress.

3. Hagfish

Despite their name, there is some debate about whether Hagfish are strictly fish, since they belong to a much more primitive lineage than any other group that is commonly defined fish. Hagfish are long, vermiform and can exude copious quantities of a sticky slime or mucus. When captured and held by the tail, they escape by secreting the fibrous slime, which turns into a thick and sticky gel when combined with water, and then cleaning off by tying themselves in an overhand knot which works its way from the head to the tail of the animal, scraping off the slime as it goes. Hagfish have elongated, ‘eel-like’ bodies, and paddle-like tails.

2. Aye-aye

The Aye-aye is a native to Madagascar that combines rodent-like teeth with a long, thin middle finger to fill the same ecological niche as a woodpecker. The Aye-aye is the world’s largest nocturnal primate, and dwells predominantly in forest canopies. The adult Aye-aye has black or dark brown fur covered by white guard hairs at the neck. The tail is bushy and shaped like that of a squirrel. The Aye-aye’s face is also rodent-like, the shape of a raccoon’s, and houses bright, beady, luminous eyes. Its incisors are very large, and grow continuously throughout its lifespan.

1. Blobfish

The Blobfish inhabits the deep waters off the coasts of Australia and Tasmania. Due to the inaccessibility of its habitat, it’s rarely seen by humans. Blobfish are found at depths where the pressure is several dozens of times higher than at sea level. To remain buoyant, the flesh of the Blobfish is primarily a gelatinous mass with a density slightly less than water; which allows the fish to float above the sea floor without expending energy on swimming. The relative lack of muscle is not a disadvantage as it primarily swallows edible matter that floats by in front it.

10 Cutest Creatures Ever

10. Pipefish

These thin fish belong in the same family as sea horses and sea dragons. They are much cuter, though, probably due to their nose-like snouts. Most live in salt water, but a few live in fresh water. Like sea horses, the male carries his partner’s eggs for quite some time.
Fun Fact: The love life of these fish is pretty varied. Some species mate for life, some mate with several different partners, and some female members of various species mate with multiple partners at the same time.

 

9. European Mole

These small Insectivores are covered in fur which hides most of their features… which is what makes them so adorable. The European Mole spends most of its life underground, digging tunnels and eating insects. They are well known for their poor eyesight, which isn’t really needed underground. They may be cute, but they can cause problems for an unlucky gardener or farmer, as the Mole’s burrowing can damage crops and plants. Not to be confused with the rather ugly Star-nosed Mole.

Fun Fact: You can’t kill moles in Germany without a permit

 

8. Kiwi

Not the fruit – the bird! These puffy birds native to New Zealand are one of the thickest feathered birds around! The bird’s wings have been reduced to stubs over time, rendering them flightless, but they make up for that with their extraordinary sense of smell. They have a varied diet, consisting of insects, worms, leaves, and berries. There are five recognized species, all of which are endangered.

Fun Fact: Kiwi’s lay huge eggs for their size: up to 20% of their body weight. That would be like a 150 pound woman giving birth to a 30 pound baby.

 

7. Angora Rabbit

At first, you might think this animal is a giant ball of fluff, but there really is a rabbit in there. These large rabbits were bred specifically for the fluffiness. There are four recognized breeds, as well as several unrecognized breeds. They range from WTF fluffy (English), pretty fluffy (French, Satin) to large, but not super fluffy (Giant).

Fun Fact: Just in case you didn’t realize how fuzzy these guys are, you can actually buy clothes and yarn made entirely of Angora rabbit fur (with no harm done to the animal).

 

6. Puffer Fish

These guys are quite cute at first, but once you startle them, you just want to poke them. This Family of fish (I couldn’t choose just one) is able to swallow water (or even air) quickly, so much so that they become spherical, scaring off predators. This often saves both of their lives, since most puffer fish species are poisonous. You should be safe as long as you don’t eat it, with proper preparation, it can be served as a dish. Not to be mistaken for their cousins, the porcupine fish (they are two separate families).

Fun Fact: Puffer fish have the smallest genomes in the vertebrate world.

5. African Pygmy Hedgehog

These mammals are the most adorable members the family Erinaceidae (mostly hedgehogs), even though it is filled with cute critters. You probably have seen one of these before or at least know how they look like. They are vaguely rodent-like mammals that have many small spines on their back. They can roll into a ball to protect themselves. This particular hedgehog has been domesticated, so you can have one for a pet without too much trouble.

Fun Fact: Be sure to check your local laws before buying a hedgehog. Some places require you to have a permit, while others (such as the states of California and Hawaii) completely ban them as pets.

 

4. Dwarf Hamster

These little rodents are even more adorable than their bigger cousins. There are three species, but my favorite is Campbell’s dwarf hamster. These creatures come from the steppes of China and Russia. They are sold as pets in just about every pet store. Chinese hamsters are also adorable and sometimes called dwarf hamsters, although they are not in the same Genus.

