The cloud from the atomic bomb over Nagasaki from Koyagi-jima in 1945 was one of the first nuclear detonations to take place on this world. After decades of peace, North Korea is detonating bombs again. Credit: Hiromichi Matsuda.

Science knows if a nation is testing nuclear bombs

Earthquake? Nuclear explosion? Fission or fusion? We know, even if world leaders lie.

“North Korea has taught a great lesson to all the countries in the world, especially the rogue countries of dictatorships or whatever: if you don’t want to be invaded by America, get some nuclear weapons.” -Michael Moore

On the international stage, there are few things more frightening to the world at large than the looming possibility of nuclear war. Many nations have the bomb — some with fission-only bombs, others have achieved the deadlier nuclear fusion — but not everyone publicly declares what they have. Some detonate nuclear devices while denying it; others claim to possess fusion bombs when they don’t have the capability. Thanks to a deep understanding of science, the Earth, and how pressure waves travel through it, we don’t need a truthful nation to figure out the real story.

A photo of Kim Jong-Un, released just weeks before the most recent North Korean nuclear detonation. It shows the nation’s leader at Catfish farm in an undisclosed location in North Korea. Image credit: KNS/AFP/Getty Images.

In January of 2016, the North Korean government claimed that they detonated a Hydrogen Bomb, which they promised to use against any aggressors that threatened their country. Even though news outlets showed photographs of…