Tick, Tick, BOOM! Trivia Quiz

Answer: Mount Tambora

The 1815 eruption of Mount Tambora of Sumbawa, Indonesia is regarded as one of the largest volcanic eruptions of all time (and one of the largest earthly explosions ever recorded in history). The volcanic eruption was so loud that it could be heard over 1,200 miles away! The height of the volcano was over 14,000 feet, one of Indonesia's largest, but dropped over 5,000 feet in the eruption.

Answer: Meteoroid, on its way through the atmosphere

The Tunguska Event of 1908 was considered one of the largest impacts in Earth's history, though it never actually hit the planet. The blast was so powerful, it was considered 1,000 times that of the bomb dropped on Hiroshima during World War II. The explosion was believed to have been caused by an air burst from a meteoroid, some five miles above the earth's surface. The entire globe was able to see effects from the blast, seeing sunsets 'glow' worldwide. Fortunately, the blast (which, on the Richter scale at 5.0, would have decimated cities) occurred in a relatively unpopulated area, and damage was mostly done to trees - 80 million of them.

Other, less popular (and occasionally less accurate) theories include the explosion of a natural H-Bomb, the passing of a black hole, an experiment by Nikolas Tesla, and, of course, aliens (the incident is sometimes called the Russian Roswell). It is even claimed that shrapnel from an alien spacecraft was discovered.

Answer: Halifax

December of 1917 marked the event known as the Halifax explosion. The ships collided in a location called The Narrows. Though it was an explosion on water, it was very large, and the city was ruined. Around 2,000 people lost their lives (falling debris, buildings collapsing, fires, etc), and over 9,000 more were injured.

The explosion flattened hundreds of acres, and created a tsunami as well as an air burst capable of bending iron rails (which it did). The incident remained the largest accidental man-made explosion until the N1 exploded in 1969.

Answer: Passenger airship

The D-LZ129 Hindenburg was a Germany passenger airship that exploded in 1937. It had reached its destination in New Jersey, and attempted to dock, but things did not turn out as expected. The airship burst into flames, and exploded. Of the 61 crew members, 22 died, as well as one member of staff on the ground. 36 passengers were on board, 13 of which were killed in the disaster.

The disaster marked the end of airship transport. The world was too shaken up by the event to attempt to ride in one after that.

Answer: Bockscar

In late July of 1945, nearing the end of World War II, the United States, China, and United Kingdom called for Japan to surrender in the Potsdam Declaration. The declaration also threatened Japan with complete and "utter destruction". Japan ignored the warning, and the first atomic bomb (Little Boy) was dropped on Hiroshima; the bomb was brought by the aircraft called Enola Gay. On August 9, the second atomic bomb (Fat Man) was dropped on Nagasaki; this second bomb was flown over and dropped by the aircraft called Bockscar. The first bombing resulted in roughly 50,000-80,000 deaths on the first day, with about as much dying from the after effects. The second bombing caused 30,000-45,000 deaths on the first day, with the same number dying from after effects of that as well.

Those who survived the bombings were called "hibakusha", a Japanese word meaning "explosion-affected people". There were also over 150 'double-survivors', known as "niju hibakusha", who survived both bombings. One such niju hibakusha was Tsutomu Yamaguchi, who was on a business trip in Hiroshima when the Little Boy was dropped. Spending the night in the hospital in Hiroshima, he was able to return to his home on August 8, in Nagasaki, the day before the Fat Man was dropped on the city. He died at 93 in 2010 from stomach cancer.

Answer: Tsar Bomba

The Tsar Bomba was one of the largest hydrogen bombs ever built and detonated; with a massive 57 megaton yield (though it was originally designed for 100 Mt), the explosion occurred just above the surface, but the blast was so immense that it would have been an 8.1 on the Richter scale on the ground. The bomb was so large and heavy, and had such a high risk of nuclear fallout, that it was actually determined an impractical nuclear weapon. Even though the bomb was detonated in an extremely remote location, buildings as far as Norway were damaged or destroyed by the enormous blast.

The Tsar Kolokol, created in 1735, is the world's largest bell. The Tsar Pushka, completed in 1586, was the world's largest cannon.

Answer: O-Ring

The Challenger disintegrated only 73 seconds after it took off on 28th January 1986. All seven crew members on board, including teacher Christa McAuliffe, died. The times of death are not known. Though there were some who survived the inital explosion, the impact on the water when the shuttle crashed into the ocean would not have been survivable.

Unfortunately, the accident could have been easily prevented. The O-rings used in the shuttle contained a possibly hazardous flaw, but warnings of such shortcomings were ignored. Furthermore, some scientists were wary of launching the shuttle on such a cold, 18 degree (Fahrenheit) day, as it had not been tested under any temperature below 40 degrees. Those warnings, too, were disregarded.

Answer: Belarus

Though the Chernobyl Plant was located in the Ukraine, it was Belarus that took the hardest hit. The huge plume caused by the explosion of Reactor 4 from the power plant spread extremely high radiation across Europe. Belarus was hit hard: some scientists say 60% of the nuclear fallout landed in the country. The radiation spread quite sporadically throughout Europe due to weather. Some countries, such as France, did not notice any extra radiation. Others, such as Germany, did.

Interestingly, the nearby town of Prypiat was not immediately evacuated. The town was not alarmed, and was not aware of the situation. After the explosion, much of the town fell ill, but they did not know there was such a danger of radiation until Swedish power plant workers noticed radiation particles on their clothes. They then alerted the Soviet Union of the danger, which was far worse than they could ever have imagined.

Less than 40 died in the initial event, but many could feel the effects long term. In fact, even 35 years later, doctors were discovering patients who were suffering from long-term effects that were proven to have been caused by the Chernobyl Disaster.

Answer: United Airlines Flight 93

Four planes were hijacked for the September 11, 2001 attacks. American Airlines Flight 11 was the first flight to hit its target; the World Trade Center's North Tower. United Airlines 175 was the next to hit a building - the South Tower of the World Trade Center. Not long after, American Airlines Flight 77 was confirmed to have hit the Pentagon. United Airlines Flight 93 never made it to the destination (which was unknown, though speculated to be either the White House or the Capitol Building). Passengers from the plane heard of reports on their phones and could tell something was amiss in their own plane. The passengers were able to overpower the hijackers, and the plane was crashed into a field.

There were 246 passengers on the four flights; none survived. A total of 2,996 were killed in the event, the majority of those deaths due to the collapse of the two Twin Towers. Another 6,000 were injured. 10 years later, long-term effects were still being discovered, possibly from some of the toxic debris from the collapsing towers.

Plans to rebuild the tower began a few years later, but it wasn't until 2012 that the building began to be erected; the One World Trade Center.

Answer: Gamma-ray burst

In 2008, people gathered to watch the skies to witness an event that occurs only every several hundred thousand years in a galaxy. The Swift telescope originally detected the gamma-ray burst, but the explosion's effects were visible with the naked eye for about 30 seconds.

This particular explosion was said to have occurred nearly 8 billion years ago, though the distance of the burst was so far that it took this long for the light ray to finally reach earth. Gamma-ray bursts are unusual in their explosion because a single light beam is blasted through space (instead of the usual "go every which way" explosion most are familiar with). They are also incredibly rare, so to see one with the naked eye in 2008 was a 'once-in-a-lifetime' experience.

This explosion marked the largest explosion "witnessed" by humans (the after effects, anyway), as well as the farthest object in space visible by the naked eye.