Fun Fact: Personally, I had a bad experience with these guys. When my family bought two dwarf hamsters, the store owner said we bought two females. We believed them, even when one of them started to get fat. Then she gave birth to a litter of nine little hamsters. We removed the male, just in case, but all the rest died off, some of which were caused by the mother. It’s sad.

 

3. Manatee

Now we’re getting to the hardcore stuff. These “sea cows” are really beefy, but really cute. So cute you want to hug it. Unlike whales and dolphins, manatees are herbivorous. Not surprisingly, they are related to elephants. They are endangered, partly due to a vicious, unnatural predator: the boat propeller.

Fun Fact: Manatee’s have vestigial (useless) toe nails on their flippers.

 

2. Woolly Bear Caterpillar

Most caterpillars are icky… except for these guys. This cute caterpillar is the larva form of the Isabella tiger moth. They eat a variety of plants, including certain ones that they eat to fight back against certain parasites. They may be furry, but don’t pet them without gloves, or else you might get a rash.

Fun Fact: Do you LOVE woolly bears? Then go to the annual Woollybear Festival in Vermilion, Ohio. The main event is a huge woolly bear dress up competition. It takes place in mid-September.

 

1. Silky Anteater

These things are amazingly adorable! The only member of the Cyclopedidae family (their scientific name is Cyclopes didactylus); these guys are a lot like the other anteaters, only they’re smaller and live in the trees. They also have a prehensile tail (like an opossum). Obviously, it is extremely cute, but watch out for their sharp claws.

Fun Fact: Why are silky anteaters goldish? It might be because they blend well with the seed pods of the silk cotton trees, where they usually hang around by.

10 Biggest Explosions

10. FOAB

Type: Largest explosion created by a non-nuclear weapon

FOAB (Father of all Bombs) is a Russian tactical weapon, designed to detonate in mid-air and deliver an incinerating shockwave to the target area below it. The bomb yields the equivalent of 44 Tons of TNT, making it about as powerful as the smallest nuclear weapons in existence. However, FOAB does not generate the radioactive fallout that nuclear weapons do. FOAB is part of a “miniature arms race” between the United States and Russia. In 2003, the United States developed MOAB (Massive Ordinance Air Blast Bomb) which is a similar device with a yield of 11 tons of TNT. MOAB was quickly termed the “Mother of all Bombs” in accordance with its acronym. In an apparent response, Russia developed its “Father of all Bombs”, in 2007, which it claims is four times as powerful and slightly lighter in weight. However, the United States Military is dubious of these claims, and says that it is very possible that the film that Russia released of the test was doctored, and that several of the “facts” about the bomb were exaggerated for propaganda purposes.

 

9. Minor Scale

Type: Largest man-made conventional explosion

Minor Scale was a test performed by the United States, on June 27, 1985. The United States Defense Nuclear agency detonated almost 5,000 tons of ammonium nitrate fuel oil, to simulate the effect of a nuclear weapon. The main purpose was to see how a small nuclear weapon would affect military hardware. In the photograph, an F-4 Phantom can be seen in the wake of the explosion. An interesting fact: There is a dispute about whether or not this was, in fact, the largest conventional explosion. The Heligoland explosion was carried out by Great Britain when the Royal Navy detonated 6,700 tons of left over arsenal from WWII. While the Guinness Book of Records records Heligoland as being larger, the yield of Minor Scale was greater by about half a kiloton of TNT.

 

8. Tunguska Event

Type: Largest impact in recorded history

On June 30, 1908, there was a large explosion above the Podkamennaya Tunguska River, in Russia. The explosion created an estimated yield of 10-15 megatons of TNT, or about 1,000 times the yield of the atomic bomb that destroyed Hiroshima, Japan. While there are a good number of conspiracy theories as to what caused the explosion, the majority of the scientific community agrees that it was caused by a meteoroid exploding in mid-air. Even though the meteoroid exploded in mid-air, the event is still considered an impact. The explosion is believed to have occurred in mid-air because, even though there have been several searches for it, no one has ever been able to find the crater. However, there was an area of about 2,150 square km where trees were bent away from the hypocenter of the blast.

 

7. Tsar Bomba

Type: Largest man-made explosion

Tsar Bomba was a hydrogen bomb developed by the Soviet Union, and tested on October 30, 1961. With a yield of 57 megatons, it was the most powerful man-made explosion ever. The bomb was actually originally intended to be more around 100 megatons, but the fallout of such a device would have been too problematic. Even though Tsar Bomba was detonated in the very remote location of the Novaya Zemlya island chain, north of the Russian mainland, it still caused a great deal of collateral damage. A village 55 km from the test site was completely leveled. Damage to buildings occurred as far away as Norway and Finland. The explosion created a mushroom cloud 64 km high, and a shockwave that was still detectable on its third passage around the earth.

