Except that it doesn't. Asserting that duck and cover will save you if caught in a nuclear blast is grossly misleading at best. As with all explosions, your proximity to the epicenter of the blast determines your probability for survival. Assuming you're not instantly vaporized, anyone within a pressure range of 80 to 100 psi faces a 50% mortality rate due to the pressure wave collapsing their lungs. Anyone within a 130-200 psi pressure range faces 50-100% mortality from being smashed to death by the pressure front.
The distance at which those ranges occur is dependent on the size of the explosive charge, but for the typical modern nuclear devices at 10-20 Megatons, that can be more than [three miles], and that doesn't even begin to take into consideration building collapse and shrapnel effects further out. Meanwhile, anyone exposed to the light of the blast wave beyond the 100% lethal ranges, can receive third degree burns over 20 miles away, even through their clothing, and if a human receives third degree burns over 40% of their body, the probability of them dying is 50%.
Further more, reflected pressure wave effects due to buildings and terrain (assuming it doesn't collapse or blow away the object) are amplified from the initial pressure wave, meaning that people just outside the lethal threshold of an open air blast wave could still be inside the lethal range of the reflected pressure wave were they next to a building. Blast waves also reform form around objects due to wave behavior, so buildings and walls don't actually provide protection from blast waves.
[–] Grospoliner 0 points 1 point 1 point (+1|-0) ago
Except that it doesn't. Asserting that duck and cover will save you if caught in a nuclear blast is grossly misleading at best. As with all explosions, your proximity to the epicenter of the blast determines your probability for survival. Assuming you're not instantly vaporized, anyone within a pressure range of 80 to 100 psi faces a 50% mortality rate due to the pressure wave collapsing their lungs. Anyone within a 130-200 psi pressure range faces 50-100% mortality from being smashed to death by the pressure front.
The distance at which those ranges occur is dependent on the size of the explosive charge, but for the typical modern nuclear devices at 10-20 Megatons, that can be more than [three miles], and that doesn't even begin to take into consideration building collapse and shrapnel effects further out. Meanwhile, anyone exposed to the light of the blast wave beyond the 100% lethal ranges, can receive third degree burns over 20 miles away, even through their clothing, and if a human receives third degree burns over 40% of their body, the probability of them dying is 50%.
Further more, reflected pressure wave effects due to buildings and terrain (assuming it doesn't collapse or blow away the object) are amplified from the initial pressure wave, meaning that people just outside the lethal threshold of an open air blast wave could still be inside the lethal range of the reflected pressure wave were they next to a building. Blast waves also reform form around objects due to wave behavior, so buildings and walls don't actually provide protection from blast waves.
So... yeah.