 

6. Mount Tambora Eruption

Type: Largest Earthbound explosion recorded by humans

On April 5, 1815, Mt. Tambora erupted in Sambawa, Indonesia, creating the most powerful explosion ever witnessed by humans in historic times. The Tambora eruption is estimated to have unleashed the equivalent of 800 megatons of TNT, making it about 14 times more powerful than Tsar Bomba. The eruption was heard as far away as Sumatra, which is 2,600 km away. Before the eruption, Mt. Tambora was 4.3 km tall, but after it was only 2.85 km tall. The volcano created an ash column 43 km high, and dispersed ash into the stratosphere and around the globe. This ash blocked out the Sun and caused the year 1816 to be the second coldest year in recorded history. Crop failures and famines occurred all over Europe and North America. It is estimated that about 10,000 people died directly from the eruption, and that about 70,000 died from the resulting climate change.

5. Cretaceous-Tertiary Extinction Event

Type: Largest known Earthbound explosion

About 65 million years ago, an event known as the Cretaceous-Tertiary Event caused the extinction of many organisms, but is most famous for causing the extinction of the dinosaurs. Many scientists believe that this was caused by an asteroid impact that created the Chicxulub Crater located off the coast of the Yucatan Peninsula. It is estimated that the explosive force of this impact would have been the equivalent of 96 teratons of TNT, or about 1.7 million Tsar Bombas. This would make the impact the greatest explosion to ever occur on earth, for which there is sufficient geological evidence. The impact would have caused climate change, much like Mt. Tambora but much more drastic, and this climate change is believed to be what ultimately killed the dinosaurs.

 

4. GRB 080319B

Type: Largest explosion ever directly witnessed by humans

Gamma-ray bursts are among the most violent known events in the universe. The exact cause of Gamma-ray bursts is not fully understood, although most astronomers hold that they are linked to extremely large supernovae. Gamma-ray bursts usually last 20 to 40 seconds and shine gamma-rays (hence the name) in a relatively narrow direction. Gamma-ray bursts are extremely rare, with one occurring every few hundred thousand years in each galaxy. On March 19, 2008, a gamma-ray burst called GRB 080319B occurred, and was visible to the naked eye for about 30 seconds. The explosion took place 7.5 billion light-years away, making the most distant object viewable without a telescope. The explosion is estimated to have generated the equivalent of 2×1034 tons of TNT, or about the equivalent of 10,000 times the Sun’s weight in TNT detonating all at once.

 

3. SN2006gy

Type: Largest known supernova

On September 16, 2006, the largest known supernova, SN2006gy, was discovered. Supernovae occur when stars run out of fuel, collapse on themselves, and then explode. Extremely large supernovae, or hypernovae, are among the most violent events in the universe, and are believed by many to be the source of gamma-ray bursts. SN2006gy occurred 230 million light years away, when a star about 150 times as massive as the Sun collapsed on itself. The amount of energy output by this hypernova is estimated to be approximately equivalent to 2.5×1035 tons of TNT, which is roughly the same amount of energy put out by all the stars in the Virgo Supercluster of galaxies in one minute. An interesting fact: Because hypernova are usually caused by very large stars, there is usually enough remaining material from the star to continue collapsing after the explosion. This remaining material will sometimes collapse until its volume reaches zero. This means that many hypernova form black holes.

 

2. GRB 080916C

Type: Largest true explosion ever

The universe is a big place. Astronomically large objects are difficult to comprehend, and the largest known explosion, GRB 080916C is no different. GRB 080916C was a gamma-ray burst that was first recorded on September 16, 2008. The burst occurred about 12.2 billion light-years away and lasted 23 minutes, which is a very long duration for a gamma-ray burst. For those 23 minutes, the gamma-ray burst was putting out more energy than most galaxy superclusters. It is estimated that the blast had the equivalent amount of energy of 2×1038 tons of TNT. That’s the same as a trillion Tsar Bombas going off every second for 110 billion years, or about 7,000 times the amount of energy that the Sun is expected to put out in its lifetime.

 

1. Big Bang

Type: Largest “explosion” ever

It’s only appropriate that the Big Bang be number one. However, the Big Bang was technically not an explosion. An explosion occurs when matter moves through space from a high pressure point to a low pressure point, and does so very, very rapidly. However, the Big Bang involved space itself expanding rapidly, not matter expanding through space. In fact, because the universe is still expanding, one could argue that the Big Bang is still occurring. Another misconception about the Big Bang Theory is that it does not explain how the universe began, or how matter and energy first came to be. It only explains how space rapidly expanded about 5.4×10-44 seconds after the universe began.